Hubby's Favorite ---- Meatloaf

[NMDemDist2]

2 pounds lean ground beef
1 pound ground sausage (try different flavors, Jimmy Dean is standard)
1 egg
2 sticks celery
1 carrot
1/4 - 1/2 bell pepper (i like red, but any color is fine)
6-8 mushrooms
1/2 large onion
2-3 cloves garlic
1 can tomato paste (if you only have tomato sauce, decrease milk by half)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp prepared mustard
3 TBSP lea & perrins sauce
1 TBSP Mrs Dash
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 TBSP onion powder (or dry onion soup mix)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp parsley
(or you can use a Meat Loaf spice packet instead of the last 5 spices)


put meats in large bowl or pan,

process the celery, bell pepper and carrot in food processor or grate very fine, add to meat

chop onion and mushroom and garlic and add to mix

add all other ingredients (spices should be to taste) and mix well with your hands

Mixture should be moist, if you need more moisture, add another egg or ketchup or milk. if it's too moist add more bread crumbs

put in loaf pan and bake at 375 for about 90-120 minutes until internal temp reaches 170. About 10 minutes before it's done brush Ketchup or Chili Sauce on top to glaze (you can also put bacon strips across the top over the glaze in the last 10-15 minutes)

Remove from oven and take out of pan and let it "rest" and drain the grease for 5 minutes before slicing.

We usually have this with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Corn

Since this is so much work, I usually make 4-6 loaves at a time and freeze them to bake later. You can freeze them in the foil loaf pans with an aluminum foil sealed cover in a zip lock bag.

I just take them out of the freezer, remove the foil and put them in the oven in the morning with the oven timer set to bake an hour before I get home. They defrost all day then cook automatically, and with the timer set an hour before you get home, you can watch them for the last hour to add glaze etc.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Meatloaf Tips and Tricks

(Disregard this tip if you plan to freeze your meatloaf) Add some crushed ice to your meatloaf mix .... about 1/4-1/3 cup per pound of meat. This does a couple of things. It adds moisture to the meatloaf and allows you to use a leaner than proper meat mix. Classically, meatloaf should be done with 30% fat. Adding the ice can allow you to use as low as 10% or 15% fat. But even if you keep to the normal fat of 30%, the ice keeps the meat cold when you mix it, helping it retain some loft rather than getting overdense from handling. (It does this by keeping the fat cold and solid rather than warm and soft.) When you cook the meatloaf, the ice simply melts, forming steam inside the meatloaf and thereby keeping it nice and moist.

Add hard cooked eggs to the meatloaf. After you put the meat into the pan for cooking, part the meat down the middle (think of Moses parting the sea). Lay end to end as many hard cooked eggs as would be needed to run the length of the meatloaf. Seal the meat around the tops of the eggs and bake as normal. If the eggs are not sealed, the meat may part during cooking. This won't hurt anything but it won't look as nice as it might otherwise.

[NMDemDist2]

2. i love that ice cube trick LOL n/t

[grasswire]

3. sounds good with the veggies in it!

My meatloaf is from Sunset cookbook and is a little different, with poultry seasoning (for the sage flavor), oatmeal (makes the outside real nutty and delicious), onion, milk, etc. Served with a sauce made from catsup, mustard, brown sugar and nutmeg. We love it. Especially with big fat baked potatoes and green beans. Meatloaf is the perfect family meal.