My Version of Meat Loaf

I know that meat loaf recipes are a dime a dozen, but I have to say this is my favorite version. It's a mash up of many different recipes and I have finally gotten it down to what works and tastes good for my family. I hope that you enjoy it too. 

P.S. I know that I have not been posting much lately but I am hopefully back on track and will be posting much more frequently!

Ingredients For Meat Mix:

1 lb each ground beef and ground pork

1/2 of a yellow bell pepper-chopped small

1 large carrot-shredded

1 small white onion chopped small

1 Tbsp. of dried rosemary

1 tsp of kosher salt

1 tsp. of black pepper

1/3 c of ketchup

1 egg

1/2 c. dried bread crumbs

(I found that when my girls were small they were more prone to eat the veggies and not try to pick them out if they were really small. You still get the flavor of the veggies without the side of whine!)

I use my handy dandy mortar and pestle to grind the rosemary and salt.

Mix all ingredients together. Try not to over mix so that the meat loaf doesn't get tough.

Here's where my cooking method differs. I use a 13 x 9 baking dish to cook the meatloaf. This takes off a lot of cooking time and provides more surface area for the yummy glaze. I know, genius right? I'm so proud of myself. If someone else already thought of this please don't burst my bubble, I really thought I was hot stuff when I thought of this!

Ingredients for the glaze:

1/2 c ketchup

1 Tbsp turbinado or dark brown sugar (they both work beautifully & I go back and forth between the two)

1/2 tsp of dry mustard 

Mix well and spread over the meatloaf.

Bake at 375* for approximately 30-35 minutes until cooked through. 

Now here's the only draw back to this method. There is grease pooled around the sides after it's cooked. I just carefully pour the majority of the grease off into a bowl. This makes the most amazing meatloaf sandwiches the next day. The sweetness of  the glaze and the rich flavor of the meatloaf between two pieces of white bread. Oh. My. Goodness. It doesn't get much better than this. 

Enjoy!

Monlat