Italian Meat Loaf & Mexican Meatball Soup for One or Two People

These recipes make for 2 dinners for two with maybe some leftover lunch or 2 dinners for one with 2 lunches (I love leftovers for one lunch, just not any more than that) or you can freeze half of each of them and thaw them out when you don’t want to cook. You can make one recipe one night and the other the next without worrying about anything going bad on you. I like using the Ro-Tel canned tomatoes with chilies and onions because I get 3 flavors out of one can. This way you use a pound of ground beef since it usually comes packaged in a pound and a can of tomatoes and chilies and get several meals without having more ingredients than you can use. 

Italian Meatloaf

1/2 pound ground beef

1 egg

1 ½ slices fresh bread crumbs

½ can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies

Small can chopped black olives

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Turn the mixture into a loaf pan. Bake about 30 to 45 minutes until the top is a rich brown color and no red juice runs out when pricked in the center

Mexican Meatball Soup

1/2 pound ground beef

1 egg

½ slice fresh bread crumbs

1/3 cup corn meal

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ teaspoon cumin

½ can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies

1 can beef broth

1 teaspoon chili powder

Crispy tortilla bits

Mix ground beef with egg, bread, corn meal, salt, pepper and cumin and form into small meatballs. In a saucepan add the half can of Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chilies, beef broth and chili powder and bring to a simmer. Add the meatballs and cook for about 30 minutes. I like to serve this soup with some crisp tortillas or tortilla chips crunched on top.