Once upon a ChristmasEve, I blogged about my meatloaf making experience. That meatloaf turned out to be very yummy. Hubby and I again found ourselves with ground beef on our hands that we needed to use up quickly. (What is it with ground beef anyway? Sometimes we go through it so quickly, and other times we wake up one day and realize we’d better use it before it goes bad….)
Again, cue meatloaf.
In my original post, I combined recipes from The Betty Crocker Cookbook and The Pioneer Woman. This time around, I just tried Pioneer Woman’s twist, though I did make a few modifications for our tastes. Here is the link to her recipe. So now, here’s how it went for me:
Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 1 c milk
- 6 bread slices
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 c grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 seasoned salt
- Ground black pepper
- 4 eggs, beaten
- A1 Sauce
- Ketchup
Tomato Gravy Ingredients
- 1 1/2 c ketchup
- 6 T brown sugar
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- Preheat the oven to 350*.
- Pour the milk over the bread and allow to soak in for several minutes. (Unlike my first go with meatloaf, I kept the bread slices whole and did not tear into pieces).
- Add the ground beef, Parmesan cheese, salt, seasoned salt, black pepper, A1 Sauce, ketchup, and eggs to the milk-soaked bread.
- Remove rings from fingers. (Trust me. See step 5.)
- Use your hands to mix the ingredients until well-combined. (And let’s be honest, this is the fun part. Get in there and have a good time!
) - Form the mixture into a loaf shape. (Pioneer Woman uses a broiler pan. Last time, I just used a regular baking dish. This time, I got creative so that the fat could drain. I placed a 6 cup muffin/cupcake pan inside of a 9 x 13 cake pan. I covered the muffin pan with foil and cut a few slits for the fat to drain.)
- Make the tomato gravy by pouring the ketchup into a small mixing bowl. Add the brown sugar and dry mustard and stir until well combined.
- Pour about 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the meatloaf.
- Bake for 45 minutes, and then pour another 1/3 of the tomato gravy over the meatloaf.
- Bake for another 15 minutes.
Finished meatloaf…and you can kind of see my creative fat draining system.
- Use the remainder of the gravy for dipping.
My meal: Meatloaf, corn and mashed potatoes, and stuffing
In the end, I would NOT add A1 to my meatloaf mixture. I’ve never had A1 before, but Hubby wanted me to use it. I figured that it couldn’t be that bad, but I’m more of a ketchup girl. If you like A1, give it a try. If not, I’d stay away! The meatloaf was good, but it would’ve been better without that ingredient. The tomato gravy is AWESOME! You will not be sorry you tried it!
If you say it’s good, I believe that you loved it. Really. However, I cannot eat meatloaf. It makes me gag and dry-heave. Just the smell of it sends me over the edge. I have NO idea why. My parents used to force me to eat it (remember the days of not being in charge of your own meal choices?) and they would say, “You like a little meatloaf with your A1?” because the only way I could choke it down was to drown it in A1. My mom would only make it once a year because that’s how much I hated it. Our deal was that she would make it on Halloween. And I dreaded that all year long.
Long story short: I will never make it. My husband knows if he wants it, he has to get it at restaurants. Same with anything involving fish. He either makes it himself or orders it out.
But I totally believe it’s good if this is a PW recipe! Just not for me.
I appreciate your vote of confidence.
I was a picky kid, and I don’t remember loving meatloaf, but I didn’t hate it. What I DID hate was when it was made with chopped onions in it because I hated onions then and would pick the pieces out! I think I like more things now because they’re my choice.
I don’t like fish at all. I do like other seafood…and I actually don’t mind fish sticks, but I’m told that that’s not “real fish” so that’s probably why I like them…haha