I finally have a computer! After our old desk top, 9 years old, finally died a slow painful death we were able to recover most of the data and pictures off the hard drive. That is what I was most worried about because I had just downloaded pictures from our Walt Disney World trip with my parents and my Mother/Daughter trip with my daughter. I was heartbroken thinking about losing all those pictures. But, they were saved! We now have an external hard drive to save them to with instructions on how to transfer them to a new device in about 3 years. I don’t want to lose pictures ever again.

So, we have finally turned the corner into my favorite time of year, summer. But, the weather has definitely not cooperated in our little corner of the world. It has consistently been in the 50s at night and only reaching mid-60s during the day. Which mean the lake is still at about 55 degrees, brrrrrr.  It was a beautiful 75 degrees yesterday with a light wind. We spent the day at the beach but no one was in swimming. It is still just too cold. Beautiful to look at but not good for swimming.

So, my meals which usually make a summery turn are still decidedly comfort food and filling. I made Lebanese Kafta Kebobs (click for link) a few months ago as it is more traditionally made on skewers. But, I decided to make things a bit easier on myself this time and make the dish as a meatloaf.

Verdict:

The picture does not do this dish justice. This dish was even better the second time around. Using more fresh parsley definitely made the difference in the overall flavor. Both children liked the dish and I had only one lunch serving leftover.

I served this dish with mashed potatoes but it would also be great with roasted red potatoes or rice. I served broccoli and a green side salad to complete the meal.

My mostly gluten-free son was happy because the entire meal was gluten-free!

Ingredients:

• 2 medium onion, finely diced

• 1/2 teaspoon ground all spice

• Salt to taste

• About 1-1/2 lb lean ground beef

• 1/2 bunch parsley, about 7 oz on the stalk. Remove most of stalks and rough chop

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place oven rack in the center of the oven.
2. Prepare a rimmed baking sheet by covering the bottom with aluminum foil to help in the clean up. Add 1-2 metal baking racks to the baking sheet to keep the meatloaf raised off the bottom of the pan.
3. Mix all ingredients together gently.
4. Form meat mixture into a loaf and place gently on the baking racks of the rimmed sheet.
5. Bake for 35-45 minutes (depending on the thickness of your meatloaf) until loaf has baked through.
6. Remove pan from oven once completely cooked and allow to rest 5 minutes before cutting into slices.