Freelance Restaurant Review: Charro

A few weeks ago, I did a freelance assignment for the new Brookfield news website, www.brookfield-wi.patch.com. I dined at Charro, in Brookfield, because of its recently updated menu. Check out my reivew, "Charro Changes Up Choices."

Restaurant Review: Crocus

My parents have been talking about visiting Crocus, a southside Polish restaurant, for a while now. They had stopped for a drink a few months ago, and were raving about how cute the place was and how nice the owner (who, of course, they had talked to for quite a while!) was.

A few weeks ago, the restaurant came up on Groupon, so I bought a coupon and we decided to dine there on a Saturday night. We were there this past Saturday. While we were just about the only diners at about 8:00, we had a wonderful experience, great food and wonderful conversation with the owner/bartender.

We each started with some Polish beers, including Okocim (I can't remember the names of the others). They were light beers, but full flavored and tasty. We also each started with a cup of sweet cabbage soup, which included chunks of veggies in a flavorful broth. The rye bread our waitress dropped at our table was great, too.

For meals, my parents and I ordered the same thing: the Polish plate, which included a good mix of typical Polish fare--three pierogi (one cheese, one meat and one sauerkraut), a cabbage roll, half a Polish sausage, sauerkraut and boiled potatoes. Everything was excellent, and I surprised myself by liking the sauerkraut (it's something I don't normally like).

Nate got the sauteed pork tenderloin with sauerkraut and potatoes. The pork was cooked perfectly and was nicely seasoned.

Overall, we had a great experience, that was accentuated by a very nice and helpful server. The restaurant also offers a buffet with typical Polish foods--I'd like to go back sometime and try the buffet and the different foods I didn't get in the sample plate.

Restaurant Review: Classic Slice

I've been wanting to try Classic Slice for a long time. I had heard only great things about the Bay View location, so when they somewhat recently opened a location on North Avenue, on the east side, and our friend Jon started working there, I knew we'd get to it sooner than later.

So, Friday night, Nate and I, and Jon and Amanda, headed there for dinner. I had been dreaming about it all day, as I knew we'd be in for a treat--and a huge meal. Boy, was I right! We had an incredible amount of food, and everything was great. In total, we got six slices and split most of them so we could try all the different toppings. I should mention that these are not your ordinary pizza slices--one slice is probably equal to three regular-sized triangle slices.

Slice No. 1: Baconizer--bacon, sausage, mushroom and pesto. REALLY tasty, even though the sausage was a little greasy (which can be expected, I suppose!).

Slice No. 2: Ann Curry--curry sauce, broccoli, spinach, mushroom, tomatoes, tofu, and we added cheese (even though it's listed under the vegan options). This was tasty, too, but it didn't taste much like pizza. It was more like a Thai dish on some bread.

Slice No. 3: Milmac 'n Cheese--mac and cheese on pizza. Sound weird? It's not. At all. It's super delicious and incredibly cheesey. It's made even better with a few quirts of sriracha sauce.

Slice No. 4: Super Veggie--red sauce, mushrooms, broccoli, spinach and vegan sausage. I've never had vegan sausage on a pizza, but it was really pretty good. The pizza had great flavor with lots of fantastic, fresh veggies.

Slice No. 5: La Dolce--tomatoes, fresh garlic, fresh mozzarella and basil. This is the caprese at most pizza places. It was great here--anything with fresh mozzarella is a-ok in my book.

Slice No. 6: Another Milmac 'n Cheese with broccoli. We didn't intend to order this, but the gal making the slices forgot to put broccoli on the other slice, so we got another one. Score!

All in all, everything was great but extremely filling! Not only were the toppings good, but the dough--a sour dough--was delicious. I think we likely would have been fine with five slices, if not four. I'll definitely be back!

Restaurant Review: Cubanitas

I could swear I've blogged about Cubanitas before, as it's one of my favorite Milwaukee restaurants, but I can't seem to find anything on it. In any event, last week, my ethnic dining group of girlfriends and I went to Cubanitas for dinner. For the last two months (and going until the end of March, I believe), the restaurant has been featuring foods from all over Latin America. Each week, the restaurant features a different country's fare with a special menu.

