meat loaf, meat loaf, double beat loaf. i hate meat loaf.

Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease tell me you've seen that movie! You know,"Christmas Story"??
Oh man, if you haven't seen it (which would still blow my mind), go rent it today. You know what? You'd better buy it...you'll want to make watching it on Christmas Eve a tradition like it's been for my family and Matt's family for, well, as long as we can remember. In fact, it was such a "must" for Matt, that once we got our house, and we didn't have our own copy of the legend that is this movie, he bought it for me (well, us really) for Christmas. Yep. It's THAT legendary.
Anyway, I'm off my must-see-classic-movie soap box for now. Onto the meal.
Yep, you guessed it, we had meat loaf.
Slow-cooker meat loaf, broccoli & sweet potato mash, to be exact!

I must say, I am all about using a crock pot, but meat loaf? Really?
It's true. And it was delicious. I had to make some adjustments, because I didn't have some things, however, for the simplicity of the blog, I'm going to give you the recipe straight out of the magazine. Oh, by the way, it's from Healthy Cooking.

Here's how to make the meat loaf:

INGREDIENTS
1 C. soft bread crumbs
1 1/2 C. spaghetti sauce
1 egg, beaten
2 Tbs. dried, minced onion (this is something I didn't have, so I didn't use it)
1 Tsp. salt
1/2 Tsp. garlic powder
1/2 Tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 Tsp. black pepper
2 lbs. lean (90%) ground beef (I only had 1.25 lbs.)

DIRECTIONS
~ Cut four 20 in. x 3 in. strips of heavy-duty foil; crisscross them over each other so that they look like spokes of a wheel. Place them in the bottom and up the sides of your slow-cooker and spray each strip with cooking spray.

~ In a large bowl, place the bread crumbs, 1 cup spaghetti sauce, egg, onion and all the seasonings and stir. Crumble all the beef into the mixture and mix together, forming a loaf...thus the term "meat loaf"...it's literally a loaf of meat, people!
Place the loaf in the middle of the strips of foil. Spoon/brush the remaining spaghetti sauce onto the top of the loaf.

~ Cook on low, covered, for 3-4 hours. I did ours a little longer than four!
~ When the meat loaf is done, use the strips as handles to get the loaf out of the cooker and onto a plate. I know, it sounds like craziness, but it actually worked...really well.

Now, for the sweet potato mash! (my recipe)

INGREDIENTS
1 sweet potato, boiled with or without skin (Feeds two people)
1 Tbs. heavy whipping cream
1 Tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tsp. butter/SmartBalance

DIRECTIONS
In a medium mixing bowl, place potato (after it's been boiled) & remaining ingredients and beat with an electric mixer until you have the consistency of mashed potatoes.

I kept the skins on. I love potato skins! Matt, no so much. Oh well, he still loved the taste, the texture just threw him off.
Funny story about the potato, actually. I put the potato on to boil. Then I proceeded to step outside to make a call. I was talking to my friends mom, Paula, about wedding showers and this and that. I was so involved in the conversation that Matt finished mowing the back yard, came inside, noticed that the water was about to boil over. So, he then flew threw the front door, tries to get my attention, and finally comes up to me on the phone and mouths "the water was boiling over...I turned it down". Of course, I couldn't read his lips. So, he actually voiced it this time. First I said "what water?" That's right, I had 99% forgotten about the potatoes! Not good. So, I then proceeded to tell Paula who then said "I better see this on the blog, Meg!" And here it is :-)
Moral of the story? Don't put something on to boil and go outside to make a call!


All in all, a great meal. Matt loved it so much he took the rest for lunch today!
Ah, the joys of cooking.