Not your Momma’s Meatloaf…
Guest Blog by: Midge
Last week, I carefully avoided the idea of exercising by spending a bit of time in the kitchen making pretzels! This week, I finally gathered up enough courage to get off the couch and onto the treadmill. Thirty horrendous minutes later, I literally dropped off the back into a tired lump of clay. Okay, okay, it was not that bad! I walked for 15 minutes, ran for one minute during which I felt like I could conquer the world, and then walked for 14 minutes of extreme tiredness. All in all, it was a great workout for me (I can’t believe I just said that!)
After feeling inspired by my workout, I thought I would start working on a meal plan for the weekend (this is also out of my comfort zone!). I made an extra meal on Saturday evening so I would have it ready to go for Sunday’s lunch. Of course, Sunday lunch comes along and we ended up grabbing a quick bite to eat after church… it figures!! But, it did make a great Sunday night dinner.
This is Midge’s “Year of the Carnivore” and I have dedicated my cooking time attempting to cook different kinds of meats. The one “meat class” in which I excel in happens to be beef. Cooking up burgers, browning hamburger meat, and making tacos are my specialties. But, I have always longed to be like Molly Green with a cute little apron bringing a classic meatloaf out of my oven!
I tried three or more recipes for meatloaf. My mother-in-law’s meatloaf is super scrumptious and yet when I tried to mix it together to bake it; it falls flat. Finally, I believe I have perfected Midge’s Meatloaf recipe (but I still need to try Molly’s!!).
Here is my super-secret recipe:
- 1 pouch of Ranch Dressing powder mix
- 2 pounds of hamburger meat
- ketchup
Mix the meat and the ranch dressing mix. Form into a flat loaf in the center of a 9 x 13 pan with the edges of the long sides of the loaf about 1-2 inches away from the sides of the pan. Cover the top and sides of the loaf with ketchup. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour to an hour and a half depending on your oven or until the inside of the loaf is no longer pink.
Yup, that’s it!!! So, it’s not my momma’s meat loaf but it was oh SOOO good! It also makes for a great meatloaf sandwich.
Next up ~ Duck a l’orange! Oh my goodness, what have I gotten myself into? Anyone have a link to a great duck recipe? Help!
Eureka! I just found the meatloaf recipe that my cousin Molly Green uses in her kitchen! I think it may be time for another meatloaf experiment! Have you seen it? It is listed in the month of September in this Molly Green member resource.
This sounds delicious and I will certainly add it to my “What are we going to eat, made out of ground meat?” file! Meatloaf has always been a popular entree during tight times, particularly the 1930′s, because you could stretch the meat with fillers such as bread, crackers, oatmeal or even shredded vegetables. This defeats the whole carnivore emphasis but adding a little whole, raw milk and an egg with the filler and the ranch dressing powder milk could give back some of the fats and protein. Come to think of it, tonight is a ground meat night so I’ll try it and get back to you. THANK YOU!!
Midge Says ~ Thanks for a bit of history about meatloaf. I never knew that was why they began to add things as fillers to their meat. I am glad you had a chance to try out my recipe as well
It was a real hit!! Thank you. Next time I’ll try the crackers and egg to see if it’s still as good.
Midge says ~ Yahoo!! You’re welcome! Write me and let me know if that is good as well.