Stew Fairy pisses off wife - no spaghetti for me

The title says it all. My wife wants me to make meatloaf, I get to choose the side. That sounds good to me. I have a great recipe for meatloaf that I got from my mom. I think she got it off of a package of Lipton Onion Soup mix.

For the appetizer I am going to make something that Elvis would like. In fact, this recipe came from Elvis' cookbook. Actually it came from his chef Alvena Roy. She was Elvis' chef from the time he was 19 on. She teamed up with a couple of authors to write all of her recipes that she made for Elvis into a cookbook. The book is speckled with anecdotes about Elvis and comments about his favorites etc. His favorite cheeseburger recipe is in there, along with his favorite peanut butter and banana sandwiches. If you want a great book for old-fashioned American cooking, you can't get much better than Fit for a King - The Elvis Presley Cookbook. I will make his recipe for deviled eggs, because I freaking LOVE deviled eggs.

There is a story behind the side dish. As a general rule I don't like to eat at chain restaurants. Its not that I don't respect their right to do business and I certainly appreciate the convenience. The other thing that is nice about chains is you know what you are going to get. Chicken tortilla soup at Chili's is the same in Denver as it is in Washington D.C. The thing is, when I want to eat familiar foods I make them at home. That is why I spend years trying to recreate Gino's East Pizza. Its so that when I move away I can have it at home. When I eat at a restaurant, I am generally looking for something new or a new twist on a familiar recipe so that I can learn and enhance my own cooking. So anyway I got dragged into a Cracker Barrel once. I had never eaten at one so I just ordered their version of the junk plate. It came with this delicious version of hash brown casserole. Now I have a confession to make. I have been back several times since (always in disguise) to get that hash brown casserole so I could figure it out. It is pretty famously good, and if you don't get there early enough it will be sold out. I have a casserole that tastes almost exactly the same, so I will be making that. Since I have leftover ham I will add ham to it.