Comfort food done almost light

I surprised myself when I realized I hadn't made a meatloaf this year. The Hubs is one of those meat & potatoes or casserole type of guys. He isn't into my fancy schancy meals-not to say he doesn't like them-he would just prefer I make everything a casserole. I like casseroles, they are easy, usually effortless, but they just don't take pretty pictures!

We had meatloaf, mashed potato casserole & cheesy corn for dinner. Yeah not really healthy, but some of it was healthy!!! I only have one picture, and that is of the cheesy corn, b/c well mashed potato casserole looks like a lump of white mush & meatloaf, oh lets not go there.

Again, I turned to my Cooking Light Cookbook that I have been using the past month. If you decide to purchase it, you wont be sorry.

First up:
Mama's Meatloaf
Ingredients
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped green bell pepper (I omitted)
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (I used about 1 1/2 Tbsp dried)
1 teaspoon pepper
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 (1-ounce) slice white bread, torn into small pieces (I used whole wheat bread)
1 1/2 pounds ground round (I use 93% lean ground beef)
Vegetable cooking spray
1/3 cup ketchup
Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl, tossing to moisten bread. Crumble meat over onion mixture, and stir just until blended. Pack mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Spread ketchup over top of loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until meat loaf registers 160°. Let loaf stand in pan 10 minutes.

Remove meat loaf from pan; cut loaf into 6 slices. (Mine actually made 8 slices)

Next, cheesy corn. This a favorite of a local restaurant in KC, Jack Stack. If you ever make it KC, you have to get out to the BBQ places. Although Jack Stack is not my favorite BBQ restaurant, they do have the best side dishes.

Cheesy Corn
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 teaspoons all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoons garlic powder
3/4 cup milk
6oz sharp cheddar cheese (I only had 2% shredded on hand)
1 (3oz) pkg cream cheese, cubed ( I used 1/3 less fat)
3 (10oz) pkgs frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
3oz ham, diced

In a large saucepan, melt margarine or butter
Stir in flour and garlic powder
Add milk all at once
Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat until thickened and bubbly
Stir in cheese
Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until melted
Stir in corn and ham
Transfer mixture to a 2 quart casserole dish
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.


And lastly, the mashed potato casserole. Another recipe snagged from Cooking Light cookbook, it is not listed online so I will have to post the recipe when I get home. I can tell you it had sour cream & cream cheese in it. No butter and no milk, which was a bit odd, however, it was so creamy good!