Meatloaf

Please excuse the picture. It is a paper plate night. Meatloaf is my absolute favorite meal. I even have a meatloaf song that I sing (which my kids hate). But I can't help it, meatloaf just makes me happy. It also happens to be my husband's least favorite meal, so I always serve him up a nice ribeye steak while the rest of us eat meatloaf. He is really missing out. The meatloaf is way better!!

1 1/2 lbs hamburger meat

1small onion diced

3 stalks of celery diced

3 cloves garlic minced

1small zucchini diced

1 egg

Dash of ketchup 

1/2 cup crushed croutons or cracker

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp each of Salt, Pepper, garlic powder, Celery salt, Season salt

Dash Cayenne pepper 

4 slices bacon

3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

4 tbls brown sugar

14 oz can tomato sauce 

Combine crushed croutons or crackers and milk in cup and allow to soak to create slurry. Dice all vegetables and place in large mixing bowl. Add egg, ketchup, spices, and slurry. Mix well. You can improvise spices or vegetables to your liking. I like mine very chunky with lots of veggies. Add meat and mix by hand until fully incorporated.

Place in casserole dish and shape into loaf.  Combine tomato sauce, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Arrange raw bacon slices over the loaf. Pour sauce over loaf, making sure completely covered. Bake at 350 degrees about 1 hour and 20 minutes. I usually serve with either mashed or fried potatoes and corn. I just use a McCormick brown gravy packet but I add a few tsp of the drippings from the meatloaf to make the gravy taste a little richer. One of the many wonderful things about meatloaf is the leftover cold meatloaf sandwiches. Enjoy!