I, on the other hand, hadn't finished college yet, and was employed full-time as a salesman and mechanic at a small, but very busy, tire shop. Not going to talk much about that now, but I brought it up in order to justify mentioning that I had been working there for about two years when my Honey graduated, and her new, part-time job netted us about half again as much salary as my full-time job!
Life goes on, however, and things change. I eventually got my own degrees, changed jobs, and began to make more money. That often required that we move to a new location. Because of that, she changed jobs just as frequently as we moved, and made less money at them. Eventually, we decided to stop not having babies, which, contrary to what at least some of my friends say, isn't the same as deciding to have one right away. And we didn't start a baby right away, but it wasn't terribly long after that. When pregnancy made working as a substitute Science teacher too difficult for her, my Honey became a full-time homemaker and, eventually, stay-at-home Mom.
We moved around a bit more, and ultimately had a total of three kids. After twelve years of raising children, we enrolled our youngest in the public school system, and my Honey decided to return to the workforce. Her criteria for an acceptable job severely limited her options. The apron strings were stretched, but hadn't yet broken, and she didn't want to work more than a few minutes away from where the kids were going to school; she didn't want to teach school; and she didn't want to work in a non-technical job.
The only jobs that met all of those criteria were lab technician jobs in nearby industrial facilities. These jobs were low paying, had insignificant benefits, and the only openings available were on the graveyard shift.
She took one anyway, hoping for opportunities to improve on the situation, which led to some changes in our lifestyle. Having worked a graveyard-shift job before, myself, I knew she wouldn't be able to hold it down and still run the household. It's difficult to sleep when you're supposed to anyway, and impossible if you have to take care of others. As a result, the kids and I took over many of the household chores (read, I took them over and made the kids do some of them!), and I started preparing most of the meals for the family. My kitchen repertoire, although wholesome, was pretty limited. I did expand it to include a few things, however, and one of those was a pretty decent meatloaf.
The downside of doing something right, is that you tend to want to do it over and over again. The end result was that, even though the kids initally loved my meatloaf, they eventually grew bored of it and now they won't eat it at all. I, on the other hand, still like it, so when I needed something to fill out a menu last night, I decided to do my version of meatloaf. It had been years since I last made it, and only my Honey, along with one of our grandchildren and I were to be at the table, so I figured it was a safe course of action.
My granddaughter loved my meatloaf - despite my bad memories of her mother's reaction to it, the last time she ate it. My Honey also seemed pleased, so I count the meal as a success. It isn't hard to make. Anybody can do it. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
| Ground Beef, lean | 1 | lb |
| Stuffing Mix,commercial seasoned bread | 2 | cup |
| Tomatoes, 15 oz can, diced | 1 | ea |
| carrots, finely grated | 1 | cup |
| egg, large | 1 | ea |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 | Tbs |
| Salt, common | ½ | tsp |
| black pepper, ground | to | taste |
Directions:
For the ground beef, I like to use ground round, at about 15% fat. You can use practically any grade or cut of ground beef, but the more fat in it, the deeper the pool of fat your final product will be swimming in after it's been cooked..
I use Pepperidge Farm™ Herb Seasoned stuffing mix, but probably any white/wheat bread based herb-seasoned stuffing would do. You could even make your own.
You're going to get your hands messy doing this. Make sure they are clean before you start! Since I don't like the feel of tallow caked on my hands, I have been known to use food-grade latex gloves. If you use them too, make sure you aren't serving anyone with latex allergies!
Add all ingredients to a large mixing bowl, and mix thoroughly, kneading with clean hands!. Don't stop kneading until all ingredients are distributed more or less uniformly throughout the mixture.
Place the mixture in a lightly-greased loaf pan. Depending on the grade of ground beef you use, more or less grease will render out during cooking, but if you skip this step, it might stick to the pan anyway. Some of you might like to line the loaf pan with greased parchment paper. Make sure that depth of the mixture is uniform in the pan. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375°F, until done. It usually takes about 45 minutes. If in doubt, use a meat thermometer to determine doneness.
When the loaf is done, carefully pour off excess grease (don't burn yourself!), and using spatula, break the loaf free of the pan. Move the loaf to a clean platter or cutting board and slice into pieces about ½" thick.
Serve hot, with your choice of toppings and sides. I like plain catsup, or melted cheese for toppings. For sides, I usually go with seasoned mashed potatoes and English Peas.
This is a dish I enjoy making almost as much as I enjoy eating. I hope you do too.
Bon appétit!
Mariner
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