Easy Meatloaf

The hubster and I went on a cruise to celebrate my birthday! That meant making something for pops to eat while we were gone. Of course his request was for meatloaf. The last time I made an Alton Brown meatloaf, but this time I wanted to try a different recipe. I decided to try Easy Meatloaf with a few minor changes from the original recipe. 

Ingredients1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used roughly half ground beef and half costco meatballs)
1 egg
1 onion, chopped
1 cup milk
1 cup dried bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp smoked paprika powder
2 tablespoons prepared mustard (I used Safeway's coarse ground mustard)
1/3 cup ketchup

Just a little over 1 1/2 lbs of meat

1. Saute the onions with butter in a pan until just barely translucent. Lightly salt. 

2. In a food processor, have the costco meatballs chopped up (Do NOT puree).

3. Mix meatballs with ground beef.

4. Add the cooked onions, egg, milk, bread crumbs, cumin powder, paprika powder and salt and pepper.

5. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Stuff into a well-oiled/buttered loaf pan, then flip onto a cookie sheet. 

(Foiled cookie sheet for easy cleanup afterwards).

Mix ketchup and mustard together, then cover your meatloaf with the mixture. 

Bake in preheated oven of 350°F for an hour.

I took a little nibble from a corner and I have to say, it turned out pretty tasty! Even the ketchup and coarse mustard was very flavorful.

Special Request ~ Meatloaf

Le hubby and I were headed to San Diego for the weekend to check out some breweries, the apple festival and do a bit of apple picking. That meant dad would be at home for the weekend without dinner! So I asked him if he had any special requests. Of course, it was meatloaf. And as usual, I used Alton Brown's Good Eats Meatloaf as my guideline.

I used 9oz jimmy dean sausage with sage and the remainder 27oz of ground beef for a total of 36oz of meat. Sprinkle with 1 and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

Little bowl on left:

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon Penzey's bouquet garni

Bowl on the right:

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped (couldn't find my onion)

3 whole cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, chopped

6 ounces garlic-flavored croutons or any other flavors would work well too.

Mix everything together, then mix in an egg.

Pack into a loaf pan.

Flip over and set the meatloaf on parchment paper. This way allows the fat to drain out. Then bake in preheated oven of 325°F.

After 10 minutes, pull the loaf out and cover with a ketchup glaze. The ketchup glaze was made with 1/2 cup ketchup,1 teaspoon ground cumin, dash Worcestershire sauce. I actually double the recipe; use half of it for the loaf and the other half as extra sauce.

My meatloaf's glaze burned a bit as our meat thermometer alarm wasn't working properly. You want an internal temperature of 155°F to ensure your meatloaf is cooked well. My meatloaf baked for about 1 hour and 40 minutes.

I realize we always use Alton Brown's meatloaf recipe. It's because it has veggies in it!. Most other meatloaf recipes is basically meat, bread, onions and egg. But, I will try another meatloaf recipe next time. Found some pretty highly reviewed ones as well as some fun ones:

Allrecipes.com's Easy Meatloaf

Paula Dean's Old-Fashioined Meatloaf

Betty Crocker's Savory Meatloaf

The Pioneer Woman's Favorite Meatloaf (w bacon strips)

Cheddar BBQ Meatloaf Muffins

Meatloaf

I've been meaning to make meatloaf for pops since he asked for it awhile ago. And since we have a lot of leftover meats, I figured I ought to just make it. We had leftover ground beef and old costco meatballs (though I'm sure it'd never go bad while it's in the freezer... heh) and a new ground turkey package that's been sitting in the freezer for a while now and I just bought bacon..... so here's what I used for my meatloaf:

9 oz ground beef, 10 oz costco meatballs (or 16 meatballs), 15 oz ground turkey, 2 celery stalks, minced, 1/2 large white onion, minced, 1/2 oz sun dried tomatoes, minced, 4 oz bread crumbs, 1 tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp chili powder, 3 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 1/4 tsp curry powder and 1 egg. I forgot about the bacon :(

Sauce: 1 3/4 cup ketchup, 1 1/2 tsp cumin powder, 2 dashes Worcestershire sauce, 1 tbs sugar

Pretty much just mix them all in a mixer and then add the egg last. Then place it in a meatloaf pan that's been sprayed with PAM. Then flip it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven of 350°F for 1 hr and 15 minutes or until it reaches an internal temperature of 155°F.

