Kind of like mom used to make.

This week's theme is "Growing Up". It's going to be a week of things I grew up eating only BETTER because I'm crocking everything. (At least that's the theory).

My mom made lots of meatloaf. It was one of my favorite things to eat as a kid. I'd slather it in ketchup and gobble it up like it was the best stuff on the planet. I like that you can shove pretty much anything into one and it'll taste good and it never really tastes the same way twice. She's given me her recipe and I've made it in the oven plenty of times, but I wanted to try to crock one that was different. Her recipe is good, but it's pretty run of the mill. I wanted to do one that was different. WAY different. That's when I found this. I was intrigued. I HAD to make it. And so I did.

"Blue Cheese and Dried Cherry Meatloaf (3.5 quart pot)

~1 lb ground beef (I actually used beef this time)

~1/2 c crumbled blue cheese crumbles

~1/2 c dried cherries

~1 egg

~1 t onion powder

~1 t salt

~1/2 t pepper

~1/2 c bread crumbs

Mix all ingredients and form a loaf.

Place loaf in greased crock pot.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

My mom's meatloaf has parmesan. Blue cheese is so.much.better. And the cherries? They're fabulous. I've found a new meatloaf. AND no ketchup was needed. My other half tried it with some because he was curious, but he said that it totally took away from the awesomeness that is blue cheese.

Dessert.  

My mom makes an amazing applesauce cake. I don't have the recipe for that, yet, so I turned to my pal Betty C. for this cake recipe. It wasn't a crock pot specific recipe, so I had to convert it. 

~1 c brown sugar, packed

~1/2 c butter, softened

~1 egg

~1 t vanilla

~1 c applesauce 

~2 c flour

~1 t salt

~1 t baking soda

~1 t cinnamon

~1/2 t ground cloves

~1 c raisins

~1/2 c walnuts, chopped

Cover and cook on low for 3.5 hours or until toothpick comes out cleanly.*

Allow to cool for 1 hour before inverting onto plate.

Part of the reason I love this cake so much is for the icing my mom puts on it. Luckily for me, she shared THAT recipe with me a few months ago.

~3/4 c shredded coconut

~1/2 c brown sugar, packed

~1/3 c walnuts, chopped

~1/4 c butter, melted

~3 T milk

Top cake with icing. 

Broil 6 inches from broiler for 2 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

*I checked it at 3 hours and it wasn't done yet. I then checked it at 4 hours and it was done. I think that if I had crocked this for 3 1/2 hours or so, this would've been perfect. It was a drier than it was supposed to be, but's still a darn good applesauce cake. At least I got the icing right. Soooo good.