Mmmm....Meatloaf

Last night, I decided to try meatloaf. Don't ask me why, it just suddenly sounded REALLY good. I had attempted it once, a few years ago, but it wasn't quite right. So last night I decided to give it another shot.

I started with this meatloaf recipe from allrecipes.com. We're kind of picky eaters at my house, so right off the bat I knew we didn't have an onion or mustard. But I figured I could find something to substitute. And I had to add garlic powder. Below is what I ended up with. Please note that there is Worcestershire sauce in the photo (I intended to add that as well) but I forgot to add it to the recipe. Oops!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 egg

1 cup milk

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/3 cup ketchup

2 tbsp barbecue sauce

salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a big bowl, combine ground beef, egg, milk, bread crumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt and pepper.

3. Line a 5x9 loaf pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray, and add ground beef mixture. Or use a 9x13 pan and shape the ground beef mixture into a loaf.

4. In a small bowl, combine ketchup and barbecue sauce. Mix well and then pour over the meatloaf.

5. Bake for 1 hour.

When it was finished, we cut it up and served it with garlic mashed potatoes and steamed veggies. Looked pretty good if I do say myself!

I got a thumbs up from my husband, and was told I could make it again :) But I did learn a couple of things that I'll be sure to note for next time. One, get your hands dirty! I tried to mix all my ingredients with a spoon and, while it looked well mixed, there were definite bites that tasted different than others. Next time, I'll be diving right in with my hands! Second, this made enough sauce to cover about a third of the meatloaf, so I just ran it in a strip down the middle. I think it would be much better to double or triple the ketchup and barbecue sauce and make enough to cover the entire loaf. Other than that, I think it's a winner! Gold star for me :)

Update 1/9/11: Discovered that the sauce on top isn't so great during reheating. Gets a little nasty to be honest! If you have mustard and brown sugar on hand, I'd suggest trying the sauce that was in the original recipe I linked to above. Good luck!