The sauce mixture is applied to the meatloaf once it's been baking for 15 minutes. I use about half the sauce mixture and save the rest for when it's served. It's super delicious!

Meats n broccoli

Dinner for me n dad

Keto dinner for hubby

Ground Beef dishes

This one is leftover meatloaf with rice n broccoli. A classic yummy oldtime fav... if the meatloaf is done right... (and this one is!)

This one is keto friendly with a slab of ground beef topped with cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream and broccoli for sides. Super delish as well! It's kinda like a burger patty~ super savory and juicy! The ground beef was basically treated like a steak with salt and pepper for seasoning and then straight onto a high-heated pan. It was cooked til just well done since it was previously frozen.

This would've been useful to have: Stainless Steel Turner, 3" x 7 1/2" (Google Affiliate Ad)

Meatloaf!

This is a version of Good Eats Meatloaf from Alton Brown.

Everything is pretty much the same with a few substitutions....

1) Instead of 6oz of garlic-flavored croutons, I decided to make a sweet-ish meatloaf and used 6oz of stale kashi cereal (original).

2) In place of 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, I added more of the chili powder.

3) In place of 3 whole cloves of garlic, I used 2 tsp of garlic powder.

4) In place of the ground meats, I used 28oz of ground beef and 4oz of bacon, chopped into bits. (Yes, I know I'm short 2oz of meat....)

5) And since I added bacon, I reduced the salt to 1/2 tsp.

Other than that, just follow the recipe as stated and it will be super delicious and moist. While the flavor was awesome, my meatloaf was crumbly. Next time, I would use a really large egg or two regular ones.

And since only 1/2 a bell pepper and 1/2 an onion was called for the meatloaf, I stirfried the remaining and called them veggies! :) We also bought sausages, but those are for another post.

Nom-nom-nom-nom, that's one hella great yummy eats!

AD: Kitchenaid 2-Pc. Meatloaf Pan Set (Google Affiliate Ad)

Meatloaf

This meatloaf was made with ground beef, ground turkey, carrots, mushrooms, onions, stale cereal,  an old hamburger bun and salt n pepper. Glaze is made with ketchup, honey, cumin powder and a dash of worcestershire sauce. Eat with fried corn tortilla on the side and a dollop of sour cream.

Alton Brown's Meatloaf

I've made a turkey version of Alton Brown's Meatloaf before, but this time I used all ground beef since that's what we had. For Alton's recipe, go here. This held better than the turkey meatloaf in terms of texture because this time i really packed everything into one container. The glaze is just amazing.

Turkey Meatloaf

I used 3lbs of ground turkey mixed with 3t salt and 1egg. Add in 1 chopped carrot, 1 chopped cucumber, and 1 chopped onion. In a separate mixture, food process 8oz croutons, 6t brown sugar, 3t paprika, 2t dried thyme, 1.5t chili pepper, 1t ground cumin, 1/2t black pepper. Then add to meat mixture as well. Mold into loaf shape and place in 350 degree Fahrenheit oven. 

For the glaze, mix 1c ketchup, 4-5 dashes of Worcestershire sauce, 2t ground cumin, and 3T brown sugar.

After baking meatloaf for 10 minutes, add the glaze and continue to bake for another 30 minutes. After which, the recipe calls for upping the heat to 400 degrees Fahrenheit for another 40 minutes or until done.

When the meat loaf was finally cooked, it looked like the above.

It was pretty delicious! We made extra glaze on the side for a super yummy dinner!