I hadn't made meatloaf in a long time, and I realized that part of the reason was time. If I think of it when we're hungry, well, I have to mix it all up and then it takes an hour or more to cook.
So I had this brilliant notion: Tuesday night I did the mixing and shaping and prepped my veggies and all that, covered the dish with foil and stuck it in the fridge. This way, when we got home Wednesday evening, I just turn the oven on and in a little over an hour, voila, dinner.
I forgot how potatoes turn black on the surface where they're cut when exposed to air. I could have covered them in water, drained them and transferred them to the pan right before baking without costing myself much in terms of time-to-table. But I forgot I knew that.
So I served up meatloaf with disgusting-looking blackish potatoes.
Crazy thing, Em, the most finicky eater since my kid brother, ate the taters without flinching. Commented that they tasted fine. Then she got squeamish about the carrots where she could see the juices had been in contact with the outside of the carrot. I pointed out to her, in case she was unaware, that she is one weird kid.
Neither honyock liked my meatloaf much this time, and I think I agree. I used Thyme at Joy of Cooking's suggestion, and either I only like Thyme when you can't tell it's there or I just don't like Thyme. Em picked at it, Mo took enormous bites and then gulped her drink to try and wash it down as fast as possible, an expression of obvious, even desperate, distaste on her face.
Of course, I made enough to have plenty of leftovers. So I'm eating substandard meatloaf for upwards of a dozen lunches to come. Fortunately, when smothered with mayo & Gates Extra Hot, you can hardly tell the Thyme is contaminating it.
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