Meatloaf | Pad Patter 10.18

I like meatloaf and my boys do too... probably because it's one of the few meals I make with mashed potatoes. My hubby on the other hand hates meatloaf because his Mom made it too much when he was a kid. Lol. So, knowing that he hates it, I don't make it very often at all.

 

My kid HATES mashed potatoes. This is my mom's fault and a bit of mine for following my mom's advice to hide veggies on the mashed potatoes. She stopped eating them COLD TURKEY after the first time I did add veggies.

 

LOVE meatloaf ... it's one of the few things that everyone will eat. I serve it with mashed potatoes, peas and hot rolls. Lately though, I haven't been able to find meatloaf mixture at the grocery stores.

I use my mom's recipe. I usually use more of the meatloaf mixture and increase the other ingredients a bit. FYI meatloaf mixture is ground beef, ground pork and ground veal ... the texture is lighter and moister than just plain ground beef

Milly’s Meatloaf

1 ½ lbs. meatloaf mixture (or ground beef)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. each of dry mustard, pepper, celery seed and garlic salt
1/8 tsp. sage
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 slices soft bread
1 cup milk
1 egg

Tear bread into large mixing bowl; add milk and egg. Let bread soak a few minutes. (I add other spices while bread is soaking.)

Add meat and seasonings - mix thoroughly. Form lightly into a loaf and place in shallow baking pan. Cover loaf with bacon slices (optional). Bake 1-1½ hours at 350°.

6 to 8 servings

 

When I was a kid, my mom made "bird's nests" ... mashed potatoes with a hole in the center filled with peas. I still love to mix peas with my mashies.

 

My kid has never been good with trying to "get" her with something. You see, you could see your peas. My mom convinced me to smash cauliflower into the mashed potatoes and that was the end of mashed potatoes for her. LOL!!!

 

oh that’s sneaky! I guess she was on to your tricks. Ha ha!

 

I love making and eating mashed potatoes, so I miss them so much. Every once in a while I'll make some and she doesn't touch them.

 

Yeah one time my mom mixed sour cream (?) into a recipe trying to use the sour cream up. It looked different, then she kept pushing us to eat it. Nope, the three of us girls and my dad turned up our noses. Finally she admitted adding the sour cream ... think that was the first and only time she did that.

 

My family had a bit of a meatloaf phase a few years ago when everyone liked it, but now it has been over a year since I last made it. Some of my family might be okay with it still, but I'm eating less and less meat over the last year and a half, so I don't really want it now.

 

Mine has ketchup *in* it but not *on* it. It has no topping at all, actually, and no egg or bread inside, either.

 

Mine has no ketchup in it or on it until it hits my plate. Tomato juice is the closest thing to ketchup and that is on top while cooking just to keep it from drying out. My parents never put ketchup on it when eating it but I was different since I love ketchup. I have eaten mine without ketchup, very rarely though!

 

One thing that can change both the texture and taste is the bready filler that is used. I don't like using oatmeal. My mom always used saltine crackers. Some people use bread crumbs. One time I used tortilla chips because that is all I had. I got a "healthy" recipe awhile back and it uses oat bran (the kind used to make an oat bran hot cereal) - you mix the oat bran with the eggs and milk and let it sit, then mix it in.

When the kids were younger, I would divide the meat and make 2 small loaves - one with onions and one without. The onion hater has moved out so now I always put a lot in there.

We also skip the ketchup and use A-1 Steak Sauce instead, both in the meat and more as a topping after cooked.

I hate cooked green peppers so will often skip ordering meatloaf at a restaurant like Cracker Barrel for that reason.

 

---- we use A-1 Steak Sauce instead of ketchup...

 

When I first got married, I couldn't even boil water. I got a cookbook, from Betty Crocker called "Cooking For Two" and I taught myself how to cook. Here's the original meatloaf recipe I used.

• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup 2% milk
• 1/3 cup crushed saltines
• 3 tablespoons chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon rubbed sage
• Dash pepper
• 1/2 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

• Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat egg. Add the milk, cracker crumbs, onion, salt, sage and pepper. Crumble beef over mixture and mix well. Shape into 2 loaves; place in a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray.
• Combine the ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce; spoon over meat loaves. Bake until meat is no longer pink and a thermometer reads 160°, 40-45 minutes.

I've "tweaked" it over the years and added lots of ketchup, which I posted about - never enough - but this is my original recipe. I loaned my OLD cookbook to my youngest DD and never saw it again.

 

Oh, I'm going to have to try that!

 

We love meatloaf over here.

I usually start with this recipe and change out ingredients depending what I have.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/416864509241415247/?nic_v2=1aWK75uRa

I've also made this a few times. My kids love the cheese!
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/71251/incredibly-cheesy-turkey-meatloaf/

 

I don't eat meat, but DH and the kids all agree that my meatloaf is the best thing I make. So I guess we're a meatloaf family! I make a somewhat non-traditional recipe:

1 lb ground beef
20 oz ground turkey
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs (Italian seasoned)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1 cup jarred tomato sauce mixed in and 1/2 cup poured on top

Bake uncovered at 350 until it reaches 165 degrees. I usually make it in a Corningware container since it's too big for a loaf pan. In that it takes about 60-70 minutes, but if you made it in 2 loaf pans it would probably cook faster.

 

Another easy way to make it and cook faster is using a mini muffin pan, lol! You might be good with that for all the kids, time and easy serving.

 

Hmm... this is interesting! I might try that and with a ground steak as the meat! Add some minced peppers and onions and a bit of cheese... yum!

 

I have an appetizer meatball recipe that calls for crushed cornflakes as the "bready" filling. I love those meatballs, but have grown lazy and now buy the frozen ones.