Thai Meatloaf

This is probably one of the weirdest things I've ever made.  MJ loved it.  I'm going to tell you what I did, and then tell you what you shouldn't do.

What I did:

1. Cook 4oz of spaghetti.  Drain and add 1 tsp oil. 
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and lay spaghetti pieces out in a flat, unclumped manner.  This is a pain and takes forever.  Especially if you first take the time to lay out your spaghetti on the baking DISH instead of the TRAY and then have to move all the spaghetti and do it again.
3. Preheat oven.
4. Cook sliced bella mushrooms for 5 minutes.  Drain and set aside.
5. In a bowl, mix meat**, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp ginger, 2 minced cloves garlic, 1 egg, 2 tbsp water, and minced cilantro.  Then add 1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs.
• **The recipe called for ground pork.  We don't eat pork, so I used ground turkey.
6. Fold in mushrooms
• I asked MJ to do this step as I was fixing my spaghetti.  He was completely perplexed by my use of the word "fold" since there was no laundry to be seen.  I corrected myself and said "mix" and he then understood.
7. Put meat mixture into a 9 x 5 baking DISH.
8. Put both the dishes in the oven - the meat on top and the noodles on bottom. 
9. Bake 20 - 25 minutes "do not over bake."
10. Cut into 4 pieces and serve with baked noodles on the side.  Top with carrots and green onions.

What you should do:

1. Completely ignore steps 1 and 2. This hard, baked spaghetti was awful and flavorless and we had no idea how to eat it. Real spaghetti or just some brown rice or any Asian style side dish would have been much better.
2. Bake the heck out of the meatloaf. After 25 minutes my loaf was completely raw. I ended up flipping the dish so it baked through on each side and probably kept it in the oven for 45 minutes. Maybe use a dark coated loaf pan instead.

The good news: MJ loved this dish and it was really pretty. He said it was delicious and had great flavor. I, however, was so turned off by the baked noodles and frustrated by the amount of time it was in the oven that I refuse to make this meal again. However, I did tell MJ that I'm more than willing to try this recipe again, but making meatballs instead of meatloaf. I'll blog about that when I do.

The night I vacuumed a plate

Last night was supposed to be an easy, yummy dinner.

We got whole wheat pizza dough from Trader Joes, chopped up some fresh veggies.  We chose onions, mushrooms and green peppers. Then we added sauce and cheese to our liking (I like a little sauce and a lot of cheese, MJ likes a lot of sauce and a little cheese) and baked our own pizzas for 8 minutes.  Really, only 8 minutes.  That's all it needs!

Here is our delicious pizza:

Can you guess which side is mine?

 

And then, right when you're about to eat, after you've already served MJ his slice and you're pulling your perfect, personalized slice off the tray, your plate will go crashing down onto the floor and shatter into a kajillion-billion pieces all over your kitchen. 

The good news: no pizza was harmed in the process.  Nor humans.

I looked down at my feet, surrounded by the zillion-trillion pieces of plate and sighed.  And then I crunched across the kitchen (don't worry mom, I was wearing shoes!), got a new plate, served myself a perfect, personalized slice, and crunched my way over to the table, where I joined MJ for pizza. 

After dinner we did the only thing you can do when faced with a gazillion-million pieces covering your floor: we vacuumed the plate.  I first picked up the bigger pieces and when vacuumed the small, tiny, and microscopic sized pieces.  Then MJ swiffered and vacuumed again to make sure we got it all.  This is also how I know he loves me. 

A word to the wise: do not drop a Corelle plate.  It will shatter.  Into a gagillion-fantillion pieces.

At least the pizza was good.  Rest In Pieces, plate.