Contrasts and Dichotomies

Today’s Sunday School lesson was taken from the Old Testament – comparing the differences between Cain and Enoch. Cain was so disobedient and full of envy and hate that he thought nothing of killing his brother. Enoch, on the other hand, was humble and only wished to serve his God to the best of his ability. Enoch and his city became so righteous and caring that they were all translated! What a contrast!
What would it have been like to live in the City of Enoch where everyone cared so much for one another? I know we can’t have that right now in the world, but perhaps by being a little more patient and kind to one another, we could begin to have it in our homes – mini-Zions.

And what was served for Sunday dinner today? Hmmm – sweet and sour meatloaf.
A contrast in itself -- but in this case it works. I got this recipe around 1975 at a church education class in Phoenix. I’ve tried many meatloaf recipes (because my husband absolutely loves meatloaf! He’ll go to a restaurant and order meatloaf!) and I always come back to this one. Today I wrapped some potatoes in foil and popped them into the oven along with the meatloaf. Put the oven on time-bake and went to church to learn about contrasts there. When I came home, all I had to do was steam some veggies.

SWEET AND SOUR MEAT LOAF

1 small onion, minced
1 ½ slices of bread crumbled
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 t. prepared mustard
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/4 c vinegar
1 egg
1 ½ lb ground beef
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Turn oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare minced onion and bread crumbs.
Mix tomato sauce with next 3 ingredients until sugar is dissolved.
With fork, slightly beat egg; add onion, crumbs, ground beef, salt, pepper and 2/3 c. tomato sauce mixture. Combine lightly but thoroughly. Place meat mixture in baking dish keeping loaf shapely. Pour on rest of tomato sauce mixture. Bake 45 min to 1 hour.

When I’m in a great hurry, I toss ALL the ingredients (except the ground beef) into the blender, mix it into the meat, turn the meat into a casserole dish and pop it into the oven. It always turns out tastily even with this hasty method.

BAKED POTATO TOPPING:
To sour cream, add grated cheese, room temp butter, and finely chopped green onion. Cream together.