Last week it was Jamaican week. They had only four Jamaican-focused menu items: Jamaican rice, jerk chicken, beef patties and a special rum drink. I love the food at Cubanitas, but I knew I had to have one of the specials, since it was a one-time only type of thing.

But we started with a classic and favorite: the plantain chips with guacamole. It was delicious as always!

I also started with a typical Cubanitas drink: a mojito. Cubanitas is known for their mojitos, and they are quite good and strong! I can only handle about one of them--for the alcohol content and because it's on the sweeter side.

For my meal, I decided to go with the jerk chicken, which came with the special rice (made with coconut milk and other spices) and plantains. The jerk was good, but not quite what I've had before. In my experience (see my restaurant review of Irie Palace), jerk seasoning is usually dry and pretty darn spicy. This was neither, but it was good, nonetheless. The plantains were good, too (I LOVE plantains!)--they didn't do too much to them, but that's OK, because the natural, tasty flavor really came through. The rice was good, but it wasn't as flavorful as I had hoped it would be. I think the flavor might have been overpowered by the jerk flavor.

Overall, it was a great experience, and it was fun to try something new. I would recommend dining at Cubanitas in the next month to try flavors from other countries, especially those flavors and dishes you can't normally order in Milwaukee.

Tofu and Veggie Panang Curry

I can't remember where or when I picked up a jar of Thai Kitchen Panang Curry, but it had been sitting in our basement pantry for a while. So finally, on Saturday night, before we met some friends for drinks, we made it with tofu and veggies. Panang curry is a Thai curry that is more mild than other Thai curries. It really didn't have any spice to it, so we spiced it up a bit, of course!

Before we made the curry, we had some Indian-inspired frozen appetizers we had picked up at the local Indian grocery store a while ago. We had vegetarian mini samosas and pakoras. We dipped both of them in mint chutney and tamarind sauce. Yum!

Here's what we did:

• 1 block tofu, drained and cut into cubes
• 1/2 red pepper cut in 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
• 1.5 cups broccoli, chopped
• 1 jar panang curry
• white basmati rice
• jalapeno grapeseed oil and olive oil
• chili powder
• garlic powder

Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu, and cook on all sides until brown. Set aside.

In the skillet, bring sauce to a boil; add veggies and cook about 10 minutes or until veggies are tender. Toss in tofu and mix everything together. We served everything over basmati rice we made in the steamer. We squirted some sriracha sauce on top of our plates of food.

It was really tasty, although it wasn't quite as saucy as I would have liked. The recipe called for 1 pound of meat or tofu and I had about 1.5 pounds of tofu, so that might have had something to do with it.

Crockpot Poblano Pork Stew

Monday was a crockpot night, and we turned to one of our favorite cookbooks, Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes. We have a lot of meat in the basement freezer that we stopped on at the West Allis Farmer's Market this fall, so I wanted to use some of that. The recipe calls for boneless pork shoulder, but we used ground pork.

We followed the recipe fairly closely, but, of course, and some changes. Here's the recipe we followed:

Poblano Pork Stew

• 1 lb. ground pork, browned and drained
• 1.25 lb. red potatoes, cut in chunks (I'd recommend cutting on the small side)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 poblano peppers cut into 1-inch pieces (we did not seed them)
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped (we did not see this either)
• about 1 teas. garlic powder (we ran out of fresh, otherwise I would have used four cloves)
• 2 inches stick cinnamon
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes
• 1.5 cups corn
• 1 tbs. chili powder
• about 1 tbs. crushed dried parsley
• 1/4 teas. black pepper

In a crockpot, place potatoes, onions, peppers, garlic and cinnamon. Add meat.

In a bowl, combine broth, undrained tomatoes, chili powder, parsley and black pepper. Pour over all.

Cover and cook on low 8 to 10 hours (or on high for 4-5 hours). Discard cinnamon before eating.

We served the stew over leftover white basmati rice.

The stew had a nice kick to it with the poblano and jalapeno. It really could have used salt, though, and we added it as we ate it. It would be good with some regular salt or a good seasoning salt.

