Cheeseburger Meatloaf, Southern Green Beans with Tomatoes and Bacon, and Peach Biscuit Cobbler

Since I started this plan to cook my way through Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible, I have decided to always try to mix it up with what I cook.  Every week it's always a challenge to decide what I want to try because Paula's recipes are always so good.  For this meal, I decided to do something simple.  I made Cheeseburger Meatloaf, Southern Green Beans with Tomatoes, and Peach Biscuit Cobbler. 

I started this meal by making the Peach Biscuit Cobbler first.  Since I was cooking alone, I wanted to have everything ready to put in the oven as soon as the meatloaf was done.  Growing up in the south, I have eaten peach cobbler for as long as I can remember.  As a child, we had our own peach tree, so we always had fresh peaches available.  In this cobbler, fresh peaches make all the difference.  Some of my friends think peach cobbler should be made out of store bought canned peaches, but I completely disagree.  I always believe fresh is always better.  When I first read this recipe and saw that it called for 3 pounds of peaches, I was a little overwhelmed, especially when trying to peel them all.  I wish I had read Paula's tip about cutting an "X" in the bottom of the peach and putting them in boiling water for about 40 seconds and then immediately into some ice water.  Doing this makes the peeling literally fall off.  After reading that, I also found out you can do the same for tomatoes...who knew!.  After peeling the peaches this cobbler was a cinch.  I mixed all the ingredients for the peach mixture and put this in a 2 1/2 quart baking dish.  You can then go ahead and make the biscuit topping.  Growing up I always had a crumb style topping.  My family never used a biscuit topping.  This biscuit topping was easy to make and you can go ahead and put the biscuits on and pop this in the fridge until you are ready to throw it in the oven.  Just remember when you are ready to bake to brush the top with cream and sprinkle it with sugar, (I almost forgot this step until about half way through so my biscuits did not brown like I wanted them to).  Also, you may not want to let your roommate sprinkle the sugar, sometimes they can go a little overboard!.   Once this cobbler came out of the oven, the biscuit topping stole the show.  I will have to say, this was one of the best cobbler toppings I have ever had and my roommate and friends I had over that night all agreed.  This recipe is definitely a keeper even if only for the biscuit topping! 

 

Next, I assembled the Cheeseburger Meatloaf.  Meatloaf is a pretty simple dish to create.  Simply combine some meat, breadcrumbs, eggs, onions, and peppers.  Mix together and you're pretty much done.  In this recipe, Paula did throw in a bit of randomness.  After you have the meatloaf mixed, you form it into a loaf and the put it on top of 8 slices of white bread.  Paula usually knows what she is talking about.  She says this is to help soak up the grease as the meatloaf cooks, and once its done, to remove the bread before serving.  All of this sounded really great on paper, but in actuality, it wasn't as simple as it sounded.  The bread did do its trick and soak up a lot of the grease from the meatloaf, but the removing process wasn't that easy.  The meatloaf was so moist, when I attempted to remove the bread, it almost made the meatloaf fall apart.  The next time I make this, I may not try the bread again, but who knows.   On top of this meatloaf, Paula doesn't use a ketchup based topping but rather a cheese sauce.  This sauce was simple, 3 ingredients mixed together over heat and voila, you got a great cheese sauce!  After tasting the sauce I may end up using it in other dishes as well.  After putting this meatloaf to the test, the only thing I can say bad about it, was, for me, it may have had too much onion and pepper.  When you cut into this meatloaf there was an over-abundance of onion and pepper.  Also, even after following the recommended cook time and even a slightly higher cooking temperature, the meatloaf was still a little pink inside.  Next time I make it I make bake it for a little longer than the recipe calls for.  Despite all this, the meatloaf was still was a great dish and tasted great as well.  With the cheese, onion, and peppers, it was almost like a good old fashioned cheeseburger! 

 

http://www.pauladeen.com/recipes/recipe_view/cheeseburger_meatloaf_and_sauce1/

 

                                                                     

 

As a side, I decided to go with one of my favorite vegetables, green beans. The recipe I used was Paula's Southern Green Beans with Tomatoes and Bacon.  Ever since I was a little boy, green beans have always been one of my favorite vegetables.  One thing I can't stand though are crunchy green beans.  I like my green beans cooked soft, almost to the point they fall apart.  Even though I have eaten green beans in many different ways, I have never had them cooked in bacon grease and with tomatoes.  I have to say, this may be my new favorite way to make green beans!  I followed this recipe to a "T".  After 30 minutes of cooking, the green beans weren't crunchy, but they weren't as soft as I normally like them either.  The next time and make these green beans, I will probably let them cook for another 15 more minutes to make sure they are really nice and soft.  Although they weren't quite as soft as I like them, the flavor of the tomatoes in this dish made these green beans my favorite green beans ever.  How can you go wrong with green beans and tomatoes together?  I can't believe I never thought of this idea before!  Thanks Paula for bringing us this great new southern dish! 

 

 

 

You can find all these recipes in Paula Deen's Southern Cooking Bible.