The Pajama Chef

Mini Meatloaf

February 1, 2011February 23, 2017 Sarah

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… I love meatloaf! I know, I know. It’s not really a girly food and it’s kinda 1950ish. But I’ve loved it since I was a child [I think!], and I still enjoy it now.

Meatloaf was especially great when colored ketchup was on the market. Anyone else remember that? I thought the purple kind was just the best! It was fun making art with dinner. 🙂 Heinz… if you’re reading this… bring back my colored ketchup! Please and thank you!

Anyways… after a moment of mourning for my beloved ketchup, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I think meatloaf gets too much of a bad rap for being lumpy and flavorless. If you fall into that camp, then this meatloaf solves all your problems! My family recipe of meatloaf is made in muffin cups, which alleviates the long cooking times and difficult cutting of many of the traditional “loaf” meatloaves. It’s small size is handy for a lunchbox or for freezing leftovers. And lumpy or loafy? Not at all! But meat muffins doesn’t have the same ring as “mini meatloaf,” now does it? And flavorless? Not on your life! This meatloaf has your typical salt and pepper–celery salt, garlic salt, and freshly ground black pepper, mind you, as well as savory sage [in the summer use fresh sage! mmm], tangy Worcestershire sauce, and sharp mustard. There is no lack of flavor in this meatloaf! So put your fears aside and whip up a quick batch of meatloaf for dinner. You’ll be glad you did!

Mini Meatloaves

Servings: 4
Time: 45 minutes
Print

[from Mom]

Ingredients:

1 egg
1 cup [whole wheat] bread crumbs
1 1/4 cup [skim] milk
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup onion, minced
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon sage
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg. Add bread crumbs and milk, then mix. Then add remaining ingredients and mix well with your hands. Don’t be afraid to get dirty, just wash your hands afterwards! 🙂

Scoop using 1/3 cup measuring cup into a 12 cup muffin tin. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until cooked thoroughly. Top with ketchup and enjoy!

Question of the Day: What foods do you miss from your childhood? [Sadly though from googling the colored ketchup I learned it was made from 2000-2006… I wasn’t exactly a child then…]

Bars, Desserts, Recipes

Monkey Bars

January 31, 2011October 9, 2015 Sarah

So, I often wind up receiving a lot of free magazine subscriptions via deals I find on Money Saving Mom. Some of the magazines aren’t exactly my type of reading material–not that anything is wrong with mags like Woman’s Day, but its target audience is a tad bit older than me… BUT it is always fun to get “real mail” and not just bills, and there are always recipes in these women’s mags! I found this recipe in a recent copy of Women’s Day and had the perfect occasion to make them for a Flying Monkey theme party at my husband’s office, honoring his boss on her last day before she left for a new position elsewhere.

These Monkey Bars, unlike the grade school playground staple, are basically a glorified banana bread… but that does not diminish their delightfulness! Everyone loved how flavorful they were–sweet bananas spiced with cinnamon and enriched by mini chocolate chips. They are best enjoyed warm with a glass of milk, but are equally tasty as a healthy lunch treat!

Monkey Bars [from Woman’s Day]

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup mashed ripe bananas [directions say this was about 5, for me it was about 4]
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup skim milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 15 x 10 x 1/2 inch pan OR a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray. Stir together mashed bananas, sugar, oil, milk, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and cinnamon in a large bowl until fully combined. Fold in flour until just combined, stir in 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips. Spread mixture into pan and sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top. Bake about 15-20 minutes for the 15 x 10 x 1/2 inch pan or about 40-45 minutes for the 9 x 13 inch pan or until cooked through. Cool in the pan on a wire rack and cut in squares to serve.

Click here for the printable version: Monkey Bars

Question of the Day: What magazines do you love? I personally am [newly] obsessed with the Food Network magazine! It is great! But I’d love other suggestions. 🙂

Menu Plans

Menu Plan

January 30, 2011January 29, 2011 Sarah

Week of January 30

Monday: Costa Rican Black Beans and Rice

Tuesday: Chicken with Creamy Mustard Sauce

Wednesday: man meal for Ben/night class for me 😦

Thursday-Sunday: I’m outta town, visiting my college roomie in Columbus, Ohio! I can’t wait. Ben will be here fending for himself… and for the first time since we’ve been apart overnight in our married life, we’ll each have a car! We’ve been sharing a car since we got married, which made traveling separately more complicated. We still did it on occasion but since we bought a new-to-us vehicle over the weekend, this trip will be much easier! And the best part was that we paid cash for it so it’s 100% ours! Yay!

lunch special: Apricot-Basil Chicken Salad

Guest Post Links, Musings

Stylish Blogger

January 28, 2011July 1, 2013 Sarah

Courtney recently tagged me in the ever-popular Stylish Blogger award! Woohoo!

There are 4 duties to perform to accept this award:

1. Make a post + Link back to the person who awarded you this award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers
4. Contact these bloggers and tell them they’ve won!

So, here we go! 🙂

In college I was involved in a million and a half [that’s an exact count] honor societies, clubs, teams, and organizations. I rarely had any free time but had a blast. I don’t want to go back to college per se but I do miss my college friends and wish we could get together more often. Next weekend I’m going to visit my roommate of 3 years and I can’t wait!

Sarah at graduation — see the obnoxiousness that was my involvement in a million & a half things?

My favorite movie of all time is My Best Friend’s Wedding. I think it’s the perfect combination of comedy, drama, and romance. I practically have the whole thing memorized. When the big VHS to DVD switcharoo happened, MBFW [as I call it in my head] was one of the few movies that I bought right away on DVD as a VHS replacement.
I have only had one part time job in my life and that’s the job I currently hold right now, working in the office of the African Studies Collection at my university library. Some aspects are more tedious than others, but it definitely isn’t the typical office filing/typing job. I love it! My only other jobs have been working on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) for two years post-graduation and working for two summers at Camp Tecumseh, a local YMCA camp. All have been great!! Oh, and I also babysat alot in high school!
I spent the better part of May 2005-August 2006 abroad. May-June 2005 were spent in Lesotho doing service work/taking classes, September-December 2005 were spent studying abroad in Cameroon, and June-August 2006 were spent on summer project with CRU in Nice, France. I love traveling and can’t wait to do more!
in Cameroon… like the braids?
Growing up I had 3 cats [at different times] and a dog. Now, I have one cat and want another… but we’ll see on that!
I miss Heidi! When we have a house, I want to get a weimerainer again!
My wedding day was one of the best days of my life. I loved my dress and loved the ceremony! While there are some things about the day I wish I could change [how long the photos took for example], it was a great day and I wouldn’t have it any different if I could do it again! Our photographer was great, by the way!
I loved taking photos on a golf course!
I love having weird combination of ice cream. Right now, we have mango sherbet and chocolate pretzel ice cream in the freezer and I love having a bowl with a scoop of each! Everyone else thinks it’s weird but I think it is delish!!
rose gelato in Nice!

Now to pass on the award to bloggers whose responses I’d like to read…

[in no particular order, not exactly 15, and I’m sorry if you already did this!]

And finally… be sure to check out my guest post on meal planning tips at Today’s Housewife! I recently joined their food team and will be posting there once a month. 🙂

Happy Friday! Any exciting plans??