Couscous Stuffed Chicken

We hadn't made many recipes out of the January/February 2011 issue of Cooking Light, so I did some digging to find a recipe that sounded tasty. The one I settled on was Couscous-Stuffed Chicken. The recipe was pretty easy, although it took some work to flatten the chicken, stuff it and roll it up.

We changed a few things with the recipe:

-Vegetable broth rather than chicken broth, just because I had an open carton.

-Grape tomatoes rather than plum, because we always have grape tomatoes on hand for salads.

-Black olives rather than kalamata (Nate doesn't like kalamata, while I LOVE them)

-Dried parsley rather than fresh because I had it on hand.

-No oregano, as I discovered I didn't have any!

The chicken was good, although it probably could have used a bit more salt or more of a kick of flavor. I think the kalamatas would have been really good (and salty!), but alas ...

The chicken reheats well too--I just had some for dinner tonight (a few days later), it was still tasty and juicy.

We had the chicken with sauteed spinach. I just sauteed the spinach with a bit of water, some hojiblanca olive oil I got for a Christmas present, lemon juice, garlic powder and some sliced onions. It was really good, but man, that spinach shrinks when it cooks! I had a whole big bunch of it, and it was barely enough for two of us.

Fish Fry Review: Steven's Steakhouse

Nate and I hadn't been out to a fish fry in almost a year (I know--it's that terrible for a Wisconsinite?!), and I had been craving one for a while. We decided last Friday would be the perfect night to go out for one. We invited my parents along, and they suggested a nearby restaurant we had been to a few years ago and had a great meal: Steven's Steakhouse on 92nd and National Ave. in West Allis.

The restaurant has a supper club-type feel to it, even though it's in a very urban area. The crowd is very local and everyone is super friendly. Steven's has just two rooms--half the place is the bar and the other half is a dining room. Luckily, we got there a bit after 8:00, so there was plenty of space in the dining room.

We all knew we wanted fish, so we turned our attention to the specials board, which lists all the fish specials. Clam chowder immediately caught my eye (as it usually does), so I ordered a cup of that. Nate had the other soup special, which was a beef vegetable soup. The clam chowder was really good--it was creamy, but not thick and overly rich. It had a unique flavor that we couldn't quite pinpoint. We first thought it might have some curry in it, but the waitress said it didn't.

We also started with a basket of freshly-baked bread and garlic butter. It was delicious, but I have to say, I do like rye bread with a fish fry.

For meals, my dad, Nate and I each had the regular fish fry, which was three good-sized pieces of breaded haddock (we're pretty sure it's haddock, but it could be cod). Of course, each plate came with a side of coleslaw and a potato choice--of course, I chose potato pancakes with applesauce (we all did, actually), one of my favorite parts of a fish fry! It was all really good--the breading on the fish was nice and crispy and pretty thick, but there was enough fish for each piece that it wasn't overwhelming. The pancakes were good too--a great potato flavor, but not too thick.

My mom got something a little different--the shrimp dinner with a twice-baked potato (sorry, no picture). I didn't try the shrimp, but it looked good--nice and lightly fried with shrimp sauce. I did try the potato and it was just OK. It seemed as it had likely been made much earlier in the day and just heated up to put on her plate. Her meal also came with soup or salad, and she got a house salad.

Overall, we had a great experience and I would definitely go back for the fish fry and recommend it to others. It's probably not a place many people would seek out (or even know about), but it's a place with great food that provides a slice of typical Wisconsin life on a Friday night. (Plus, they make really strong drinks!)

Restaurant Review: Takara

Over the years, Takara, in Elm Grove, has become our favorite sushi restaurant. I can't even remember how we discovered it, but I'm glad we did. They've got great sushi at great prices (lots of rolls are about half off Sunday-Tuesday) and it's a cute, cozy place.

Last week, I met some former coworkers there for dinner, and it was great as usual. Jeanne and I split an appetizer and sushi rolls. For an appetizer, we had the shumai, or steamed shrimp dumpling. It was tasty and just the right amount of food for an appetizer.

For rolls, we had two types of rolls found under "Chef's special roll." One was called Beauty and the Beast: spicy tuna topped with tuna, salmon, yellowtail and avocado (the row of rolls in the middle). Unfortunately, I can't find the other one on the online menu, but I know it had spicy lobster in it. They were both really tasty and different than other sushi rolls I've had.

