Super Easy Chili Mac -n- Cheesy

I made this last night for the Salvation Army dinner.  It was a huge hit!  A lot of people came back for seconds.  I don't ever try the food b/c I serve the food (besides the fact that it's not usually vegetarian), but Mel sits down to eat with the families so he gets to try the dishes I make.  Mel says this is a 10, "good stuff!" Sorry for the brief explanation, but I've been running a fever of between 101-102 for the past 2 1/2 days & I'm not feeling very well today.  Anyway, glad the SA dinner was a success!!

Julie's Stuffed Pepper Casserole

I made this yesterday for the dinner at The Salvation Army.  (Our Bible Study group provides dinner for TSA every other Tues., and I always make a main dish. Not only is it VERY rewarding to help out, but it's been fun creating new types of casserole dishes.)  I didn't get a chance to taste it since it wasn't vegetarian, but it seemed to go over well.  Mel had some and gave it a rating of 10!  I created this a long time ago for potluck.  Stuffed peppers are one of my favorite dishes, but not real practical for a large group of people.  I realized that if I chop up the peppers I could make it into a casserole and still have the same yummy taste of the stuffed peppers.  I'll be making this one again!

Salsa & BBQ Meatloaves

I made two different types of meatloaf for Mel's dinner Friday night. He keeps going to restaurants and ordering meatloaf and keeps getting it burnt! So I said I'd make him meatloaf and he could design it. We co-created these two different meatloaves. Because I have been a vegetarian for five years, I have neither eaten nor made meatloaf in a very long time. I think I forgot how to make it so it's nice and solid. I should have crushed the crackers up in the food processor instead of by hand - I think this was my mistake. In other words, the meatloaf was too mushy and not "loafy"!! Mel said the flavor was still good on the BBQ one. He was trying to be polite and grateful by saying he really appreciated the hard work I put into these, but I don't think he liked the salsa one very much.

Top 3 photos are the salsa meatloaf, and bottom 3 are the BBQ. You can see by the plate of both types that they are more like hamburger casserole. (That's instant mashed potatoes and gravy in the center.) Mel's final rating for the meatloaves were: salsa -6 & BBQ - 7. Hit and miss. Maybe my meatloaf making days are over. Unless a reader out there has some good tips for me??



Julie's Fruity Cottage Cheese Salad

Yippee, I finally I finally have a camera again!  So the cooking blog resumes!! 

I have been making something similar to this for many years, but this is my updated, better version.  I wanted to make something similar for our church's potluck last week, so I looked for a recipe on line.  I think it turned out very so-so, therefore I decided to create my own version (so I won't say where I got the bad recipe from).  It's my favorite version of cottage cheese salad I've ever had and I give it a 10!  It's cool too because it can be different every time based on the kind of fruit used and/or flavor of pudding (NOT jell-o - that's what ruined the other salad taste).  Even Mel liked it and he doesn't like cottage cheese - he even gives it a 10 and says it is "Wonderful!"

P.S. Note the cute ice cream bowl in the last photo!  Mel and I each have our own ice cream bowls!  They are the perfect size for stuff like this and Mel even uses his for chili!!  I'll have to get him a Mel's Chili Bowl next!