This is such a hilarious concept! Every year, towards the end of winter, my friend Linda will orchestrate a pot-luck dinner party in homage to Hamburger Helper. Each guest brings one of the many variations of Hamburger Helper and Linda creates a, sort of, tapas bar or sampler menu of casseroles, along with bread, salad, wine and cheese.
Now admittedly, no one's world has ever been rocked by Hamburger Helper, but what a fun (and affordable) reason to get together. What a brilliantly silly event. Could you honestly turn down an invitation to Hamburger Helper Night? I couldn't. I'm a sucker for silly theme parties.This year Linda loosened the rules and invited guests to bring a homemade meatloaf and/or a Hamburger Helper. So instead of six different manifestations of HH we sampled three and also got to try three different interpretations of meatloaf.
I thought Niki's meatloaf was cool. She combined ground chicken, veggies and dill. I would never have thought of using dill in a meatloaf but it was a tasty take on an old classic. It was not your mama's meatloaf. It certainly wasn't her mama's meatloaf, though Linda's turned out well too, in spite of the fact that she doesn't like meatloaf. Weirdo...I love it!
Our gracious hostess HATES having her picture taken, so I was called upon to do a little guerrilla photography in order to enable her to accept full credit for the evening.
There she is. Take a bow Linda, you did a great job...she's going to kill me, but she'll have to come get me first, and since I can run 5 km now, I'd like to see her try.All six ladies and three kids had a lovely evening. Those women crack me up! We saw Dorothy's 'bling' belt and killer boots. We discussed the high price of Lulu Lemon. I learned some shocking things about Abercrombie and Fitch. Oh, and I learned that Linda changes her curtains and dishes seasonally. Oh ya, Niki cried (a point I would have forgotten about, had her mother not posted it in her facebook status). So, a good night was had by all.
Tonight is Mexican Fiesta...Arriba! Maybe I should do tomorrow's post in Spanish.
I love meatloaf! Since I live alone and That Man (aka the boyfriend) will eat it only occasionally, I started doing what my mom did when we were little. She made individual meatloaves in muffin tins...AND after they were done, she topped them with mashed potatoes. YUM! So I bake mine in muffin tins and after they're done, put half of them in a ziploc and freeze them. I can just defrost what I need when I'm craving meatloaf. Top it with some mashed potatoes...dinner in a snap! I love the HH party idea. That would so fit into our White Trash Iron Chef Parties we have. Can't wait to try it!
ReplyDeleteI have to say that is one of the funnest parties ever. There are several HH that I like but I seldom make them. (Just two of us) I do however make a delicious meat loaf from Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
ReplyDeleteI loooooooove meatloaf. It's also one of only a couple things I make that Sawyer likes. The other is meatballs.
ReplyDeleteSo what did you make??
I made meatloaf. I also looooove meatloaf and, luckily, so does my family.
ReplyDeleteThe boy decided, at Christmas time (after watching a Christmas Story 15,000 times) that he didn't like meatloaf. So I started calling it giant meatball and he started eating it again.
Individual meatloaves is a great solution. That would be cute for a dinner party.
I would like to hear more about these White Trash Iron Chef Parties. We need an idea for our summer get together. :-)
I heart the idea of hamburger helper night.
ReplyDeletemy favorite spin on meatloaf is my greek meatloaf. It's yummy!
What a fun night! I love meatloaf, and used to love Hamburger Helper, until I put two and two together and realized my upset tummy every night I ate it...was because of the MSG in it. Now, no more HH. :(
ReplyDeleteGlad you had such a blast, though!