Mom's Meatloaf

Most of my posts have been about dessert baking. Well, not everything that goes into the oven is for dessert. One of my favorite things to bake is meatloaf. There are very few other things as easy and as quick as this recipe. Plus, I love the fact that it comes from the 1969 Betty Crocker cookbook. The flavors have stood the test of time in my family. I grew up with this recipe and it has now become a part of my dinner repertoire. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

All of the ingredients are things I normally stock in my pantry so I find this to be something that is really easy to whip up if I feel like it. I find it best to start with fresh ground beef. I often buy ground beef and freeze it but last night I bought some from the grocery store and it was just so much easier. I also use Panko breadcrumbs. I haven't experimented much with different breadcrumbs but Panko has treated me pretty well.

There are several different spices in this recipe. You can see the suggested measurements below. I prefer to add a 1/2 tsp instead of just a 1/4 tsp of each spice. I really want to play around with different measurements and maybe different spices at some point but I like this recipe so much I have yet to experiment with it.

My favorite side dishes to this meatloaf are mashed potatoes (made with light sour cream and butter. Yum!) and green beans. And of course, a nice tall glass of milk. I sure do love my comfort food! 

Mom's Meatloaf

1969 Betty Crocker Cookbook 

(with Kara's notes)

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup dry breadcrumbs (I use Panko)

2/3 cup milk (skim milk offers a healthier option)

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp minced onion (something I always have in my pantry!)

1/2 tsp salt (I am tempted to try my smoked sea salt next time. Got it at Trader Joe's and it's amazing!)

1/2 to 1/2 tsp of each:

Black pepper

Dry mustard

Celery salt

Garlic salt (I love using a 1/2 tsp of each. You can always revise the measurements depending on what flavors you want to go for and even play around with adding other spices.)

1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

ketchup for "glaze"

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. (getting your hands dirty is so much fun! Be sure to wash well with soap afterwards. Raw beef - eww.)

Shape into loaf in shallow pan. (I also line my pan with tin foil. Makes for a super easy clean up. Spray with a cooking spray to keep the meatloaf from sticking to the foil.)

Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and spread with ketchup. (I always eyeball this.)

Return loaf to oven and bake for an additional 45 minutes to an hour.

Happy Baking!

Savory Baking - Meat and Potato Pies

I love baking desserts and sweet treats but I also love baking savory dishes. Earlier this week I thought I would try to make something with the extra onion and chuck steak I had on hand. After perusing my Harry Potter cookbook (yes, I have one, and yes, I will post a review sometime!), I decided to try making meat and potato pies. The recipe was really similar to the Cornish Pasty recipe (from the same book) so I knew it wouldn't be too complicated. I cut the cooking time in half, though, since I didn't really have three hours to prepare dinner. I think the long cook time for this is to allow all the flavors come through. All ingredients go into a skillet and I tried to let them simmer as long as I could.

The dough was a simple pastry dough. I mixed it up and let it chill while I cooked the filling. Once ready, I rolled it out to make my little pie crusts. I didn't have a large enough cookie cutter to make the bottom crust so I actually used the lid to my flour container. It worked perfect! I sprayed my muffin pan with Pam, added the bottom crusts, filled the crust with the meat filling, and added a top crust. A little brush of egg wash and the pies were ready to bake.

These smelled so amazing as they baked. Both Ryan and I were really excited for dinner. I think these turned out amazingly. Surprisingly, I found them to be a bit easier to make then Cornish Pasties. I will have to check the freezer for more chuck steak because I can't wait to make these again!