Onion Meatloaf

I grew up on meatloaf smothered in this sweet, red sauce that was mostly ketchup. I mostly just hated it. So when people would talk about how meatloaf was their comfort food, I never got it.

Then I realized there were other ways to make meatloaf, and they didn't have to be sweet.

This recipe is a little cheater, because it uses powdered soup mix. You could probably do it with your own blend of spices, but I'm very ok with this shortcut, and it tastes amazing.

Also, since I don't use breadcrumbs, it's pretty keto friendly, if that matters to you. Also, you can substitute various meats, depending on what you eat. I suggest trying to keep it at three different kinds, and make at least 1 of them fairly fatty meats, but it's flexible. I've done it with beef/chicken/turkey, and beef/lamb/chicken for example.

This makes about 2 loaf pans worth, you could halve it if you didn't want that much, but since it keeps and reheats well, I always make more.

(I am not including pictures, because lets face it, even delicious meatloaf does not look appealing.)

Onion Meatloaf

Ingredients
Meatloaf: 
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground turkey or chicken
3 lbs ground beef
2 packets onion/mushroom soup mix (or just onion soup mix, if you prefer)
1 block cream cheese
4 tbsp onion flakes
3 tbsp garlic powder (or 3 cloves garlic, crushed)
6 eggs

If you're going to make gravy:
1 c chicken or beef broth
1-2 tbsp butter
3-5 tbsp flour
1/2-1/3 c. heavy cream

How to:
Meatloaf:
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In a large bowl, mix everything together. Mix really well, the better integrated everything is, the better it will cook and taste.
- Divide into 2 loaf pans, and pack gently down
- Bake for about 1.5 hours, or till internal temperature registers 175.
- Let sit 5 minutes to firm up, slice and serve.

If you want gravy:
- After the meatloaf sits, pour the excess oil out of the loaf pans into a skillet. Add 1-2 tbsp butter.
- Whisk in flour equal to amount of oil in pan (usually about 4 tbsp). Cook until raw flour smell is gone.
- Slowly whisk in broth till fully incorporated, should get very thick.
- Slowly whisk in cream.
- Add additional cream or broth till gravy is desired thickness.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Honey/Sumac/Garlic/Sriracha Sauce

I have finally gotten rid of my cluster headache, so this weekend was all about the cooking. The paella wasn't super successful, so I want to try again, but the fried chicken was!

This recipe has been evolving for years, and I think I'm at a place I really like. It got rave reviews. It does require prep the day before, but it's really labor light overall.

Also, most people seem to prefer bone-in chicken, with skin. I like the chicken tenders style, because I am lazy. The thing I've found is that a full 12-24 hours in the marinade makes all the difference in keeping the chicken moist.

The only problem I ran into is that my last batch, I put in too much chicken, and dropped the oil temp too far, so I had to fry it for too long and the breading got soggy.

Smaller batches are the way to go.

The recipe is all me, but the frying info I got from here.

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

3-5lbs skinless, boneless chicken breasts and/or thighs cut into strips about 2 inches wide

Enough vegetable or corn oil to fill a deep pot (for frying)

Marinade

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup

2 c. buttermilk (maybe a little more, depending on amount of chicken)

2 tbsp cayenne pepper

4 tbsp garlic powder

4 tbsp onion powder

2 tbsp paprika (either sweet or hot)

Breading:

3 c all purpose flour

1/4 c onion powder

4 tbsp garlic powder

1-3 tbsp cayenne (depending on preferred spice level)

2 tsp sea salt 

Honey/Garlic/Sriracha sauce:

1 c honey

1 tbsp ground sumac

1 tbsp sea salt (added slowly!)

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1-3 tbsp sriracha

How to:

For the chicken:

- The day before, mix all the marinade ingredients & add chicken. There should be enough marinade to cover the chicken slightly

- Cover, and put in the fridge for at least 12 hours

- The day of, pull the chicken out of the fridge an hour before you're going to cook, to bring it up to temperature.

- In a large bowl, mix all the breading ingredients

- Heat oil to 300 degrees (this is important! I actually used a thermometer for once)

- Working in batches, put marinaded chicken into breading. Toss, then squish with your hands to make breading adhere

- Fry in batches, depending on your pot size. Temp shouldn't drop below 250, and always let it come back up to 300 between batches

- It took 12 minutes to fully fry the pieces for me, but check after 6

- At these temperatures, the breading gets nice and crispy and not over done at the same time the chicken is done

- When you pull it out, put it on a draining rack over a sheet pan, to catch the oil. Eat while hot. This doesn't re-heat very well

For the sauce:

- Mix it all together in a microwave safe dish, and microwave in bursts of 30 seconds till thin and incorporated. Re-heat as needed to soften.