Meatloaf

I didn't know what to make for dinner tonight.  Mom suggested meatloaf.  I haven't made that in a while.  So I got a recipe that she usually uses, but I didn't like it.  It is probably one of those old Amish recipes or something.  A recipe for just the basic, plain meatloaf.  Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with plain old meatloaf, but you can easily make plain old meatloaf into great meatloaf.  So that is what I did.

The recipe said to only use 1/4 cup onion.  Bah, I used an onion, 2 stalks of celery, and half a red bell pepper.

Chopped that up and sauteed it, which is one of the secrets to great meatloaf.  Saute the veg.

Then I mixed together 2 pounds of ground beef, 2 eggs, salt, pepper, oatmeal, and the sauteed veg.  I soon realized that I had to much veg on my hands, so I only used 1/2 cup of it.

Put that all in a bowl and mixed it by hand, which is another secret to great meatloaf.  Use your hands when mixing it all together.

Then I formed it in a pan into a rounded shape, which is another secret to great meatloaf.  Form the meat into a rounded shape in a pan.  Don't cram it into a cake pan or loaf pan.

Right before I put it in the oven, I spread plain ketchup over the top.  Now this is where you can all fancy and make some great mix whatever to spread on top.  I tried that before.  It was okay.  Nothing seems to work out quite as well as plain old ketchup, though.

While it was cooking I cooked some potatoes for mash,

steamed broccoli,

and made some gravy.

I mashed the potatoes with cream, butter, salt, and pepper.

I think I put too much pepper in it.  Oh well.

The meatloaf turned out great.

It was quite good.

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