Blue Plate Special-Meatloaf for Dinner

I don't eat meat loaf. It's not a foodie bias mind you. Well maybe it is. See, my mother used to make terrible meatloaf when I was a child (Served with a brown mushroom gravy. She also makes bad meatballs. I think the act of forming ground beef into something other than hamburgers (which she does really well) is just something she never mastered) She also does not read my blog....

But meatloaf. Just the word makes me think of a hard slab of dense meat "product" (This is from my mom's  use of breadcrumbs rather than bread soaked in milk, my MIL makes awesome meatballs and she swears by the bread/milk combo.)

So I don't know what possessed me to make meatloaf for dinner. Well yes I do, last week we made (ok, my husband made) linguine with clam sauce from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, cookbook and it was delicious. (She's not a real pioneer like me of course, but her husband IS a cattle rancher while mine is a History teacher who makes clam sauce..... I guess she wins that round... Oh well. She's got a blog, it's great.) I don't think she makes her own butter though....

Today was rainy and cold and when we got back from pre-school the last thing I wanted to do was go to Wegmans. Unfortunately we had NOTHING in the refrigerator. Nothing except the ingredients to Pioneer Woman's Meatloaf. (I think half the people in America could probably make this meat loaf right now.)

Why not, I though, give Meatloaf another try.

Meatloaf
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

1 cup milk
6 bread slices
2 pound ground beef
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon Lawry's season salt
Fresh ground black pepper
4 eggs, beaten
8 -12 thin bacon slices

Tomato Gravy:
1 1/2 cups ketchup
6 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Hot Sauce, to taste


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour the milk over the bread and let it soak in for several minutes.

Then, combine the ground beef, milk soaked bread, Parmesan cheese, salt, seasoned salt, and black pepper in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the beaten eggs. With clean hands, mix the ingredients until combined.Form into a loaf on a broiler pan. Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking underneath.

To make the tomato gravy, pour the ketchup in a small mixing bowl, and add the brown sugar, dry mustard, and Tabasco. Stir until combined.

Pour one third of the tomato gravy over the meatloaf. Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another third of the gravy over top. Bake another 45 minutes.

I did not make a lot of changes to this recipe but I did not have Lawry's Season Salt so I just skipped it. I also did not have bread so I used whole wheat hot dog rolls from the freezer (I told you we had nothing in the fridge). I added some sauteed green onions and garlic to the meat mixture & I also made 2 meat loaves instead of one big one and it cooked for about an hour and 15 minutes. The next time I may half the recipe as it makes a LARGE amount of meatloaf. One was sufficient to feed my family (there are only 3 of us) but I like leftovers so it was ok.

My family LOVED LOVED LOVED this meatloaf. I liked it too. Meat wrapped in bacon, how can you go wrong. I was a little surprised by how much we all liked it. I think my daughter ate 3 pieces.  I've officially revised my stance on meatloaf.

I would have really liked it with mashed potatoes, but like I said, nothing in the fridge.... So for side dishes we had that giant turnip cubed and roasted in olive oil  with a side of Braised Leeks with Lemon and broccoli leftover from last night's dinner.

I really need to go grocery shopping tomorrow because I don't think I can pull another meal like that out of thin air!