Meatloaf Day

What a glorious morning to myself. The first part of my day was spent drinking Deadman's Reach coffee by Ravens Brew (from Alaska) and reading to further educate myself on things that may or may not be important. I'd like to thank the rather addicting website, StumbleUpon, for my findings. Today, I learned that the first emoticon to be used online was on September 19, 1982. While a transcript of an Abraham Lincoln speech from 1862 contains a ;), the earliest online use of an emoticon was in a 1982, citing :-) for good jokes and :-( for bad ones. I also learned that you can save 16 gallons of water by using a dishwasher rather than hand-washing dishes. It's the rare example where the new technology uses less water than the old technique.

Following nerd time was preparing dinner. I was feeling meatloafy today, so I'll give you all my favorite recipe. Don't judge me, I created the recipe myself. It will be at the bottom of this blog. After all of that, I baked a fresh loaf of oatmeal banana nut bread for my boss, who has to have a loaf every week, and also a new recipe I'm trying out for a lemon yogurt bread with blueberries. I'll post the recipe for that as well. I tweaked it a tad and added my own photos.

Anyway, you should try out my meatloaf recipe.

LINDSEY'S BOMB DOT COM MEATLOAF:

Ingredients:
2 lbs of lean ground beef
5 strips of bacon
1 large red onion
1 green bell pepper
3 cloves of fresh garlic
3 eggs
4 slices of bread (I used 2 french rolls in this batch)
2 tsp of salt
2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
2 packets of ranch dip seasoning***
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup ketchup

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place bread and eggs in a bowl and let sit for a few minutes to get the bread soggy.
3. Combine bread, eggs, ground beef, onion, bell pepper, garlic, and all seasonings together and mix. This is the part where your hands get messy. Once mixed well, place mixture in loaf pan and pat down.

5. Cut the 5 strips of bacon in half to make 10 pieces. Layer strips over the loaf.

6. In a clean bowl, mix together the ketchup and brown sugar. Spread over top of bacon. I also like to add fresh or dehydrated parsley flakes on top.

7. Bake for one hour or until internal temperature reaches 155 degrees. I like to check the temperature after 45 minutes, my oven likes to randomly recalibrate itself.

 OMM NOM NOMMMM.


And now for dessert. This turned out surprisingly well, even tweaking the original recipe before trying it out first. My favorite lemon cake has always been from Starbucks, but this one is pretty tasty without all of the preservatives. It's so moist (ugh, I hate that word) that you have to be careful when cutting it or it will crumb. Try it out.

LEMON YOGURT LOAF W/ BLUEBERRIES

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups + 1 tbsp of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
3 extra-large eggs
Zest from 2 large lemons
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups blueberries (I used frozen organic blueberries)
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Sift together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.

3. In separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, vanilla and oil.

4. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
5. Mix the blueberries with the remaining tablespoon of flour, and fold them very gently into the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside. When the cake is finished baking and is still hot, poke about 30 holes in the top using a toothpick. Using a pastry brush, brush cooked lemon mixture over the loaf. Let cake sit about 20 minutes before trying to remove it from the pan. I also made glaze to drizzle over the top by mixing together 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, about 4 tablespoons of half and half and a squeeze of lemon juice. Amazing.