Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf

A few weeks ago, I wanted to make a dish that would be one of my "Best". I asked several people what I should make and in the end, the Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf was a favorite.

Over the years my meatloaf recipe has evolved to include different herbs and ingredients. I'm not even sure how the typical recipe goes, but here goes. This is what I've used in this bacon wrapped meatloaf:

-1 1/2 pounds Niman ranch ground beef
- Chopped and diced onions, garlic, shallots, Parsley
- 1 beaten egg
- 2 tablespoons of pureed tomato or pasta sauce
- Italian herbs, chopped fresh if possible
- 1 tablespoon mustard
-Toasted Ciabatta bread croutons, tossed with olive oil and Italian herbs for additional flavor. You can do this on the stove top or on a cookie sheet in the oven.

Combine everything, you have to knead it all together with your hands. Forming a meatloaf that fits the way you want to cook it. Thicker meatloaf's will be juicer and thinner longer meatloaf's will cook faster.

Cover in bacon. I like to tuck it in around the edges, wrapping one later over the entire meatloaf. Anything more than that will leave the bacon undercooked or cooked but not crispy.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the size of your meatloaf. I usually can tell that it's done when the bacon is completely crispy.

The whole thing is pretty oily in the pan, but you can transfer the meatloaf to a plate.


I served the meatloaf with my mashed potatoes. I love creamy mashed potatoes. I try to use more milk and make them light, fluffy. These were a little heavier, but still very good.

I made these garlic whipped potatoes with goat cheese. The chevre cheese gives it a unique flavor and tastes really good with the meatloaf. I added sauteed diced sweet onions for additional texture and flavor.

:) bek

Crazy about Crab

This is a great time of year to be a crab lover. Dungeness Crab season is here and fresh local crab is everywhere. My friend Rosy was craving crab, so we went over to the fish market where we usually purchase our crab. It was on sale, $2.99 a pound. We purchased two big crabs.

I like to have the butcher chop the crab up for me. I'm watching as the crab legs are still moving although the crab has been quartered. They rinse and bag the crabs.

Is it sick that I like to watch them while they do this? I think only when I make that evil laugh while doing it. Muah-hahahaha... crab!

Before I start my garlic lemon crab, I have to roast the garlic. I cut the heads off of 3-4 garlic and drizzle them with olive oil. I wrap them in foil leaving air to release, in the shape of a volcano. Bake at 350, preheats the oven while roasting garlic for the crab and dips later.

Roasted Garlic Lemon Butter Crab. For this particular crab I used the following:

- 1/2 a bottle of white wine
- 1/2 a large Sweet Onion, diced
- 2 small scallions
- 1 bulb of Roasted Garlic, mashed and mixed with
- 1/4 cup of butter
- 4-5 lemons and/or limes
- Paprika, lemon pepper, salt
- Oregano or Italian blend of spices

I like to let it "chill out" in the marinade for a bit. Meanwhile, I'm sampling the rest of that white wine bottle.

Pop the whole thing in the oven, at about 350 for like 30 minutes or until done. I never time anything, so I am just giving an approximate.

This is my finished crab, soaking in the juices. The flavor of that crab marinade is really good. You are going to want to use that for the crab and to dip bread.

It's really easy and really good.

xoxo bekah

The Skateboard Superhero Cake

Anybody can buy a cake, but making a cake for someone is special.

I really enjoy baking and the creativity of making something like this peaked my interest. Last year I made a monster truck cake, simply a two layer cake with butter cream frosting, crumbled cookie roads and mini monster trucks.

This year, I asked my 4 year old nephew what he wanted for his birthday cake. It had to be:

• A Skateboard Ramp Cake with Superheros on Skateboards
• Butter and Chocolate Cakes with Chocolate Fudge Pudding, Bananas and Cream
• Green and White Frosting

His Birthday was on Thanksgiving, his party was the next day. Between both events, I spent over 15 hours in the kitchen. I decided to save time and used Duncan Hines Butter Cake boxes. I prefer the Butter receipe over the Oil.

I started baking 3 cakes, two butter and one chocolate. All in long sheet cake tins. Added a layer of chocolate fudge pudding, layer of bananas.


I made each cake in a longer metal reusable aluminum pan, so each layer was around 1 inch or so. Stacked them up, refrigerated them and went home for the night.







For my Marshmallow Vanilla Butter cream Frosting, I used:

- 6 cups of Powdered Sugar (+/-)*
- 1 1/2 cups of Butter
- 1 tablespoon of Vanilla
- 1/2 a stick of Cream cheese

Melted Marshmallows
- 2 pats of Butter
-1/2 a bag of little Marshmallows

Mix together sugar and butter. Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes. Add vanilla, cream cheese and marshmallow and continue to beat on medium speed for 1 minute more, adding more cream if needed for spreading consistency.

*With this frosting, you may need to add more powdered sugar to reach the consistency you like.

Rice Krispy Treat Skateboard Ramp

To make the ramp, I made a simple Rice Krispy recipe and formed the ramp within a deep plastic Gladware storage container. I used wax paper to push the cereal into the shape I needed and popped it in the freezer to form.



Added cookies around the base of cake, using those Oreo Cookie Straws.

I wanted to add the toys to see how it would look. I removed them before transporting.




With the leftover rice krispy treats, I filled out a pan and added chocolate chip cookies dipped in the leftover frosting.










I love this picture. It shows how much he really loved the cake, as expressed by a 4 year old boy.