Another Meat Loaf Recipe

I decided to make a meat loaf using bread rather than oats as the filler. I liked this one pretty well. Too much food for 2 people, so unless we are hosting a meal, I will halve the recipe next time. I did make one substitution. I had planned to buy a loaf of white bread on sale at the grocery store bakery, but they were out. I used what I had at home which was wheat bread and oat bread heels.

 

I wish I could credit the cookbook, but this was a recipe I tore out of a book that was part of a group of cookbooks donated to the Grace Village library, and there is no running title on the pages. We do not have cookbooks in the library; I felt fine tearing out recipes that interested me.

 

Judy’s Mom’s Meat Loaf

 

2 cups bread cubes (4 to 5 slices of sturdy white bread)

3/4 cup milk or water

1 envelope (1 oz.) dry onion soup mix

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 pounds ground beef

 

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the bread cubes, milk or water, and onion soup mix in a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the eggs, 1/2 cup of the ketchup and the mustard and brown sugar and stir well. Using your fingers, break apart the ground beef and distribute in the mixing bowl. Still using your hands, work the ground beef into the bread until just combined; don’t overwork it as this will toughen the meat. Transfer the meat mixture to a 13 x 9 inch glass or ceramic baking dish and shape it into a loaf. Drizzle the remaining 1/2 cup of ketchup over the top of the loaf.

3. Bake the meat loaf until the top has browned and the loaf has cooked through, 55 minutes to 1 hour. Transfer the meat loaf to a serving platter and let it rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

 

Messy Meatloaf

For years, when I made a meatloaf I used one with quick oats in the recipe. It seemed rather dry and except for the BBQ sauce topping rather bland. I eventually gave up and bought the microwavable meatloaves when they went on sale and I had a coupon. Certainly faster, and they tended  to be juicier than my home loaf. However, last night I decided to try a recipe using bread instead of oats. This recipe was in my Dallas church’s recipe book put out by the Women’s Fellowship. It was very moist and quite tasty. BUT it fell apart when I tried to slice it even though I waited about 8 minutes. I noticed when we finished eating and I sliced the left-overs that it had firmed up a bit more, but it still tended to fall apart. Any suggestions? Should I have waited even longer? Should I have used more binder (bread)? I did bake it in a silicon loaf pan rather than the glass pan. Would that matter much? I would be interested in hearing about your favorite meatloaf recipe.

 

2 lbs. ground beef

4-5 slices white bread, toasted and finely crumbed to make 1 cup

3/4 cups milk

1 egg

3/4 cup diced canned tomatoes, drained

3 Tbsp. finely chopped sweet onion

3 Tbsp. finely chopped green pepper

3 Tbsp. finely chopped celery

1 1/2 cups ketchup, divided use

2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs, milk and egg; mix together with a fork. Let stand for 10 minutes. Add meat, tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, 1/4 c. ketchup, salt and pepper. Mix together with your hands. Put into a 9 x 5 x 3 inch glass pan pressing lightly. Shape into a loaf. Pour 1 cup of ketchup over the whole top. Place the loaf into the preheated oven. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Let stand in juices until cool and firm.