UrbnSpice

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Ultimate Recipe Series

Unbeatable Meat Loaf – The Ultimate Comfort Food

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Urbnspice Ultimate Recipe Series

My daughters were both very involved in soccer during their childhood (continuously, for seventeen years), sometimes seven days a week during soccer season.   Needless to say, we were very busy parents, often delivering one daughter to a field before driving to the other side of the city for our other daughter’s practice or game.  As a working Mom, I needed to be extremely organized with meal prep for breakfast, snacks, lunches and dinners.  I developed strategies to make my busy week simpler with a freezer reserve of homemade meals, a repertoire of slow-cooker recipes and a selection of make-ahead meals prepared over the weekend.  One of our family favourites was this Unbeatable Meat Loaf.  

Sliced Meatloaf on a Wooden Board | urbnspice.com
Unbeatable Meatloaf – The Ultimate Comfort Food

We often had what we called ‘oven-meals’ on Sunday and meatloaf was a favourite comfort food of the kids.  The addition of scalloped or lemon potatoes, roasted butternut squash and an apple crisp made this oven meal wholesome and healthy for two very hungry, fit and growing girls.  Meatloaf is an excellent quick and easy make-ahead dish, which also keeps the budget in mind.  

Meatloaf can be popped into the oven immediately after mixing together, or prepared up until topping (see Method) and refrigerated until the next day. This recipe makes two family-sized free-form meatloaves – one to have now and one to freeze for later.  If you can resist eating it all, there should be leftovers for meatloaf sandwiches! 

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The Ultimate Blended Burger – A Blenditarian Recipe

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BLENDITARIAN CHALLENGE SERIES

Prelude: Blenditarian.Com has initiated a monthly challenge that incorporates their Blenditarian approach into interesting and fun dishes.  To clarify for my readers, a Blenditarian is “one who believes the mighty, meaty mushroom makes meals more delicious, nutritious and sustainable.”  This approach stretches ground meat by adding finely chopped mushrooms to create a flavourful and more nutritious dish. The theme for the May is “National Burger Month” Blenditarian Challenge.” The challenge is to create a blended burger by incorporating The Blend (mushrooms + ground meat).” For this reason, I have developed a recipe called The Ultimate Blended Burger.Blenditarian Logo | urbnspice.com

This burger is unique in that it not only incorporates minced mushrooms into a beef/pork mixture; it also contains rehydrated dried vegetable flakes, contributing even more flavour to the burger. Barbeque season is just around the corner – give these burgers a try. They are delicious!

The Ultimate Blended Burger | urbnspice.com

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The Ultimate Burger – Really!

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UrbnSpice Ultimate Recipe Series

The Wats-On Burger

It is time to share an amazing recipe with you:  The Ultimate Burger (known as the Wats-on Burger) is actually the creation of my husband. No one has ever been able to match it.  It does have fresh ingredients, mixed with a light hand and grilled to perfection.  What it does not have is fancy ingredients like BBQ sauce or truffle bits.  It is a simple burger – that is all…..and everything.  If you want to try to recreate this burger, you will need a few things.

The Ultimate Burger | urbnspice.com

The Ultimate Burger 

THE WATS-ON BURGER

INGREDIENTS:

For 6 – 8 large burgers or 12 – 14 sliders:

  • 1 lb ground pork
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 2 green onions, sliced thinly
  • 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
  • 1 egg, slightly beaten
  • 10 crushed crackers of your choice
  • 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or onion powder

METHOD:

  1. Combine the ground meat, green onion, garlic, egg, cracker crumbs and seasoning, and mix to combine.  Take care not to over mix.
  2. Test a small meatball size portion, flattened,  by frying until cooked through.  Taste and adjust the seasonings accordingly.  This is an important step!
  3. Separate the mixture into patties and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
  4. Grill the patties until done.  Just prior to finishing, place slices of cheese on top of the cooked burger and let the cheese soften before removing the burger from the pan or grill and placing them onto a toasted burger bun.

GARNISHES:

The garnishes that we typically top this burger with are quite simple:

  • sliced dill pickles
  • sliced fresh tomatoes
  • shredded or leaves of lettuce
  • Gruyere or old Cheddar cheese, sliced
  • Rings of freshly sliced red onion
  • A fresh grind of black pepper and a sprinkle of salt on the tomato slices, seasoned to taste

Feel free to add your own garnish.  Other garnishes we have tried and loved are:

  • Caramelized Onion – I show you How to Caramelize Onions in this post
  • Sliced mushrooms, sautéed in butter
  • Crispy Bacon slices

LEARNING TIPS:  

Please CLICK the link above to access my UrbnSpice LEARNING TIPS, which are listed alphabetically on the Learning Tips blog post under the following subheadings:

  • Tweaking
  • Basic Tools:  Scoops for Portioning
    _________

Enjoy!

This is truly the best burger you will ever have!

Denise Pare-Watson - The Urb'n'Spice Chef | urbnspice.com

Denise Pare-Watson

The UrbnSpice Chef

 

 

More Urbnspice Ultimate Recipes:

Urbnspice’s Ultimate Soup Recipe 

Urbnspice’s Ultimate Apple Crisp

Urbnspice’s Ultimate Chocolate Desserts

Urbnspice’s Ultimate Veggie Burger

 

Urbnspice Ultimate Apple Crisp

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The Ultimate Recipes Series

I want to share with you my recipe for Urbnspice Ultimate Apple Crisp because the first crisp evenings of autumn are upon us. The leaves are starting to turn crimson, gold and yellow and the crickets are chirping – a sure sign that fall is approaching. When I think of autumn, I think of fall fruits.  A favourite of mine is apples.

It is just as exciting waiting for the first fresh crop of apples as it is the first strawberries or potatoes or corn. Apples will be the focus of this article, particularly because we have just returned from Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. We enjoyed a number of delicious varieties along our route. For example, Gravenstein apples, which are known by the locals as “Gravs.”

Did you know that certain varieties are more suited for certain recipes than others? A softer apple, such as McIntosh is more suited for a baked apple, while a Mutzu or Granny Smith hold their shape when baked, making it ideal for apple pie or crisps. I came across an excellent Apple Reference Chart that can help you decide which apple will be best for your particular baking needs.

Urbnspice Ultimate Apple Crisp with the addition of mixed berries is a wonderful variation | urbnspice.com

Urbnspice Ultimate Apple Crisp with the addition of mixed berries is a wonderful variation 

I used a combination of apples for this crisp: tart Granny Smith and sweet Crisp Pinks. You can use any combination of apples, even those apples hidden in the bottom of crisper that have seen better days. Adjust the sweetness of the apples based on their tartness. The recipe for the crisp topping is listed below; however, I prefer doubling the amount of topping to make a very generous layer of crisp topping….

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