I decided to get acquainted with meatloaf. The kind you eat, not the creepy overweight no-talent singer. I've never really been a fan of meatloaf and I think it has to do with the way it looks more than anything(not unlike the "other" Meatloaf). It's funny looking, there are little bits of this and that on the inside and the color is a little strange. Kinda like my grandma's ham loaf. It TASTES really good, but I don't want to look at it. It all looks a little too SPAMish if you ask me.
Despite my weird visual hang ups, for some reason this is another of those things I'd been wanting to try. It's one of those comfort food dishes that everyone just seems to know how to throw together and I thought I should too. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com a while back and saved it because the reviews were all good. People who claimed to hate meatloaf or their husbands/children hated it liked this version. And I liked that it made six small loaves which I can freeze if I need to, rather than one big loaf...half of which would get tossed. I just realized that while any moron could have figured out that you can make the big meatloaf smaller, apparently I needed a recipe to figure it out. Good Grief!
This was an easy recipe to follow and the best part was that it tasted pretty darn good. Now, it still looks weird, but the taste overrides the visuals. I get grossed out fairly easily and I didn't really enjoy the mixing of the meatloaf ingredients by hand. But it was less nasty than messing with raw chicken. OK, before I begin to ramble on endlessly, here's the final analysis:
This recipe was easy to follow.
The meatloaf has a really good flavor and I like the firm texture.
It was actually better on day two.
I will most likely make it again.
I AM posting the recipe for this one!
LITTLE MEAT LOAVESINGREDIENTS
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup crushed buttery round crackers
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dried Italian-style seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 pound lean ground beef
1 pound ground sausage
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cracker crumbs, milk, cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce, Italian-style seasoning, garlic salt, ground beef and ground sausage. Mix this together well and form into individual loaves. Place the loaves in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In a separate small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Mix this together well and spoon some of this sauce over each loaf. Garnish each loaf with some Parmesan cheese and seasoning to taste.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 to 60 minutes.
My changes: I used Italian Sausage and I didn't have fresh onions so I used some dried chopped onion and cut the amount of them WAY down. Instead of cooking them in a baking dish, I put them on wire racks over a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil so that the grease would drip off . Also I halved the amount of sauce/glaze/whatever it is, thinking i wouldn't really like it. Next time I'll make the entire amount called for...it is very tasty and the meatloaves could swim in it and I'd be happy.
