Guest post: Remaking Mom's Meatloaf

We have a special guest post today!! My brother (and Hannah's brother-in-law) was lucky enough to snag this amazing girlfriend - MEGAN! We are lucky to have her around, too. She makes delicious and nutritious foods, she's a heckuva sale spotter, plays a mean game of Bananagrams and is all-around fabulous.

When I was younger, my parents often had to work late, so my brother and I would take turns cooking for the family. One thing I memorized at an early age was meatloaf.

A lot of people turn their noses up at the thought of meatloaf. But every person I've met who claims to hate meatloaf changes their mind when they try the recipe I make. Everyone that is, except my boyfriend Jack. I’m not entirely convinced he’s actually tried my recipe, but I will let him claim he doesn't like it anyway
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Last week, I came up with the brilliant idea of recreating my recipe to Jack’s liking so that I could fulfill my craving for meatloaf. “Recreating for Jack’s liking” really just means making it spicy, so I decided I could convince him to eat meatloaf if I made it spicy and bribed him with his favorite soda (Cherry Bawls).

Below is my mom’s original recipe for meatloaf followed by my new experimental Spicy Meatloaf Recipe. You’ll have to try both to truly understand what you like best!

Mom’s Meatloaf:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add the following to a mixing bowl:

1 pound ground beef

1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix

1/2 cup oats

1 egg

4 tbsp of milk

Mix the ingredients together with your hands (or a spoon if touching raw meat grosses you out). You want the mixture to be moist, but not wet. Add more oats or milk to get the required consistency.
Put the mixture into a loaf pan. Top with sliced onions, cracked black pepper, and 1 can of tomato soup mix. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

Spicy Meatloaf

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add the following to a mixing bowl:

1 pound ground beef

1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup mix (dry mix); ½ onion diced, 1 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp Southwest Seasoning mix (I used the Pampered Chef variety), ½ tsp chili powder, ½ tsp paprika, ½ tsp onion powder

1/2 cup oats

1 green pepper diced

1 egg

4 tbsp of milk

Mix the ingredients together with your hands (or a spoon if touching raw meat grosses you out). You want the mixture to be moist, but not wet. Add more oats or milk to get the required consistency.

Put the mixture into a loaf pan. Top with sliced onions, cracked black pepper, and ¼ cup of ketchup and 2 tsp tabasco 1 can of tomato soup mix. Sprinkle about 1tbsp brown sugar on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

My Verdict

I enjoyed the new recipe, but still like the old one better. I thought the new one had a good amount of spice without being too spicy. I even got an “it’s actually not that bad” comment from Jack, which is pretty good as far as I’m concerned.His only complaint was that it wasn’t spicy enough. Maybe next time I will have to make two meatloafs.

Vegetarian "Meat"loaf

This "meat"loaf may be vegetarian, but it delivers when you are craving serious comfort food. It’s good out of the pan and makes great leftovers as well. This concoction may sound a little strange but somehow comes out of the oven looking and tasting like (or even better than. I've been told) meatloaf.  Trust me, you won't be disappointed. 


Ingredients:

• 4 eggs beaten
• onion soup mix (I used about a ⅓ of a packet)
• 1 ½ to 2 c Special K
• 1 cup finely diced walnuts
• ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
• ¼ c canola oil (I have used olive oil as well)
• 16 oz cottage cheese
• A well greased/ oiled/ whatever 9x5 loaf pan

The order in which you  mix the ingredients doesn't matter,  just make sure it's mixed well. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

We enjoy the "meat"loaf on buns as a sandwich. This pairs well with some roasted red potatoes, mac n’ cheese or baked beans.

Recipe courtesy of my co worker, Tricia.