Back in the Saddle! 3-Meat Meat Loaf, Chicken Mango Salad with Balsamic Vinagrette and a Classic

We got back from skiing on Tuesday morning at 3am and we've been eating out MOST of this week. I can't tell you how happy I am to spend this Sunday cooking! It's supposed to rain in NYC today so I got up early and got my groceries before the downpour began. Now I'm in one of my MANY aprons I got for Christmas and ready to roll!

Note: the "Classic" in this recipe is my Asian Beef with Soba Noodles I made a few weeks ago. It was so good we are craving it again! This time I only have a 2-lb pot roast in the freezer, so I'm using that instead of what's in the recipe.

3-Meat Meat Loaf
Adapted from Ina Garten's recipe from Food Network.com. She only uses beef, but I wanted to mix it up a bit.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup canned chicken stock or broth
1/2lb ground beef
1/2lb ground pork
1/2lb ground veal
1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs (we make our own, search my recipe archive!)
2 large eggs, beaten
Ketchup to cover the Loaf (recommended: Trader Joe's)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the onions, thyme, salt, and pepper and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent but not brown. Off the heat, add the Worcestershire sauce and chicken stock. Allow to cool slightly.

2. In a large bowl, combine the ground meat, onion mixture, bread crumbs, and eggs, and mix lightly with a fork. Don't mash or the meat loaf will be dense. Shape the mixture into a rectangular loaf on a sheet pan covered with parchment paper.

3. Spread the ketchup evenly on top. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F and the meat loaf is cooked through. Tip from Ina: "A pan of hot water in the oven, under the meat loaf, will keep the top from cracking."

I boiled some red potatoes and will be doing a spinach, garlic and mushroom sautee to serve the Meat loaf over.

Chicken Mango Salad
My own recipe!

Since we got back from skiing, we've been buying salads at work since I didn't have enough time to cook. I had an awesome salad that I'm going to replicate for lunches this week. This recipe makes about 3-4 lunch servings.

Ingredients in the Salad
2 Chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
1 bag of mesculun salad mix
1 bag frozen corn
1 avocado, sliced
1 mango, sliced
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 box of sliced button mushrooms
2 vine-ripened tomatoes, cubed
Sliced red onion (your preference on how much)

Balsamic Vinagrette Ingredients
4 tablespoons of mayo (use our recipe a few weeks back)
2 tablespoons of Balsamic vinager
1/4 teapsoon of Salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 teaspoon of paprika
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
Squirt or two of Dijon Mustard to taste

Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour on top of salad. NOM NOM NOME! I made the salad separate from the dressing and take the two in separate containers to work.