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I have to admit I was a bit nervous about this one.  How do you make meatloaf with mashed potatoes & gravy super delicious without bacon, hamburger meat, butter or cheese?  Well, it took a few tries but I do believe we have found success.  First let’s start with the meatloaf:

Ok, I love making meatloaf.  You get to put all these delicious ingredients into a bowl and mix it with your hands then pat it into a big pan and bake it.  Making meatloaf is the closest thing to being a kid and making mud pies-but it comes out salty, savory and delicious.  So today Idid essentially the same thing: into a big bowl I threw 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup uncooked polenta, 1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, a big squirt of ketchup, 1/4 cup worcestershire, a big tablespoon of dijon mustard and a handful of fresh sage.  Oh, and salt and pepper.

Then I chopped fine: 2 stalks celery, 1 onion, 8-10 mushrooms, 2 carrots and 3 cloves garlic.  I let all this cook together in a few tablespoons olive oil for about 15-25 minutes until it was good and cooked down.  Added this veggie mix to the quinoa mix and mixed away.  Patted the whole bowl into the traditional meatloaf pan (greased), smeared my favorite barbecue sauce on the top and baked it for 40 minutes at 400.  The anticipation was killing me at this point.

On to the gravy.  In preparation for the gravy I set aside 1/4 cup each chopped onion, carrot, celery, mushrooms and  bit of garlic.  Sauteed these all in 3 tablespoons olive oil for like 10 minutes.  Then I turned the heat to med-high and added a tablespoon of cornstarch and fried it with the veggies, stirring constantly for a minute.  Then I added about 3/4 cup red wine.  Slowly.  I really wanted to drink it, but it was only 11:00 am and Bill might have noticed the stained teeth.  As the gravy thickened I added about 3/4 cup water to adjust the thickness.  (Add all liquids to gravy slowly!!)  Then I threw in a small handful fresh chopped sage from the garden.  RED WINE SAGE GRAVY RULES MY WORLD NOW.  Need I say more?

And finally, the mashed potatoes.  Red potatoes, skin on, of course.  They are delicious and deliver maximum nutrition and creaminess in the potato world.  I boiled 5 whole reds.  To the steaming, cracked jackets of potato perfection I poured on a mixture of fresh thyme, rosemary, oregano and garlic that I put in the food processor with 1/4 cup olive oil.  This garlicky, herbacious, oily mixture not only took the place of fatty butter and milk, but far exceeded it’s purpose by catapulting the potatoes into another world of delicous health food.  Just ask Dawndra.

So now, drumroll…… meatloaf.  As I pulled it out of the oven I was truely surprised at how meatloafesque it looked.  It had pulled away from the sides a bit and a nice sheen of olive oil banked its crispy looking edges.  The barbecue sauce was cooked to perfection on the top and the smell of sage and what seemed to be meatloaf permeated the air.  Was this magic??  I mean, there is no meat in there!  So we sliced it, laid it on some of the mashers, spooned some gravy over the top and I gotta say we couldn’t get the pictures taken fast enough so we could dive in.  My god people you must try this!  The whole thing has practically no fat, is loaded with vegetables and grains and tastes like (dare I say better?) meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy!!  Ahhhh!!  Just loooook at this!!  Ok, sorry.  Take a look, though, for real yo.  I’m thinking a good IPA would be fab with this. Pliny anyone?  Make it two, one for me and you.

This remake of a classic mac-n-cheese may be considered sacrilegious.  So what.  I did it, and it was delicious.  Actually, it was also quite accidental and began much more traditional cheddar-cheese-laden.  So here’s how the whole thing went down:

Boiled big bag of whole wheat elbow macaroni in salted water to al dente.  To the hot noodles I added small cubes of cheddar to melt while I started a roux.  However, somehow the cheddar turned into a big hunk of plastic-like junk.  I pulled out the Big Hunk then fished out the remaining Weird Globs.  No cheddar left, noodles cooked, Dawndra on her way to take photos of the recipe, and it appeared I was in trouble.  So I changed course.

In a real rush at that point I chopped half an onion very small and cooked it in a bit of olive oil until it was really translucent then added a clove or two of finely chopped garlic.  Next I made a roux by adding 3 tablespoons of olive oil to the onions and heated to medium high, then threw in a 1/4 cup flour and stirred vigorously (only until flour was fully incorporated and browning ever so slightly).  Then I slowly added 2 cups 2% milk (in stages!!) until the whole thing was smooth and thickened.  You may need to use a whisk if you aren’t roux deft.

Well, the only cheese I had in the fridge was tub of feta, and so it was fated.  Added all the feta to the roux, salt and pepper, and the creamiest, whitest, lowest-fat cheese sauce was born.  Chopped up a bit of broccoli from the night before, threw in a handful of quinoa, tossed it all with the noodles and never a healthier mac-n-cheese has the world seen.  I do believe this would be fantastic with a big glass of Pelissero Barbera.  That’s a shout out to you, Ari, King of Wine Tastings.  Oh, and forget you, Kraft.

