This tastes like Meemaw's hugs...

 Today's meal was much easier because a) I only did one recipe at a time and b) it was somewhat of a staple growing up: ham loaf.

    I'm not sure if anyone around here (Southern Ohio) even knows what ham loaf is.  But growing up, it was one of my favorite meals at my grandparents/ house.  The title of this post is from one of my favorite episodes of The Big Bang Theory.  It was slightly intimidating to try this recipe, because I knew that it probably wouldn't taste as good as I remember.  But it turned out well.  So well, I'll probably try it again.  It's also easy to halve, which is important.  I still have a couple of portions of Johnny Marzetti in the fridge, even after having it for lunch every day this week.

   The recipe is fairly simple, the only problem was getting "ham loaf meat."  In Lottie's day, that meant a quick trip to Fouch's* and simply asking for 3 pounds of ham loaf meat. 

1935

My grandma would have gone to Buehler's or Kidron Town and Country.  Unfortunately, even that isn't possible anymore, because health codes won't allow different types of meat to be ground together.  I found that you can combine ground pork and ground ham.  And if you can't find ground ham, you can ground ham in a food processor.  Which I don't have.  Further research suggested that you can grind meat in a NutriBullet. I do have one of those.  I tried chopping bell peppers once with it, that didn't turn out well.  I was pleasantly surprised though, after I held my breath and pushed the canister down, and it worked.  The cooking time, according to Lottie, is two hours, but since I used a muffin tin instead of a loaf pan, and cut the recipe in half, it took 25 minutes.  While I waited, I finished off last week's "salad." 

"I found my copy of Your Favorites from Simon's.  She singlehandedly kept Jello in business.~Aunt Denise

*Lottie was a customer at Fouch's, and we know that because in the August 22, 1957 edition of the Courier Crescent, there's an article about how she crashed into a potato chip truck in the parking lot.  She'd be so proud that I know that, 64 years later.

I have the ingredients to make a different type of rolls, but I think that's going to be a "bonus" recipe for my day off on Monday.

Ham Loaf

3 lbs.  meat for ham loaf

1 cup milk

1 cup crumbs

2 eggs

Mix and shape in loaf, put in pan.  Add a small amount of water and cover with the following sauce:

Sauce

1/4 cup vinegar

1 t. dry mustard

3/4 cup brown sugar

Bake at 375 degrees for 2 hours

On a final (and sad) note, Lottie passed away 52 years ago today.  I know it wasn't possible, but I wish I could have met her.  I think we would have gotten along well.