No, I didn't forget to hit the space bar. Basically, my meatloaf and meatball recipes are the same. And they are kind of a pain to make. So, I only make them about twice a year, and then freeze them in usable portions. This is a great time of year to make a batch big enough to get you through the winter months. Here is how I do it:

I use 2 parts ground beef, 1 part each ground lamb and pork. The rest of the ingredients are up to you. I add an egg for each pound and a minimal amount of breadcrumbs as a binder. Lots of spices and herbs, a little Worcestershire, a little hot sauce, and a special mirepoix/garlic mix that I cant share. One key for me is to mix thoroughly BY HAND. After it is mixed, cover and let sit in the fridge over night. This gives all the flavors time to mix and mingle, get to know each other and marry. The next day, mix it again by hand. Now for storage: I use the disposable aluminum loaf pans for the meatloaf. For a extra special loaf, line the pan with strips of bacon! Press the mix in firmly, so there is little or no air in the mix. DO NOT GLAZE! A great way to freshen up anything that has been stored in the freezer is to make a fresh sauce. When you are ready to cook the prepared loaf, make a nice, fresh glaze for it.

For the meatballs, roll them into a variety of sizes. For instance I like big meat balls for spaghetti, and large marble size balls for Albondigas soup or lasagna. Once you have them formed, place on a cookie sheet on a sil pat or parchment and freeze. This way, they are already frozen when you put them in their final storage container and wont mash or stick together!

Prime Rib

I have used this cooking technique on a couple of different roasts and it hasn't failed me yet...

Pre-heat oven to 500. Season roast as you wish, but don't cut slits and fill with garlic! I see this all the time on cooking shows and I hate it for two reasons. First, as much as I love garlic, you have just spent a significant amount of money on a beautiful piece of meat. If you have to infuse flavor into that meat, you got ripped off! I am confident that our meat is fantastic on it's own. Second, those slits are just leaks in the boat! You will get a lot of pan drippings that way, but that's because all the juice from the meat leaked out of those silly slits. I do like a great crust on my prime rib, so I use a mash of fresh horseradish, garlic, thyme, S&P and canola oil. Smear that all over the roast and let it come to room temperature on the counter.

Reduce oven temp to 475, and place roast (in roasting pan) in oven for EXACTLY 7 minutes per pound. This means if your roast weighs 7.855lb. you should cook it at 475 for 54.99 minutes (ok, in this example 55 minutes would be fine). At the given time, turn off the oven and don't touch the door for 2.5 hours. It is like a souffle, if you open the door all bets are off. After 2.5 hours, cover with foil on the cutting board and make your jus.

Porchetta

There are a million ways to do porchetta, and even different cuts of pork that can be used. Classically, it is a pork loin rolled up in a skin-on pork belly...how great is that! Here is how it's done. We cut and tie the roast so that you have a "map" for how it should be tied for proper cooking. When you get it home, put it in the fridge, draped with a kitchen towel for a day or two. This will dry out the skin, giving you a great crisp when you roast it. Next you want to unroll it and prepare it for roasting. Pay attention to how it is tied so that you can duplicate it later. Once it is unrolled, make cross-hatch slices about a 1/4" deep on the FLESH side of the belly. Now its time to get creative! You want to cover the belly with your preferred seasonings. Red wine, garlic, rosemary, fennel, red pepper flakes, sage, citrus are all commonly used,  but the sky is the limit here. Once you have thoroughly coated the inside of the belly with your concoction, season the loin with salt and pepper and re-roll and tie. Let this sit in the fridge for at least a couple hours, preferably overnight. Now its roasting time. As you know from reading my ramblings, you need to bring this to room temperature before it goes in the oven. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. While it is sitting on the counter, start stabbing it with a paring knife. WHAAAT??? I know, usually I am not a proponent of piercing the outside of any piece of meat I'm cooking. But stabbing the roast all over will do a couple of things. First, it allows the skin to shrink during cooking without pulling off the loin, keeping the loin moist. It also makes for a super crispy skin as it self bastes. Since you have already made a bunch of holes, this is a good time to insert a probe thermometer into the roast. Set the alarm for 135 degrees. Put the roast in the oven for about 30 min at 500, rotating the pan and turning the roast every 10 min or so. You are trying to get a nice golden crust. Once you have that, turn the oven down to 275 and roast until the alarm goes off. If you don't have a fancy probe thermometer, a stick thermometer will do fine. Start checking the middle of the loin at about an hour and a half. Once you hit 135 internal temp, remove roast and rest on the counter for 30 minutes, tented with foil. It makes an incredibly beautiful meal, and even better sandwiches the next day!

Pork Scallopini

This simple and elegant dish has many variations and can be done with any thin tender cutlet. I like to pound out the cutlet a little even though they are thin cut to begin with. This tenderizes them and allows for very quick cooking. Dredge the meat in seasoned flour and saute in a frying pan preheated to med-high with a little butter and oil. Set them aside and deglaze the pan with white wine. Caramelize a small, chopped onion and a few cloves of chopped garlic, then add a cup of wine and a cup of chicken stock. Reduce by half, then add cream to thicken. Add the chops and juice back in and serve right away, over linguini. Really, stop reading and go serve them! :)

Pulled Pork

One of the easiest things you can make is Pulled Pork. Sure, we would all like to have the time to slow roast or smoke a whole pork shoulder for the perfect pulled pork. But not all of us have 6-14 hours to do it right. Here is a great "cheat". Put a 2lb. pork butt in the Crock Pot with 1/2 a bottle of red wine and the same amount of BBQ sauce. Cook on low from the time you leave for work in the morning until you get home from work that evening. You can't really over cook it in the slow cooker if you have that much liquid to start. When you get home, skim of the fat. If it is too "soupy", you can turn it to high for 30-60 min to reduce the sauce. Try it over rice, on a soft roll, over polenta, or my favorite....with a fork right out of the crock pot!