Mom's Simple Dinner #1

Maybe it's because I pulled out the old sewing machine for a baby shower gift project, or maybe it's just because I didn't want to take a lot of time for dinner, but I felt nostalgic for one of Mom's favorite dinners.  I think many of us that grew up in the 50's & 60's remember their Moms' dinner repertoire during the week.  We didn't have a lot of grocery choices and farmer's markets like today, but, Moms still did their best to serve nice, wholesome meals.  One of my Mom's standards was meatloaf, mashed pototoes, and some type of vegetable.  The meatloaf recipe was from the back of the Quaker Oats container and the potatoes were russets.  In the summer, if Dad's tomatoes were ripe, simple sliced tomatoes with salt & pepper did the trick!  No fancy balsamic vinegar & olive oil, no fresh basil or thyme, and no fresh mozzarella.  It didn't matter, however, if the tomatoes were vine-ripened from your own backyard and were juicy and sweet!  Oh, and if you parents were from the South like mine were, a homemade pecan pie was a perfect dessert.


Quaker Oats "Prize Winning Meatloaf"

Ingredients:
1-1/2 pounds 90% lean ground beef

1 cup  tomato sauce

3/4 cup Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)

1 egg or 2 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/4 cup finely chopped onion (I often leave out)

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, combine all ingredients, mixing lightly but thoroughly. Press into 8 x 4-inch loaf pan.  I often just free-form the meatloaf and put in a nice baking dish.

Bake 1 hour to medium (160°F) doneness until not pink in center and juices show no pink color. Let stand 5 minutes; drain off any juices before slicing.

• Prep Time: 15 min
• Cook Time Time: 55 min

Pecan Pie

unbaked 9-inch pie crust

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, slightly beaten 

1/3 cup butter, melted

1/3-1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter, which I always do)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pecan pieces or halves 

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, butter, salt and vanilla; mix well.

Sprinkle pecans in unbaked pie crust.

Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.

Bake for 45- 50 minutes or until center is set. (Toothpick inserted in center will come out clean, when pie is done.).

Cool.

You can top it with a bit of whip cream if desired.

Sorry for the small size, any larger and it gets real fuzzy!