Hey Ya’ll!
Inspired by my recent visit to Savannah, and eating at Paula Deen’s restaurant, I’ve been craving a down home, Southern dinner. This weekend I satisfied this craving with a dinner of Collard Greens, Meatloaf, and baked sweet potatoes. This was followed by the blackberry cobbler recipe that I’ve already shared.
Ya’ll are going to love this.
Not only was this dinner delicious, it was actually pretty easy. Although everything has a long cook time, the prep times were pretty minimal. I was able to get everything in the oven, and sit down and watch some tv before buzzers started going off. First, I tossed the sweet potatoes in the oven while it was preheating for the meatloaf. Then I started the greens cooking, covered them, and made the meatloaf. I added that to the oven with the sweet potatoes, and then made the cobbler and tossed that in the oven too! It was perfect for a Sunday night, although you could make this meatloaf on any night of the week. It makes great leftover sandwiches.

I didn’t take pictures because A. meatloaf and greens are hardly the prettiest foods around and B. I was too busy eating to bother!

Now, I’d never made greens before, but have recently decided I like them. I found a recipe for collard greens on Allrecipes.com that seemed simple enough (and it had bacon, so it had to be yummy). This is generally the recipe I found except that I added the jalepeno. I figured if it was called kickin’, it really should be! So be warned, ya’ll. It’s spicy. But that’s just how I like it.
This is going to become a staple in my winter diet.

Kickin’ Collard Greens

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 slices bacon, diced
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 jalepeno, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 large bunch fresh collard greens, cut into 2-inch pieces

Directions:
1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon, onion, and jalepeno and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, and cook until just fragrant. Add collard greens, and fry until they start to wilt.
2. Pour in chicken broth, and season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes, or until greens are tender.

I made a few meatloafs last year. At first, I wasn’t thrilled, but I think I’ve come to realize that there is virtue in simplicity when it comes to meatloaf. I learned this when I went home for a visit and my dad had made a meatloaf. It was delicious! I asked, what’s in it? What’s your secret? He told me there was nothing in it but a french onion soup seasoning packet. It was so good!

So, I don’t add onions or peppers or anything that I’m not sure that I’m going to like. In fact, the reason I added the chives and parsley is because that is what I happened to have in my garden and they sounded good. Those are not ingredients to make or break this dish. So make it anyways, even if you don’t have fresh herbs on hand. Just throw in a few of your trusted seasonings and I’m sure it would work out. This is supposed to be easy!

No Trouble Meatloaf

For the meatloaf:
1 pound ground beef
1 egg
1 cup breadcrumbs*
3/4 cup milk or buttermilk
1 tablespoon Worcheshire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives
1 tsp fresh chopped parsley

For sauce:
1/3 cup ketchup
2 TB mustard
1 TB brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.
Mix the all the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside.

Mix all ingredients for the meatloaf, except for the beef, into a large bowl. Then add the meat, folding into the mixture gently with your hands. Be careful to not overwork this, or your meatloaf will be dense.

Add loaf to a buttered loaf pan. Pour sauce over the top. Bake for 50 minutes. Let set for 10 minutes before cutting.

* If you don’t have breadcrumbs, toast 2 slices of sandwich bread. Then, either chop very small, or put in a food processor until in small pieces. Then procede as normal.

Enjoy!