Now I know what you are thinking! Meatloaf?! Yuck! Trust me, I was with you 100%. I hated meatloaf. But then my awesome mom made the Heloises Meatlof and that was it. I can't speak for other meatloaves but I can tell you, you will LOVE this one. The neat things about this meatloaf are, it has a sauce for it, the sauce is a sweet and tangy sauce which goes awesome with the ingredients, and for those that love spicy... you can make this sucker SUPER spicy if you chose. So try this recipe and give me your feed back!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar                                 1 Tbs yellow mustard
3/4 cup ketchup (this will be divided up)            1 dash hot pepper sauce
2 lbs ground beef                                                     1 egg (beaten)
2/3 cup cracker crumbs (we use saltine)            1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup finely chopped onion                                1/4 cup chopped bell pepper
1 tsp salt                                                                   1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp black pepper                                               ***optional crushed pepper***​

     So a little back story on the "optional crushed pepper". My mom's recipe she wrote to me says "chopped red pepper". Well the first time I made this I thought that meant crushed red pepper. I am blond after all. LOL. Anyway, my husband and his dad love spicy so instead of doing 1/4 cup bell pepper I did 2 CUPS CRUSHED RED PEPPER!!! Yeah! It was crazy spicy, they loved it despite the physical pain it caused them...men. I have never been able to bring myself to make it that spicy again even though my husband begs me to. I just had to share where that extra ingredient came from. I have since edited my mom's notes to include the word "bell" before pepper so I remember. I'm fine with you laughing at me, haha.

​Preparation:
                     (meatloaf portion) 1. In a large bowl combine ground beef, egg, cracker crumbs, milk,                                                                onion, bell pepper, salt, sage, black pepper, (crushed red pepper if                                                                 you chose) and 1/2 cup of the ketchup
                                                       2. Mix all ingredients together until hamburger like consistency
                                                       3. Press meat mixture into a large, sprayed casserole dish 

                     (sauce portion) 4. In a large bowl with spoon, mix brown sugar, mustard, hot pepper                                                             sauce and 1/4 cup ketchup (I usually do 8x these amounts so people                                                         can put more on and if you have left overs it's nice to have extra sauce)
                                                 5. Spread half of the mixture over the top of meatloaf
                                                6. Bake in pre-heated 350 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add                                                            remaining sauce on top while cooling for 10 minutes
*** Glass casserole dishes and white ceramic will most likely take longer to cooks, especially if very thick! So keep that in mind.***

     I really wish I had thought to take pictures this week when I made this family favorite. That is something that I will have to remember to do, so I apologize for the lack of pictures on this post. LOL. So my husband and I have been trying to find ways to save money with three growing children, all around the same age, and two of them being boys. I have also been wasting a lot of food by planning meals all week but then forgetting about them or just being too tired to actually make them. So we came up with a solution and it worked great this week! Mothers you may want to follow suite with it. I will make a meal and we will eat it all that week (We always eat out on Wednesday nights and Fridays are family fun nights so that is usually frozen pizza; so it isn't really 7 days, more like 5). This worked so well this week! Two days ago I got sick and last night I had a mini anxiety attack about what to make for dinner since I was sick. It was awesome to remember that I didn't have to make anything but instead just had to reheat the casserole! So I am highly recommending this strategy mommies.

    This is a great recipe for reheating. If you know me you know I don't like any left overs that have meat in it, but this one I could reheat a million times and it just gets better each time! I hope you enjoy it. Leave a comment and share if you tried and loved this recipe. 

     Okay, okay, this will be the last potato recipe for awhile. I promise! They were all just so good. Haha! Speaking of potatoes, did you know, Idaho grows more than 10 BILLION pounds of potatoes each year, earning the top spot among potato-growing states?! Well, thanks to Briseis' curriculum now you do.

What you will need:
                                  4 oz. potato chips                                                2 1/2 - 3 lbs chicken, cut up
                                  1/4 tsp garlic salt                                                 1/2 cup butter, melted
                                  black pepper, to taste

Step by step:
                       1. Crush potato chips and mix with garlic salt and black pepper.
                       2. Dip chicken in butter, then roll in potato chips.
                       3. Place on cookie sheet. Top with any remaining potato chips.
                       4. Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.


That's it folks! This is an easy and fast recipe to have. The kids also loved dipping it in sour cream!

     This is another one I am going to have to say, sounds bad but is surprisingly delicious. It as also comes from Idaho and is great as a main meal or a side item. If you are into Southern Christmas or Thanksgiving dinners I would strongly recommend this one.

What you need:
                          6 medium potatoes                                         2 cups cottage cheese
                          1/2 cup sour cream                                         1/2 tsp salt
                          1/2 tsp black pepper                                       2 Tbs Dijon mustard
                          1 unbaked pie shell                                          4 oz. Swiss cheese
                          2 Tbs butter                                                      1/2 Mozzarella cheese

To Prepare: 
                    1. Wash and boil potatoes
                    2. Mix with cottage cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper
                    3. Spread mustard in pie shell
                   4. Fill with half potato mixture. Layer with Swiss cheese. Top with remaining potato mixture                                  (it will go above the pie crust, that's okay)
                   5. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese
                   6. Bake at 375 degrees for 40 minutes
                   7. Cool for 30-45 minutes, slice and serve, you can dip in extra Dijon mustard if desired

That is is! If you try and enjoy it, please share and like. If you want to be kept up to date with new recipes getting added, just subscribe under the Stay Connected tab and send me your email. Enjoy!