Meatloaf, a childhood favorite. Growing up, I knew supper would be great when I would get home from school and smell my Mom’s meatloaf cooking in the oven. The best part of it was the tomato soup she would spread on top of it before putting it in the oven. Served with mashed potatoes and veggies, I remember how wonderful it tasted! Over the year, I have tried different meatloaf recipes. Some with rice, others with crumbled dry bread, with canned tomato soup and some with BBQ sauce. When it comes to meatloaf, the possibilities are endless. Now, it depends on the flavor I want to achieve but I always keep the same basics to get the perfect meatloaf!
Depending on what I have on hand in my pantry for seasoning, meatloaf is a nice go to meal that have later on in the week. I always insure that I have these 3 basics: breadcrumbs, eggs and of course hamburg (or shredded turkey). The rest is up to your imagination.
This week, I decided to make them individual sized and wrap them in bacon – if you didn’t already noticed, bacon is very popular with the men of the house, so wrapping meatloaf with bacon is a sure winner!
In order to make these, you will need:
- 2 pounds of beef
- 1 cup of breadcrumbs (I use the Italian mix for the extra herbs & spices)
- 2 eggs
- 1 small yellow onion (chopped finely)
- 2 Tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
- 3 Tbsp of Ketchup
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Before going further, insure you preheat your oven to 350 F. Then, in a large mixing bowl, using your hands (make sure you washed them first), mix all ingredients together.
Separate in 6 equal portions. Firmly press portions to create a thick meat patty. On a foil lined baking sheet, wrap one (or two) strips of bacon around each patty.
My patties cooked for around 35 minutes (time may vary according to oven). In order to create a variation, I added some BBQ sauce on top of 3 of my meatloaf… just to spice up some of them! Once cooked, you can serve with veggies, rice, mashed potatoes, or even some egg noodles… the possibilities are endless. You can also store in the fridge up to 5 days. In our case, this will be our Tuesday evening meal!
What a beautiful way to feed a family… and so easy on the clean-up!
Life is a whirlwind of things… work, chores, activities! Getting such meals ready ahead of time makes it so simple to have homemade meals… and family time. Enjoy!
