Dinner and Dessert

I finally am getting around to posting here! My sister sent me this meatloaf recipe. It IS slightly bland in its original form, so I usually throw in garlic, onion, and some italian seasonings. Also, replacing the beef with hot turkey sausage works really well.

Stuffed Rolled Meatloaf

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork (or turkey)
½ cup dry oatmeal (or breadcrumbs)
1 egg
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
¼ cup ketchup
1 10 oz pkg of frozen spinach, thawed and water squeezed out
1-2 cups shredded cheese – any flavor

1 In large mixing bowl, blend ground meats, oats, egg and sauces together until well blended.

2 Lay out a piece of wax paper about 18” long
Spread meat mixture on paper approx 9” x 12” and ½ inch thick.
Make short ends a little thinner to make rolling easier.

3 Spread spinach across meat evenly. Finely chopped onions are good too.
Season spinach with salt and pepper, sometimes I use parmesan cheese and skip the shredded cheese.

4 Cover spinach with shredded cheese.

5 Lift one edge of wax paper to help loosen meat from it, and begin rolling, semi-tightly. When you get to the end, press seam lightly into roll.
Roll onto a baking sheet. Smooth the meat on the ends to seal in the filling.

6 Bake at 350° for about an hour. Let stand 10-15 minutes before slicing.



This recipe is a bit bland made as listed above, if you ask me. So I make the following changes.
Italian sausage instead of pork.
Zesty bbq sauce instead of ketchup.
I also add ¼ of a sweet onion, garlic (3 or 4 cloves), salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, parsley, and basil, and sometimes some Mrs. Dash.
You could also add mushrooms, celery, carrot, etc (but we don’t really like those things so we don’t!)




Lemon Curd Trifle with Fresh Berries
I made this for Easter Brunch and it turned out really well. I usually DON'T like lemon in my dessert, but this was good. Be warned, it is very lemon-y, but if you get good, ripe berries, the sweetness of the berries cuts the tartness of the lemon. I couldn't find lemon pound cake (and didn't have time to bake my own), so I just used regular pound cake and it worked out fine. Also I did not use the Lemoncello since even a small bottle was kind of expensive!

Ingredients

* 6 large egg yolks
* 1 cup sugar
* 4 lemons, zested and juiced
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in chunks
* 1 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and halved lengthwise
* 1 pint fresh blueberries
* 1 pint fresh blackberries
* 2 cups sweetened whipped cream
* 1 prepared lemon pound cake, sliced
* 1/4 cup Lemoncello or Grand Marnier liqueur (optional)
* Fresh mint leaves, for garnish

Directions

To make the lemon curd: Bring a pot of water to a simmer over medium-low heat. Combine the egg yolks, sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a metal or glass heat-resistant bowl and whisk until smooth. Set the bowl over the simmering water, without letting the bottom touch, and continue to whisk. Keep working-out that arm and whisk it vigorously for a good 10 minutes, until the curd has doubled in volume and is very thick and yellow. Don't let it boil. Remove the bowl from heat and whisk in the butter, a couple of chunks at a time, until melted. Refrigerate until the custard is cold and firm.

To build the trifle: put the berries in a mixing bowl and toss them together so they are evenly distributed. Fold the whipped cream into the chilled lemon curd to lighten it up into a mousse. Line a glass trifle bowl with pieces of pound cake to fit. Drizzle or brush the cake with the Lemoncello, spoon a layer of the lemon curd over the cake, and then a layer of mixed berries. Repeat the layers until the ingredients are used up, the last layer looks best if it's the berries. Chill before serving. Garnish with fresh mint.