Cajun Meatloaf (3 Star)

If you like meatloaf, you will love this. If you don't like meatloaf, this is worth trying anyway because it's awesome and you'll probably love it and discover you've been missing out, thinking that you didn't like meat loaf. And if you think you don't like meatloaf, I can empathize because there was a time that I didn't either. Any food with the word "loaf" in it that is not bread has always worried me a little.

But with this meatloaf, there is no need to fret, because it is juicy, spicy (I halve the cayenne to protect young taste buds), and so flavorful. I found the recipe here, on Pioneer Woman's site. In the past, I never would have considered serving meatloaf to company, (due to my meatloaf misgivings and reservations) but this is very much company-worthy. I served it to a group at my home the other day and received much praise and glory.

Cajun Chicken Pasta (4 Star)

Another 4 star rating! Amazing! Although I must clarify by saying that the boys ate only the pasta and chicken, picking out all other foreign objects. Well, close enough, I guess. Brandon and I were happy to take care of their rejected items.

This pasta was divine. It was fantastic. Brandon said it's in his "top five". (What else is in his top five? I should know this.)

I made homemade pasta again. I guess I'm on a homemade pasta kick this week. This time I used this recipe from Allrecipes, making it whole wheat, so I'm copying the recipe below with my changes.

Grandma's Noodles II

Ingredients
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup sifted whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons vital wheat gluten flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (optional)

Directions
1.Combine egg, salt, milk. Add flour. (For thicker noodles add baking powder to flour before mixing. [I didn't use baking powder.]) Separate into two balls. Wrap in plastic and rest for 20 minutes.
2.Roll out dough, cut into strips and spread to dry--dust with a little flour. Let dry for approximately 2 hours. (I didn't do the drying part because I didn't have time but I thought my pasta turned out great, anyway.)
3.Drop into boiling water--cook for about 8-10 minutes or until al dente.

I doubled the above pasta recipe to use in the Cajun Chicken Pasta recipe that I found on Pioneer Woman's site. Due to the fact that I wanted to make it right away and had most of the ingredients but not all, I did make some changes, but I'm sure it would have been even better if I had everything the recipe called for. I didn't have tomato so I omitted that, I didn't have a green pepper but I had two red so I used those, I didn't have cream so I used a can of evaporated milk and I used about a fourth a cup of flour mixed into the milk to thicken it all. I also didn't have fresh parsley so I used dried. I didn't have cajun spice so I used paprika, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder in a ratio of 1:1:1/4:1/4 respectively, and I went easy on it, since I did want my boys to eat it. But it definitely had a nice kick. I also used brined chicken again so I didn't add any salt except a little in the sauce.

This recipe cooks fast like a stir fry, so it is beneficial to have all ingredients out, chopped, and ready to go. Cooking it on high heat smoked up my whole kitchen and living room and I didn't burn anything; I guess it just caused my pan and the oil in it to smoke. It made me cough and I had to open up all my windows and turn on all my fans. While I was making this, I was thinking, "I'm never making this again," because it was so smoky and I was making a huge mess, but after eating it, I know I will make it again because it was so awesome.