Comfort Food

What a perfect term is "comfort food."

I feel unbelievable comforted right now. I made meatloaf for the first time ever and it turned out absolutely delicious.

No amount of adjusting on this photo could make it look good, though. Something about meatloaf, when you're not in the midst of its deliciousness, looks kinda gross. Maybe it's the fact that it's a loaf of meat ...

I love it though. This is the recipe my mom made when I was growing up, but I used ground turkey instead of ground beef for two reasons. Not only is it supposed to be better for you, it was also a whole dollar cheaper, so turkey it was. My sis also substitutes ground chicken and swears by that, too.

For anyone who likes loaves of meat, this is a great recipe and it's extremely easy to make -- even I couldn't have messed it up!

Meat Loaf

1 lb. of ground beef (or chicken or turkey)
3/4 cup of catsup
3/4 cut Quaker Oats
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients. Form into little loaves and on an ungreased baking sheet and smear each one with some more catsup. Bake approximately 45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.

I got this and a couple of my other favorite recipes from Mommy because I was getting married and thought grown-up married ladies should learn how to cook. The recipe sat untouched until yesterday when I thought about how grown-up divorced ladies should learn how to cook.

Though this can be made into one big loaf in a loaf pan, I like making it into little loaves. It's especially good when you're cooking for one, because you can freeze the leftover loaves and pull them out whenever you need to be comforted.

The hardest part of this recipe for me was the overwhelming smell of catsup. Gross. I was concerned for a few minutes that I was going to throw up into the bowl before I got everything mixed together. Catsup is really gross. But it tastes really good all cooked up in meat loaf. Luckily I didn't barf. Though there was another close call.

I used a big serving spoon to mix everything together and I used the same spoon to make the loaves on the cookie sheet. But then I had to use my hands to pat them together and make them loafy and well-formed. Again, I was trying my damnedest not to think about the catsup while trying equally hard not to think about the raw meat.

But I got them all quickly loafed, so it wasn't that bad.

Then I washed my hands.

As the loaves were cooking, it started to smell so good in the kitchen. I couldn't resist taking a peek inside the oven, and they were getting all brown and delicious and the previously offending catsup was turning into a goo of meat loafy goodness.

I ended up cooking them for about 50 minutes, concerned over the potential of partially-cooked turkey and salmonella. I was also worried at first because the loaf I was checking for doneness was crumbling, but I called Sis and she said they do that when they're hot. You've just got to let them cool a little bit.

Now I'm left wondering how much of my fear of cooking just requires buckling down and doing the things I think are gross -- like mixing a bunch of catsup with raw meat and then touching it with my hands (ugh). Today was a bit of a milestone for me because I got over it and the reward was a truly delicious dinner that reminds me of my mommy.

In fact, my meat loaf comforted me so well all I wanted was to lay down on the couch and finish watching ABC Family's "Revenge of the Bridesmaids" starring Raven-Symone. Don't judge. It's a delightful romp of a movie and it's streaming on Netflix.

But, I'm going out of town this week and lots and lots of writing must take place before I go. Made-for-TV tween rom-coms will just have to be my reward at the end of a hard day's work. Such is life.