Meatloaf Dinner

New thing, made a meatloaf dinner. Husband grew up loving meatloaf. I've never really liked the stuff. But as I'm cooking a lot and experimenting, decided to make him some meatloaf.

I followed the Joy of Cooking recipe. Didn't follow exactly. Just got ground beef (1.5 lbs) instead of 12oz beef chuck & 12oz beef round (equals 1.5 lbs). Didn't dice the onions finely, and didn't pack in the meat that tight. In the end, it turned out really surprisingly yummy! I LOVED the flavor and never had a good meatloaf before the one I made. Pretty cool.

I made broccoli with butter & Swiss cheese on top - heated up in oven to melt the cheese. That turned out good too.

Bread was a failure! It didn't rise. I tried fixing it by reincorporating yeast, but it didn't really work. It was almost like pizza dough and I should have made pizza instead, but decided to chance making real bread. I thought it might have been the salt, but I think my water was too hot when incorporating yeast & it killed it. Anyway I learned a lot more about bread making. Was devastated and so sad when it didn't work. Felt like such a waste of food & time and I hated it. In the end, the bread & rolls resembled LOTR Elvish Lembas bread. Super super dense. Edible and tasting alright, but super super dense.

Anyway despite the major disappointment in the bread, I was very happy with how the meatloaf came out. A new favorite to add to my cooking repertoire. Joy of Cooking has done awesome for me in meat recipes so far :) yeay new things and sometimes boo too when it doesn't turn out how you want it.