When I was growing up, we spent most of our weekends up north with the grandparents. Usually we had dinner at my dad’s parents’ house on Saturday and Sunday’s dinner was at my mom’s parents’ house. Both meals often (though not always) included some kind of roast dinner, something special compared to what you might normally eat during the week when you’re a bit more rushed.

I’ve never really done that myself. Our Sunday dinner never really differs that much from Tuesday’s dinner. If I feel like making a roast pork on Wednesday I go ahead and do it – part of the flexibility of working from home and all.

Still, tonight’s dinner reminded me just a little bit of weekend dinners when I was younger, even if part of it was grilled rather than roasted. I made grilled pork chops (which I just season with garlic and a generous shake of steak spice), some steamed broccoli and carrots, and a quick potato and onion dish that ended up being quite tasty. It still smells amazing in here, almost three hours after the fact.

When I mentioned the meal over on Twitter I immediately had two requests for the potato recipe. It’s so simple that I may make it for lunch some day when I’m having a carb fit. It would also be good at breakfast time instead of hash browns!

– 4 large potatoes, unpeeled, sliced
– 2 small onions, sliced and separated
– 2 tsp. butter
– 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
– 1/2 tsp. parsley
– Salt and pepper to taste

Combine everything in a microwave safe casserole dish and cover. Heat on high for 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Let sit for five minutes and serve.

I didn’t have any fresh or bottled garlic so I used powdered garlic and used about 1 1/2 tsp. I don’t have any parsley and don’t much care for it beyond a garnish so I skipped that. When I served it, I added a little more butter on top of mine to melt and a bit more pepper since I like pepper more than the kids do.

It got a thumbs up from everyone and I’m amazed there was any left.

And now I am hungry again. Hmmmm…

Thanks to Carol, I discovered a food meme, and we all know I love food, right? This site has a Friday post called Favorite Ingredients Friday where you post a much-loved recipe from your household, including a picture if possible.

This meatloaf picture is actually from last March, but I made it again a couple of nights ago. Meatloaf is one of those meals I really didn’t care for when I was growing up. I didn’t like my mom’s meatloaf at all, even though there was nothing wrong with it at all, and while I would eat my grandmother’s just because she topped it with chili sauce, I wouldn’t say I *liked* it. Now I love meatloaf and when we replaced our stove with one that actually (gasp) has a working oven, that was one of the first things I wanted to make again. Easy, quick to prepare, and tasty, but the best reason to make meatloaf ever is just so you can have meatloaf sandwiches the next day for lunch.

This recipe is from taking bits and pieces of several different recipes that I liked.

Sherry’s Meatloaf

-1 lb ground beef, lean is preferable
-1 egg, beaten
-1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (I made my own with 4 slices dry bread, some garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne)
-1/2 cup milk
-1/4 cup dried onion soup mix
-1/4 cup finely chopped onion
-A few shakes Worcestershire sauce

Mix all in bowl until well blended. Press into loaf pan or shape into a loaf in a lightly greased 9×13 inch pan.

-1/3 cup ketchup
-2 tbsp mustard
-A few shakes Worcestershire sauce
-Optional: a few shakes of hot sauce of your choice (I used to like the one I had from Barbados but we finished it up, alas)

Stir ingredients in a measuring cup then pour over meatloaf.

Bake at 350 for one hour. YUM.

Now I’m hungry. Good thing I have leftovers so I can go make a sandwich!