Oh Snap! Single Lens Meatloaf

This one is a bit of birthday silliness for my photographer husband.

I was trying to think of what I could use to make the glass for the lens and the viewing-thingie. What food is translucent and glass-like? Then boom, it hit me--spring roll wrappers! I had remembered seeing them in the store for just a couple of bucks. When you buy them, they're hard. Never having made spring rolls, I wasn't sure what to do with them. So I just cut off a couple of pieces and steamed them, which made them maleable.

This camera brings the return of one of my favorite things to play with--string cheese!
And my kids were happy that I bought a bag of onion rings--one for the meatloaf, the rest for them.

No, This is NOT Edward and Jacob

The Project
A package of paintbrushes has sat unopened in my closet for years. What made me finally open them? Child 1? Ha. Child 2? Yeah right. Meatloaf? Yep.

I usually use my pastry brushes, but for this one I realized I'd need something smaller for detail work. Look at me, saying detail work!

While I applied my vampire's blood, my 2-year-old daughter popped up next to me. "Mommy, are you painting? I want to try."

So my husband set her up on the floor with a brush, a paper plate, ketchup, and black bean paste. Soon, my 6-year-old son wandered in and wanted in on the action. "More paint" they insisted every few minutes, and we replenished their supply of beans and ketchup. I wondered if I was the only mom in the world whose kids painted with food. The sad part is, I have real paint sitting untouched and it will probably continue to be until I feel ambitious one day.

The Meatloaf
I found a supermarket that sells a mix of ground beef, pork, and veal. Score! I usually don't use all three or this blog would land me in bankruptcy. It really does make a difference in the flavor to have all three meets. Yum!

The vampire's eyes and teeth are egg whites, and the hair is black bean paste (hello, food processor) with a touch of soy sauce to deepen the black color.

In the past I've used mashed potatoes for faces, but wanted an extra white hue for vampire skin. What do you think of the rice effect?

The Inspiration
Vampire vs. Werewolf. OK, so there is a certain popular series out right now about a rivarly between a certain vampire and werewolf. My guys are the generic versions. :) I daren't attempt Robert Pattinson.

Spring Bunny

Happy Easter!

When I was shopping for the stuff for this meatloaf, I couldn't resist picking up an Easter lily and other pretty spring flowers. I figured I'd use them in the presentation and then bring them to my grandmother. It was worth it to see my daughter, 22 months, walk down the Park Slope street in a spring dress, carrying flowers. But I digress.

The bunny is covered in lots of ricotta cheese to give him rabbit-like fluffiness. (And come on, that cheese makes anything taste good.) For the pink in his ears and nose, I repurposed last week's pink mashed potatoes. And his eye is a simple bean.

Before baking, I used a knife to carve out lines on the basket. I hollowed out the basket using 3 raw eggs while baking. After it cooked I removed those eggs and replaced them with eggs my kids had colored and decorated. The two eggs on the right say Melody and Theo. Also in the basket is some curly parsley.

The "grass" is created from chives...I didn't trim them because I liked the look of the wild grass.

My intent was for the bunny to be peering in the basket, but my husband says it looks like he's pushing the basket. What do you think?

Legend of Zelda Meatloaf

Happy Birthday to My Brother--We Were LINKed By Blood, and Now Meatloaf.

Back in 1989, I used to watch my big brother play The Legend of Zelda on our Nintendo. We watched the cartoon they made out of it, and still quote it in 2010...more frequently than we should admit. Now we're playing the original game together, but on the Wii. We have played Zelda on various gaming systems; we're currently on the latest Nintendo DS version, Spirit Tracks.

Some of my happiest childhood memories involve gaming with my bro. And even though we're now grown with families of our own, when we pick up our controllers (which are wireless--wow), we're kids again.

I have to admit, this may be my favorite meatloaf so far--maybe because I couldn't wait to surprise Elliot with it and thought of his reaction with each element I added to it. This was the first meatloaf I've given away as a gift (I was glad to have a week off from eating it, despite how tasty it is!).

I love you, Ell. Pretty soon our kids will be gaming together.

P.S.Check it out, I'm not the only one to have made Link out of food.

P.P.S. You don't like the meatloaf? Well excuuuuuuuuuse me, princess!

http://www.zeldalegends.net/: Great site for hardcore fans!

And the Cheesy Grammy Goes To...

I made this because the Grammy Awards are on tonight, but I don't know 90% of the nominated songs. Clearly I need to get my out of the meatloaf.

OK, tell me it looks like a trumpet after it was used to bash someone in the head--I can take it.

The Grammy posed a few head-scratchers:
1. How the heck do you make gold? (I have a no food coloring rule.)
Answer: You don't. Yellow is close, and cheese is yummy. And the Grammys are friggin' cheesy.

2. How do I make the hollowed out part of the phonograph?
Answer: I admit I'm stupidly proud of this soda can-mold idea.

See the lovely rim I formed from the meat? Sadly, that did not hold up in the baking process. But, good meatloaf lesson learned! Doncha know I'm making all this up as I go along.
3. How do I preserve decent meat sculpting once I pour the cheese sauce on?

Answer: I don't have a good answer, because I wasn't successful here. I had more difficulty controlling the cheese than I expected. Sounds like a good lesson for a culinary institute. "Today's lesson is: Controlling Your Cheese."
I played around with using more breadcrumbs than usual. I wanted dry meat for sculpting and I thought the shape would hold better. I was so excited when my meat easily rolled, like dough! The downside was, I ended up with cracks after it baked. I had to "glue" parts back together with cheese.
Food:
For the cheese sauce I made a simple roux and added milk, cream, cheese and salt. I chose a cheese sauce over melting shredded cheese directly on to the meat because I hoped to capture the glimmer of gold. That didn't quite work--maybe if the sauce had been thinner, but then I'd run the risk of it running everywhere.
For the base, I recycled last week's idea of making a paste out of black beans. It's a great "tool" for meatloaf art and I'm sure it will reappear in many of these creations.
If you've read this far, congratulations. Your reward is getting to see what a real Grammy award looks like.

The Audacity of Making the President Out of Meatloaf

Happy 1-year anniversary of your inauguration, Mr. Obama!

I made a bean paste by reducing black beans with soy sauce to enrich the black color for the hair and jacket. The soy sauce gave the beans a nice flavor--a bonus!

I kept the meatloaf simple: beef, turkey, onions, eggs, breadcrumbs, and garlic. Obama is quite tasty--who knew?

The eyeballs and shirt are mashed potatoes, and the tie is ketchup.

Photography by Joe Orecchio.