Frustrations

Ever have one of those days when everything you touch turns to shit? Of course you have. Most of the day was okay, but then….

I decided to try a new recipe that Texas Anne sent. It sounded good, easy, and I already had most of the ingredients. Here it is:
TACO MEAT LOAF
(An Ameri-Tex-Mex Fusion)

1 pound of LEAN ground beef (less than 10% fat)
½ cup of finely crushed corn chips
1 beaten egg
3 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
½ cup of (your favorite) thick and chunky salsa
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup of Mexican blend shredded cheese

TOPPING
1 cup of refried beans
¼ cup of your favorite salsa
1 cup of Mexican blend shredded cheese

In a bowl, mix the ground beef, corn chips, egg, chili powder, cumin,
salsa, black pepper and ½ cup of shredded cheese. Mix thoroughly and
form into an oval on the baking sheet (not in a loaf pan).

 

In a small bowl, mix the refried beans with ¼ cup of salsa and frost the
top of the uncooked meatloaf with it. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes. The
last few minutes of baking time, sprinkle the top of the meatloaf with
one cup of shredded cheese and return to oven.

To serve, gently slide a thin spatula under the meatloaf to loosen it
from the baking pan and lift it (all in one piece) to a nice serving dish.

NOTE: I do not add salt to this recipe because there is plenty of salt
in the other ingredients.
NOTE: By baking this on a sheet pan (rather than a loaf pan) the grease
will run out onto the pan and not "soak" your meatloaf. You shouldn't
have much "grease" if you use 90% lean ground beef.

OK. So here we go. I had some packages of ground venison in the freezer (courtesy of Wayne, the hunter). That takes care of the lean ground beef. I thought they were one-pound packs, but looked awfully small, so I thawed two. Of course, they WERE one-pound packs, and seemed to grow bigger as they thawed. So now it’s two loaves instead of one. I had gotten corn chips, salsa, and refried beans at the store, so I had enough of the other ingredients. For two huge loaves.

I reached to get some foil to line the baking sheet, and there were only a couple of inches in the box. I knew I had gotten more, but then I couldn’t find where I stored it. Couldn’t find it anywhere, so finally used some heavy-duty foil I had. I put the loaves on two baking racks on the sheet, and put them in the oven.

I had gotten corn tortillas to go with it as bread, and looked for my microwave tortilla steamer. It wasn’t where I had always kept it. OK, I sort of remembered moving it, but couldn’t remember where, and couldn’t find it. So I found another way to steam the tortillas.

When John took the loaves out of the oven, they looked even bigger. He used two spatulas to transfer one to a platter, and the bottom of it had sunk through the gaps in the rack and got left behind. Of course, there was no grease from the venison to drain off, so the racks weren’t necessary.

With all that, the meatloaf was very good (I recommend the recipe) and the second meal and the sandwiches will be good, too. And while I was wrapping the second loaf (cut in half) for freezing, I remembered where I had hidden the new roll of foil.

All in all, it was not only not a disaster, but a very good meal. Just lots of frustrations during the prep.
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Mountain laurel, Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.