Meatloaf

Meatloaf can be made many ways, but as you may have noticed, I tend to re-combine the same ingredients in different recipes so that I don't have to keep too many different products on hand. You'll notice a lot of repeats, but no grated cheese this time.

You'll need a pound to 20 ounces of ground meat, barbecue sauce, bread crumbs and one egg.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and line a glass cake pan with Reynolds Non-Stick Pan Lining Paper, which based on its star rating is something only I find to be fantastic but really is a great Q-CC time saver.

I prefer to use ground meat that is lower than 7% fat content, both because it is healthier and because it doesn't result in a lot of fat draining around the sides, which looks gross when it comes out of the oven and even worse if it is allowed to harden there as it cools. Plus, low fat is always easier to clean.  Target had low fat ground beef on sale recently when I was there, so that's what I used recently, but turkey and pork also work fine.  I always buy the meat in a styrofoam tray, which is what I use for the mixing bowl, saving cleaning time.

Make an indentation in the middle of the meat, then crack open the egg and empty the contents there.  Pour a half cup of Progresso Italian Style Bread Crumbs on top of that, and then squirt on two or three tablespoons of barbecue sauce.  While you can use about any barbecue sauce, I usually use Sweet Baby Ray's, because this is my son Jay's favorite.  I use a tablespoon to mix all those ingredients, and I have to admit that I don't actually measure anything, but you should be able to see when it looks properly balanced.   Once those are all thoroughly mixed, I add more bread crumbs and barbecue sauce, usually about half as much as I put in the first time, and mix that in. It should seem to be of a consistent texture that can be molded into a loaf.

While I know some people take off their rings, wash their hands with antibiotic soap and then squish all the ingredients together by hand, I prefer to just mix it up with a spoon that I can quickly wash afterwards. Get the loaf to the right basic shape, and then just pour the rough loaf into the lined pan. Using the same spoon, press on the meat loaf to smooth it out and create clearance from the sides of the lined pan. Even though it won't stick, it tastes better when the sides of the loaf get a free flow of hot air. Add a squiggle of barbecue sauce on top, and then cook it at 400 degrees for 50 minutes to an hour.

It's that easy. If you finish it, just wad up the pan liner and throw it out. If you've ever cleaned a meatloaf pan, you know how great it is that you don't have to scrape and soak the pan.

A good side dish for meatloaf is steamed broccoli. Fill a microwave safe bowl with broccoli florets, sprinkle on seasoned salt, add a tablespoon of butter, cover with wax paper and microwave for about 3 minutes (depending on how big your bowl is). Baked potato is another easy side dish for meatloaf. Just poke some holes in a potato and microwave it for 7 minutes. Then, cover it with foil, and cook in the oven along with the meatloaf. When done, slice open the potato and add either butter or sour cream.

Leftover meatloaf makes great sandwiches. That's what I had for breakfast yesterday: cold meatloaf and a slice of tomato between two slices of bread.