On to the next remake of  favorite childhood comfort foods.  Dawndra Budd‘s memory of wide egg noodles smothered in salty, creamy, cream-of-mushroom soup remind her of days long gone when we could eat whatever the hell we wanted without packing on the pounds.  Hence the reason for these remakes; we want to have our cake and eat it too.  For you, dear D, a beloved pasta dish remade to help all of our butts not get bigger while still being delicious enough to satisfy that never ending love of foods our mothers made us when we were wee.

First,we substituted whole wheat wide noodles for the egg noodles.  Next, in keeping with tradition we added a can of Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup, undiluted, to the hot cooked noodles.  Just one can is the trick.  To add more flavor without all the sodium and fat of the soup we added 1/2 cup 1% milk, 2 ounces goat cheese and a dash of worcestershire.  For fiber, texture and protein we threw in about 3/4 cooked quinoa.  Finally, we needed something green and tasty in there so a half a bag of frozen peas were tossed in.  Still creamy, hot, mushroomy noodles, just with a lot more nutrition and a lot less fat.

Because D was here to take pictures of the dish, she got to actually eat the remake.  She loved it.  I love the pic she took.  Check it out.

In searching for everyday recipes to make healthier and more interesting I turned to facebook and the plugged-in masses.  Within a few hours inspiration was mine for the taking.  So today, I began at the beginning of my new list of old-school favs just waiting to be remade with a whole grain twist with Nicole Hardy‘s (yes, THE Nicole Hardy) childhood lust of grilled cheese and tomato soup.  You ask how do you make that (A.) better and (B.) healthy?  To that I say never underestimate the ingenuity of a mother and waitress 3times over.

First, start with the bread.  It must be whole grain.  We are obsessed with Dave’s Killer Bread.  Check it out.  Next, substitute half of the cheddar you were about to pile on there with goat cheese.  Aside from the fact that the goat cheese makes it way more delicious, see why it’s better for you right here.  Then, add fiber, texture and protein  by piling 1/4 cup of cooked quinoa on top of the cheese.  Sprinkle the whole thing with fresh chopped rosemary if you have some around.

Next grill it DRY.  No need to butter up the bread.  You’ve got this delicious bread and cheeses, herbs and grains-no need to add butter.  Just put it on a medium heat griddle and cover it with a lid.  Turn it over and brown the other side-lid off.  The cheeses melt into the quinoa and rosemary and absorb it into it’s gooey, delicious middle.  I added some arugula for that nice peppery touch and extra nutrition.

So I did it.  In trying to keep with the childhood tomato soup tradition I bought a can of Campbell’s tomato soup.  Sodium and preservatives included.  However I added a can of organic chopped tomatoes along with just a half a can of water to give it a fresher flavor and some texture.  Finally, I stirred 1 cup cooked quinoa for more fiber and protein and drizzled it with some herbed olive oil and some of the remaining goat cheese.  This aint your momma’s tomato soup.  Unless you are one of my boys.

Dawndra, tireless food photographer and fearless taster gave this meal the Big Nod.  As did Bill as he whisked away all our work to devour upstairs while working on our little biz.  See you later crummy white-bread-grilled-cheese-overly-salty-tomato-soup-nutrient-lacker.  Hello this:

Who’s next.  Bring it on.

My friends think I am a total Grain Geek.  All that really means is I add grains to almost everything.  Case in point: good old fashioned deviled eggs and celery with peanut butter.  So today these two harmless, old-school little dishes were the victims of my whole grain obsession and became the retro-hits that I set out to make them.

Deviled eggs are kind of a little boat with endless filling possibilities.  I’m sure there are entire books on this awesome dish.  Usually I like to make mine spicy by adding horseradish or wasabi or cayenne, with other accompanying ingredients.

Today I hard boiled 6 eggs, plunged them in a cold water bath until they were cold, then peeled away (I really dislike that part).   Next I sliced them in two and mixed the yolks with 1 tbsp. of horseradish (it’s what I had lying around), 1 tbsp. super tiny chopped red onion, 1/4 mayo and 2 tbsp. dijon mustard. You’ve got to beat this mixture until all the lumps are out and it becomes a bit fluffy.  Last, I added a big handful of quinoa and mixed it on in.  The quinoa instantly added texture, nutrition and a pleasing visual aesthetic.  My favorite part is filling the little white egg-boats back up with the now creamy, spicy delicious filling.  Imagine this topped with a shrimp and drizzled with cocktail sauce for a party.

So on to the celery with peanut butter.   What could you possibly do to make that interesting you ask?  How about start with your base of celery and peanut butter then squeeze a lime over them, drizzle with honey, and sprinkle with chili flakes and quinoa!  Seriously delicious.  So nutritious.  Utterly simple.  Bring a platter of these to the next barbecue and they will be a fun conversation piece until they are all scarfed down.