NEW APRONS!

My precious mom has been gone for 12 years now,
but every November two of her
dear friends from Bible School
take me out for brunch in memory of Mom's birthday. 
They brought Drew and I special gifts this year. 
Kathy made us delicate paper angels-no photo yet...
And Char made Drew and I these not-too-feminine-aprons
for our cooking jobs and events!
If we look exhausted, we are! 
We had just finished a meatloaf dinner and no-bake pies,
for 100 people at The Covenant Church.
God keeps us going though!  :-)



3 different Meat Loaves and Italian Shoe String Fries
 

Here are 3 recipes we made at the church last Wednesday.
We made four meat loaves,
including Pioneer Woman's Bacon Meatloaf which is not shown here.
Drew doesn't always plate foods as "pretty" as I 
might like but he's a good photographer, and I am proud of all he learns and does,
so here is his picture of a variety of the food we made.
As usual, we have fresh fruits and veggies and cooked veggies also.
And as always, change things up for your own tastes! 
Many of our simple recipes are very flexible or forgiving.  :-)
On this night, we got the most compliments on the cranberry turkey loaf!

 
Italian Fries
Olive Oil Spray
1 bag of frozen shoestring french fries
Italian Spice or Rosemary
Shredded Parmesan Asiago Romano Cheese
 
Line a cookie sheet with foil. Spray with Olive Oil Spray.  Place fries in a single layer. Sprinkle Italian Spice and Cheese over all.  Spray lightly with the olive oil. Bake for about 20 minutes or until done.  Add salt or garlic salt, if desired.
 
BELOW:
All of these loaves below were made in 8 x 12 or 9 x 13 pans. 
Cut recipe in half if you prefer to make a loaf size. Since we are quantity cooks, we make larger sizes than most families. Or divide these recipes and freeze one half.
 
Cranberry Turkey Loaf
 3 pounds ground turkey or beef
4 eggs
1 - 2 cups of breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs
1 cup chicken broth
Salt and Pepper to taste
Any spice of choice
1 can of cranberry sauce
1 cup of ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tsp vinegar
 
Mix the first 4 ingredients and spices together in large bowl.
Pressed in greased 8 x 12 foil pan.  Bake for 45 minutes at 350-375 degrees.
Mix cranberry sauce, ketchup, vinegar and brown sugar in small bowl.
Spread on top of turkey loaf and then bake for about 50-60 minutes more or until
completely cooked through.

This recipe below was inspired by "true friend Linn" as Drew calls her!
She made us Turkey/Parmesan/Ranch Burgers on the grill
one weekend last year and I was hooked,
so I made up a Turkey Meatloaf that was sort of similar!
I think she used Ranch powder in the burgers.
 Thanks Linn!
 
Parmesan Ranch Turkey Loaf
 3 pounds of ground turkey
4 eggs
1-2 cups of Italian Breadcrumbs
1 and 1/2 cups of Shredded Parmesan Asiago Romano Cheese
8 ounces of ranch dressing, liquid, not powder
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan or cheeese of choice
 
Mix first five ingredients. Pressed into greased 8 x 12 foil pan. Bake for 1 and 1/2 hours at 350-375 degrees.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese on top and bake for 15 minutes more.
 
Pizza Loaf
 3 pounds of ground meat of choice
(beef, italian sausage and/or turkey)
4 eggs
1-2 cups of Italian Breadcrumbs
2 cups of mozzerella cheese
1 jar or cans of pizza sauce

For topping if desired:
More 1 more jar of pizza sauce, 1 cup of shredded
cheese of choice and 1/2 cup baby pepperoni's
 
Mix first five ingredients together.
Pressed into greased 8 x 12 foil pan.
Bake at 350-375 degrees for one and a half hours. 
Then we put more pizza sauce on top and
sprinkle with cheese and baby pepperoni's and
bake for 15-30 more minutes!