May 2, 2012

Dinner last night? Tangy Meatloaf

Website: http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1726,154165-241193,00.html

Picture:

Tangy Meatloaf with Baked Potato and Peas

The Differences: Number one I used two pounds of ground beef instead of one of beef and one of pork. Four eggs instead of two and 6 slices of bread instead of 5. I also used Parmesan cheese as an additional binding agent considering how wet the meat was rather than breadcrumbs. I threw in seasoned salt, salt, and pepper as my seasonings. Now the topping that I ALWAYS use on meatloaf (because Erik LOVES it and always requests more of it) is Ketchup and brown sugar. I chose not to use the chili sauce or the garlic (again, because too spicy for Erik). Mix all the ingredients (except the ketchup and the brown sugar) pat them into a dish (if using a loaf pan use a deep one or it might overflow) and top with one third of your ketchup and brown sugar mixture. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, put another third of the ketchup mixture on top and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until cooked through.

The Prep: 2 minutes to soak the bread, 5 minutes to hand mix the meat mixture, 5 minutes to get it in the pan, 60 minutes total bake time for the meatloaf and the potatoes, and 7 minutes to make the peas (during the bake time). So your total from beginning to end is 72 minutes.

The Cost Breakdown:
White Bread: $0.99
Ground Beef: $6.98
Potatoes: $1.33
Peas: $0.99
Parmesan Cheese: $3.39

not included in the cost is the milk, seasoned salt, salt, eggs, ketchup, brown sugar, butter, and pepper.

Total: $13.68 or $3.42 per person for a family of four

The Verdict: I'm going to tell you a funny story... I was told to put a broiler pan under my meatloaf but knowing better than anyone else I didn't do it. This meatloaf is fairly wet in its  execution and as you cook the meat the meat tends to produce grease. The pan was already pretty full so the addition of the grease caused the pan to overflow. Unfortunately the pan overflowed onto the hot surface beneath and through the vent leading to the actual fire that makes the oven hot causing the oven to fill up with smoke... when I went to add more sauce to the meatloaf I released the smoke into the house causing the smoke alarm to go off and requiring me to open numerous windows. So the consequences of that was the meatloaf wasn't well done it was medium rare. Still it was good and I actually enjoyed it more than the recipe I normally make... the food was yummy and that is really all that matters! See you tomorrow!