Janice, opted for non-sushi menu items: a house salad with the house dressing and the vegetable tempura appetizer. Everything looked great (gotta love anything with a tempura batter!) and Janice said it was tasty.

Overall, it was a great eating experience, as usual, at Takara. The service can sometimes be a bit slow, but I always know I'm in for great food, so it makes waiting that much easier.

Cooking Demonstration Recap

As many of you know by now (through Facebook, Twitter or word of mouth), I participated in a cooking demonstration last week. The demo took place during the Milwaukee NARI Home Improvement Show at State Fair Park. It was really fun, although I was incredibly nervous leading up to it.

Let me back up a bit. Last summer, I got an e-mail from the editor of M magazine, asking if I wanted to be profiled in an upcoming article on local bloggers. Of course, I said yes! Please! After the issue came out, someone from Ron Sonntag PR contacted me and said he had an opportunity I might be interested in. Turns out, Ron Sonntag PR helps organize the homeshow, and, in particular, the cooking demos. So, I was chosen as one of the cooks (along with a chef from Saz's, Princess Di's former chef and a former Hell's Kitchen contestant).

I put off thinking about the demo for quite some time. Then, before I knew it, it was the end of January and I had to figure out what the heck I was going to make! Fortunately, it wasn't too difficult to figure it out. I knew I wanted to make something I created on my own--I didn't want to just follow someone else's recipe. And I figured that meant making Mexican, as it's something I love and something I am very comfortable making.

So I decided to make veggie and bean burritos, guacamole and pan-fried tortilla chips. Nate was my right-hand man, up on stage with me and helping through the whole process. It was much appreciated, and allowed me the opportunity to tell some stories and jokes.

We had a lot of fun. As I said, I was pretty nervous going into it, but lucky for me (I guess you could say that!) I had a really busy week at work and didn't have much time to dwell on it.

Thanks to my friend Lisa for taking some pictures during the whole thing (I hear there is a video of me making guacamole, too! If it works, I'll post it to the blog). And thanks to other friends and family for coming out to watch: my parents, friend Leah, and mother in law and step-father in law. Thank you so much everyone--it means a lot!

Here is what we made for the demo and the recipes we used. Nate and I did a test run about two weeks before the actual event, so that's where the food pictures came from. Unfortunately, there wasn't an oven to use to bake the burritos during the demo, so we had to take them home and bake them (no big deal, though!).

Gucamole (serves 4)

• 1 1/2 avocados (reserve the other half for burritos)
• 2 tbs. red onion, chopped
• 1 tbs. prepared red salsa
• 1/4 teas. lemon juice
• 1 teas. mayonnaise
• 1/4 teas. each garlic powder, cumin, coriander and chili powder
• 1/8 teas. garlic salt, salt and pepper

Cut open avocado and remove pit. Scoop out fruit in a medium bowl and mash with a spoon, fork or potato masher. Add the rest of ingredients and mix well. It tastes better if it sits for a little bit (half hour to an hour) in or out of the fridge.

Pan-fried Tortilla Chips (serves 4)

• 4 small tortillas
• cooking spray
• 1/4 teas. each garlic powder, garlic salt and ground black pepper
• 1/8 teas. each salt and chili powder (both optional)

Stack the tortillas on a cutting board, and with a sharp knife, cut tortillas into 8 wedges, making a total of 32 wedges. In a small bowl, mix spices.

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray, and heat the skillet on medium-high heat. Place the tortillas on the hot skillet and coat with additional cooking spray, then flip tortillas a few times to coat. Sprinkle with spice mix, then flip the tortilla wedges a few times to coat with spice mix. Cook the tortillas on one side for 3-4 minutes (until the bottom is crispy) and then turn each tortilla over, using tongs. Let tortillas cook for another 3-4 minutes (until the chips are crispy and have browned edges). (It's best to cook the tortillas in one thing layer (not piled up) if possible.)

Let cool for 1-2 minutes and serve with guacamole.

Veggie and Bean Burritos (serves 4 (but they're huge!))

• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup orange, red or yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
• 1 can black beans (reserve 1/4 cup liquid), rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, rinsed
• 1/4 prepared red salsa plus more for burrito topping
• 1/2 teas. (or more or less to taste) each cumin, coriander, garlic powder and dried cilantro
• 1/2 teas. chili powder (optional)
• 1/4 teas. (or more or less to taste) each ground black pepper and garlic salt
• 1/4 teas. cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 and 2/3 cups shredded pepper Jack cheese (or any other cheese or combination of cheeses)
• 4 large tortillas
• cooking spray
• 1/2 an avocado, sliced (leftover from guacamole)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add chopped peppers and onions, and cook about 7 minutes, with cover on, until tender. Add beans, salsa and spices. Bring to a boil and simmer, with cover on, for 10 minutes.

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Using a slotted spoon, scoop a 1/4 cup of bean mixture into a tortilla. Top with 1/3 cup shredded cheese. Tuck tortilla into burrito shape--fold in sides first, then top and bottom, making sure to keep sides tucked in tight. Repeat process with the three remaining tortillas. Spread a dollop of salsa on top of each burrito and use the remaining 1/3 cup shredded cheese on top of 4 burritos.

Bake for 15 minutes, then turn broiler on for another 5. Top with avocado slices.

Super Bowl Eats: French Dips & Crispy Footballs

If you didn't know, the Super Bowl was this past Sunday and the Green Bay Packers won! Having the Packers in the Super Bowl was cause for a small celebration, so we invited my parents over, as well as our friend Craig and Margo.

Everyone provided great food--Margo and Craig brought little smokies two ways: in a tasty and slightly spicy sauce in the crockpot, as well as rolled in cresent dough and baked for a few minutes. My parents brought spinach dip, a beer cheese dip and one of my favorites, sesame potatoes (hashbrowns baked in sour cream, cream cheese and other deliciousness!).

For our part, Nate and I made crockpot French dip sandwiches. and I attempted to make mini Rice Krispy footballs (more about that later).

I had never made French dip sandwiches before, and franky, I'm not sure I've ever ordered one. But a few weeks ago, my coworker Val was talking about a tasty and easy crockpot recipe she had. I thought it would be perfect for a Packers gathering.

Here is the recipe I used, from Our Best Bites food blog. We followed it pretty closely, with a few additions:

-We used a 3 lb. rump roast, since we knew we were cooking for six people.

-We used just one cup of water and then a bottle of Nate's homebrew to give it some more flavor.

-For additional toppings, we sliced and sauteed onions, mushrooms and green pepper.

-Next time, I wouldn't add so much water. I'd pour the beer in, and if the meat is uncovered at all, I'd put some water in just to cover or mostly cover the meat.

We served the sandwiches (we topped them with provolone cheese) on fairly large, crusty sub rolls from Peter Sciortinos Bakery, and, of course, with a side of the au jus and my mom's potatoes. Yum!

Years ago, for a Super Bowl party, I had made Rice Krispy treats in the shape of footballs. I remember those being good, but not quite as flavorful as what I was looking for (and I couldn't find that recipe!). So I did some Googling and came across this recipe from About.com Cooking for Kids (should be easy enough, right?).

I had a helluva time making these things, and even vowed never to make Rice Krispy treats again (we'll see what happens!). They tasted really good, so that was good. But it was a mess trying to get the mixture out of the bowl when I was done and on to the wax paper. I formed the first few footballs fairly easily, but as the mixture started to harden, it was almost impossible--plus my hands were continously covered with the mixture.

So, I attempted to just stuff the mixture in a pie plate (why a pie plate, I don't know--I was desperate!). Then, I thought, well, maybe from the pie plate I could make football-type shapes by taking a chunk and shaping them. That worked ... OK. Some looked better than others. I was so frustrated by this point, that I didn't want to make any icing for lacing, but then as I looked at the treats some more, they looked really ridiculous without the lacing (not going to lie--they looked like turds!).

So I made some homemade icing, and, of course, I ran out of powered sugar! Nate was out and about later on and he picked up some more for me, so I could finally put the laces on them. Like I said they tasted pretty good (they had Nutella in them, after all!), but getting to that point was a bit of a mess! (And it looks like I didn't take a picture of the final product. Oops!)

