Two "New to Me" Recipes

Pot roast and meatloaf, my friends. I think I just heard crickets...

Oh come on, they were both SUPER YUMMY!! Give it a try and use what YOU want in them, and you'll love them too.

Pot Roast

The first time we made the pot roast (which is what these pictures show) we used the Savory Pot Roast packet and recipe from McCormick (of course). Then we made it again and used the Hearty Beef Stew packet and recipe and liked it even more. Both packets call for way more meat and veggies than we used (since our slow cooker is on the smaller side) so it was too much flavor both times. We used a "chuck tender roast" as our meat and potatoes and carrots as our veggies.


Once you put the meat and veggies in, you stir the seasoning packet and 1 1/3 c. water together (I think I used closer to 2 c. the second time to cut the flavor a bit).


Then you pour that over the top, close the lid, turn it on and go about your day!

The directions say to cook it on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. The first time we made it was when I was on break and was home all day, so I put it on high for 4 hours, then on "keep warm" until we were ready to eat it. The meat was tender and soooooo yummy.

The second time was last week, so I tossed it in before I left for work and put it on low. Ehh... not so much. It was still good, but not as tender. So while we were eating dinner, we put it on high for another hour (for the leftovers) and Jason said that it was awesome for lunch the next day.

Lessons learned:
-use the Hearty Beef Stew packet
-use less of the packet or more water to cut the extreme flavor
-cook on low until Jason gets home, then have him put it on high until we're ready to eat

Cheesy Meatloaf

I didn't think to take "during" pictures, so this is a "post chow down" pic.

I found this recipe on the Tasty Kitchen website because we had ground beef to use, and Jason is a little over sweedish meatballs. (I like them, so we've had them several times lately. Sorry honey!)

Ingredients:
1 whole egg
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 pinch salt
1 cup ketchup
1 pound Lean Ground Beef
1½ cup oatmeal
1½ cup shredded cheese

• Preheat oven to 350
• Whisk egg together with Worcestershire sauce, salt, and 1/2 cup ketchup
• Mix beef in (kind of yucky, but fun like play-doh)
• Stir in oats (enough to make it not sticky)
• On a piece of aluminum foil, press out the meat mixture to about 8×10 inches
• Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese to 1/2 an inch from edges.
• Roll up into a log lengthwise and transfer to a loaf pan coated with cooking spray.
• Cook at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.
• Pour remaining ketchup on top and cook another 15 minutes.
• Sprinkle with remaining cheese and let rest 10 minutes or until cheese is melted well.

Please ignore the fact that we were lacking a REAL vegetable last night. I was tired.

It turned out REALLY good!! I usually hate meatloaf, but I like this because I knew what was in it. :) Jason liked it a lot too, but of course he'd love for me to add more things in it next time. This is where I will "sneaky chef" myself... I can puree some stuff I wouldn't typically eat and add it to the mixture. I'll let you know how it goes when we do that!

I can check off one more goal for January! Whoo hoo!