Date Night--Wednesday, April 22, 2015

It's been one of those days.  You know, "those" days.  I woke up to snow.  You read me correctly SNOW.

I got dressed, did the coffee, read the Bible, kissed my husband goodbye, and then fell asleep on the sofa.  Until I was late for my infusion.

Which was great, by the by.  I immediately felt a little more energy.  That was really good.   I needed to make a Date Night happen.

And happening it is!  I'm proud of this one.

Appetizer and Cocktail

I lack energy and am happy to let Trader Joes do the appetizer for me.

I will make Manhattans to accompany these tartlets.  I think they look good and caramelized onions fit nicely with dinner.

Entree

Are you ready?  You need to be ready for this. Are you sure you're ready?

French Onion Soup Meatloaf.  BOOM! I said it and I've made it.

Well almost made it.  It's ready for it's first bake.  Let me walk you through the process.

Three onions, thinly sliced on stove with  olive oil, salt and pepper

Caramelized onions with red wine and beef broth

Basic meatloaf--eggs, bread crumbs, salt and pepper.  Except instead of in loaf form flattened into a 10x12" rectangle.

See, now I can add a a layer of mozzarella cheese

And most of the previously pictured carmalized onions

Now you roll it up into a "loaf" of sorts, and transfer it to a baking sheet.

So this will bake for 45 minutes at 350 and then a sauce of red wine and beef broth plus some other flavorings and thickeners will be poured over it and the remaining 1/2 c of cheese and onions will top it.  It will bake for another 20 minutes or so.

Side Dishes

Really, do they even matter?  I mean look at this meat loaf.

Well you know me, so you know I'll have some.  Mashed potatoes because what else could go with this.  And green beans

Dessert

It's a "gob" cake.  I didn't know exactly what a "gob" cake was until, well until just now.  It's basically a whoppie pie. At least I thinkg that's what it is.  That's not how it looks on the recipe site, but a little more googling and I found out that it is more of  a "sandwich" cake.

This is how mine looks

Devil's food cake with mandarin oranges in it and cool whip "frosting"   I made two portions, I'll keep the leftover undressed.

That's what's been cooking in my kitchen.  And I've kept up with the clean up, vacuumed, and did a load of towels.  I  definitely deserve my cocktail tonight.  :-)

happy cooking