Meatloaf, Mashed, Peas & Gravy

08 23 2017

I had an outpatient procedure at the hospital Monday so wanted something easy to digest. I was hungry for meatloaf so I fixed my wife’s favorite; a recipe from Lipton soups. My favorite sides to have with meatloaf are mashed potatoes, peas or corn and country gravy.

I did the meatloaf on my Traeger, at 250 deg. grill level for about 40 minutes and then went to about 285 deg. grill ; level for another hour for 165 deg. IT.My sides was some Bob Even’s white cheddar mashed potatoes and some frozen peas. For my gravy I made Pioneer brand country gravy. Using store bought sides makes this an easy meal.

I had some sourdough bread I toasted as garlic bread under the broiler. It all tasted pretty good!

Meatloaf ready to smoke

Done on the smoker

Resting

My supper

Pulled Beef Sandwiches

Aug 17 2017

Sometimes when you try a different cooking method it works but this time it wasn’t the best. Usually when I do a beef chuck roast to pull I take it to 160 deg. IT and then in a pan with liquid up halfway on the meat, cover with foil and braise it until the IT is 195 to 205 deg.

This time I decided to wrap with butcher paper for the final cooking. I wanted the beef with just salt, pepper, garlic and onion; this would make it nice to freeze and save for other recipes.

I had a nice 4 pound chuck from my butcher. I trimmed some of the fat and then added Kosher salt to dry brine overnight in the fridge. When ready to cook I added some fresh ground pepper and then on my Traeger heated to 250 deg. Grill level. I got it on a little after 7 AM.

I made some broth with better than bullion. At 11:15 it was staying at 160 deg. I placed it in two layers of butcher paper added some dried garlic, 3 slices of onions for flavor and moisture and I mopped it with some of the broth. It went back on the smoker and upped the temp to about 300 deg. Grill level.

At 1:45 it was up to 196 deg. IT. I removed it to a pan and then in my oven to rest for an hour.

When I tried to pull it I could see it wasn’t going to work so I sliced it up. It had a nice smoke ring and good flavor, pretty tender but not overly moist. I added some of the broth and in the fridge until supper time.

A good neighbor had given me some nice tomatoes and cucumbers. I made some vinegar and oil marinated cukes, tomatoes, sweet onion and garlic. I just by ear and add about ⅓ cup of vinegar and 2 or 3 swirls of olive oil. I used white wine vinegar and like it heavy over the oil.

For supper I had some potato sandwich thins and toasted for sandwiches. We heated the beef in the microwave. My wife had mustard and dill pickles on hers, I didn’t think the dill pickles would go with the sour tomato cuke salad so I had some of the pickled onions on mine. We had some leftover potato salad we finished up too.

In spite of having pulled beef like I wanted the sandwiches were pretty good.

Beef ready to smoke

Ready to wrap

Added onions, garlic and broth

Wrapped on the smoker

After resting

Sliced

For my salad

All mixed

My salad

My supper

Sweet Italian Sausage & Squash

08 16 2017

This meal is about as quick and easy as you can make. To me it’s as tasty as if you spent all afternoon preparing it. It is all done in one skillet.

All you need is some Italian sausage, sweet or hot, a sweet onion, some garlic, zucchini and yellow squash, salt and pepper. A skillet full can easily feed four.

I found some fresh sweet Italian Johnsonville sausage and just used 3 links for the wife and me. I removed it from the casings and browned it well leaving medium size chunks. I removed it from the skillet and set aside. I poured off the fat, wiped the skillet and deglazed with a little water. I had sliced about a half medium onion thinly, added it to the skillet and then some chopped garlic.

I sliced a small zucchini and about ¾ of a yellow squash and added it to the skillet. Looked like plenty for the wife and me. I added the sausage back in and cooked until hot through and the squash was starting to soften.

I split a piece of Naan bread with the wife and served. That tasted great and I had about one serving leftover.

Ingredients

Sausage browned then removed

Onions added

Garlic added

Squash added

Sausage added back in

My supper