It's Friday night and you don't feel like a night on the town. What to do?
Eat dinner and a rent a movie, of course. If pizza is getting a little old,
spice things up by preparing a meal that fits the movie you're watching.
Cable station TBS has turned this into the successful weekly program
Dinner and a Movie. Every Friday night, co-hosts Annabelle Gurwitch and Paul
Gilmartin prepare a meal during the film, giving step-by-step instructions
and welcoming celebrity guests.
We have a few suggestions for that evening in front of the tube. A quick
run to the video store and supermarket can produce an exciting, themed meal
for entertaining family and friends.
Just Like Mom Used to Make
New on video is Pleasantville
, starring
Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire as twins who get magically transported
into an episode of the black-and-white 1950s TV show of the same name.
Everything is "perfect" in Pleasantville until they arrive. Mothers have
dinner waiting on the table, it never rains and the home team never loses.
As the teenagers bring 1990s culture to this old-fashioned world, the town
begins to literally burst into color, with entertaining results. Meatloaf
is the perfect meal to honor this creative trip back to a place where mom
prepares a home-style feast every night. Try this easy recipe:
Meatloaf: The Original Comfort Food
- 1 jar (12 ounces) Heinz HomeStyle Brown or Fat Free Beef Gravy
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
- 1 cup soft bread crumbs
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 egg, slightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Dash pepper
- 2 1/2 cups hot mashed potatoes
- 1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine
- Paprika
Measure 1/4 cup gravy from jar; combine with beef and next five
ingredients. Shape into a loaf (8 inches X 4 inches) in shallow baking pan.
Bake in 350-degree F oven, 1 hour. Carefully drain fat. Spread potatoes
over top and sides of meatloaf. Drizzle melted butter over potatoes;
sprinkle with paprika. Bake an additional 20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes.
Heat remaining gravy and serve with meatloaf slices. Makes 6
servings.
Source: Ketchum
Kitchen.
For more meatloaf recipes, visit
The Online Cookbook. The San Francisco
Chronicle also offers a variety of tips on preparing meatloaf.
For side dishes, try Cooking.com's recipes for
mashed potatoes
and
homemade buttermilk biscuits.
A Meal and Some Music
After a long delay, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita
finally
made it to the big screen in 1996 with Madonna playing the title character.
"Evita" was Eva Peron, Argentina's rags-to-riches first lady from 1946-52.
Evita captured the hearts of the people at a rocky time in the country's
history. Peron died of cancer in 1952 when she was only 33. Antonio
Banderas and Jonathon Pryce also star in this musical film adaptation of
Webber's award-winning Broadway production.
For an introduction to the cuisine of Argentina, try this easy recipe for
empanadas, the most
traditional Argentinian meal.
Spice Up a Classic
Casablanca is one of the most beloved movies and ranked second on AFI's
recent list of the Top 100 movies of all time. The movie tells the tale of
a love triangle in war-torn Casablanca, Morrocco. Humphrey Bogart is the
owner of a local club, Ingrid Bergman is his old flame from back in Paris
and Paul Heinreid is Bergman's heroic husband. The next time you watch this
classic, why not try a traditional Morroccan meal?
Food TV and
RecipeSource.com offer a variety of
Moroccan recipes, from
Moroccan Lemon Chicken to
Vegetable Pastilla.
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