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Last Friday, we had a hankerin' for pizza (really, though, when don't we have a hankerin' for pizza?!). I wanted to try a topping flavor we'd never had before, and for whatever reason--even though I'm not a fan of chicken wings--a buffalo chicken pizza came to mind. Nate loves wings, so I knew he'd be all for it.

I really just made up the pizza as I went, which was kind of fun. You can add or take away whatever ingredients you want or don't want, but I wouldn't recommend piling on too many toppings. The only thing I would change about making this next time is that I would use a thicker crust or maybe a premade crust (like a Boboli). I love thin crust pizza, but with such a buttery sauce, it got a little messy and a bit soggy.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

-1 bag of premade pizza dough (it's easiest to work with when it's room temperature)

-3 tbs. Frank's Red Hot sauce

-2 tbs. Cholula hot sauce

-3 tbs. butter

-about 2 tbs. ranch dressing

-about 1/2 cup red onion, chopped

-1 chicken breast

-about 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

-salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste

In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in both Frank's Red Hot and Cholula and stir to combine.

Cut the chicken in about 1-inch pieces and coat with some salt, pepper and garlic powder in a skillet.. Pour in hot sauce and butter mixture. Cook chicken on medium-high until no longer pink (about 7 minutes), chopping it as it cooks to make smaller pieces. Set aside once cooked.

Spray a small skillet with cooking spray, and cook onions on medium-high until tender.

Roll out dough on a floured surface. My crust never ends up being in a perfect circle, but I figure that's OK--it all tastes the same! Place dough on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Prick a few times with a fork. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 for about 5 minutes (you'll just want to cook the crust a bit so it's not so soggy).

Take dough out of the oven and leave on the baking sheet. Coat crust with ranch dressing, then top with chicken mixture and red onions. Cover with shredded cheese.

Bake in the oven, again at 350, for about 10 minutes or until cheese starts to brown. Turn on the broiler for a few minutes if desired.

The taste of the pizza was really, really, good--it was good leftover the next day, too. Next time, in addition to the thicker crust, I would maybe leave out the ranch. While I love ranch, and I know ranch/bleu cheese is a vital part of chicken wings, you couldn't really taste it, as the butter and hot sauce taste really over powered everything. I had my pizza with some celery sticks, to keep with the buffalo wing theme!

Wild Rice Meatloaf with Cheese Sauce

Over the weekend, we were at my parents' house, and my mom gave me a huge bag of wild rice. Every time my dad goes up north on business, he brings back wild rice, so they have three or four big bags of it!

This bag also came with a little recipe booklet, and while all of the recipes looked good, one stuck out--Wild Rice Meatloaf with Cheese Sauce. I'm not quite sure why, because growing up, I hated meatloaf (just ask my mom!). But I wanted to try it, and this recipe was different than any I had ever seen.

For starters, the recipe called for 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice, which you had to cook before it went in the meatloaf. So for 1/2 cup wild rice, bring 1.5 cups water to a boil, add wild rice and return to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer, covered for 50-60 minutes (50 minutes was perfect for me). You could easily make this the night before and just keep it in the fridge until needed.

For the meatloaf:

-the cooked wild rice (comes to about 2 cups cooked)

-1 lb. ground beef

-3 eggs beaten

-2 ribs celery, chopped

-1 medium onion, chopped

-3/4 cup chopped fresh mushrooms

-1 tsp. salt

-1/4 teas. pepper

-I also added about 1/4 teas. garlic powder

Combine beef with the eggs, wild rice, celery, onion, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Pat into a 9x3x5 loaf/bread pan, coated with cooking spray, and bake at 350 degrees for an hour.

When there is about 5-7 minutes left on the meatloaf, make the cheese sauce:

-2 tsp. butter

-2 tsp. flour

-1 cup milk

-1 cup grated cheddar cheese

In a saucepan, melt butter. With a whisk, mix in flour. When mixed, pour in milk and add cheese, constantly whisking to melt cheese and thicken.

When the meatloaf is done, take out of the pan (flip over on to a plate or tray).

Pour cheese sauce over the meatloaf. Slice and serve. We got five servings out of ours.

We served the meatloaf with frozen peas--this is exactly the type of meal my mom made when I was growing up!