Not Your Mama’s Meatloaf

Did your Mom force you to eat this when your were growing up?  I know for me, I could not stand this dish as a kid and swore to myself I would NEVER eat it as an adult!

Then one day a friend of mine said, “I’m making meatloaf for dinner” and I was like, “whyyyy would you do that to your family?” and she said, “you need to try this, your husband will love it!”.  

Well she was right, and I loved it too!  I substitute extra lean ground beef for the original ingredient of regular beef and I will use whole wheat bread crumbs instead of white but do what you love.  

This is amazing with extra ketchup on top after you’ve cut the slices (in my opinion) and I serve it with mashed potatoes (sweet potatoes if you’re being extra healthy) and a vegetable.  

Did you see my insta story about the jarred sweet red cabbage? It goes amazing with this!

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 large Egg

1/2 Cup of soft Bread Crumbs

1/2 Cup of Green Pepper

1/2 Cup of Diced White Onion

1/2 Cup of Diced Celery

* cut your pepper, onion and celery into as small of pieces as you can to ensure they cook quickly

1/4 Cup of Chopped White Mushrooms

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

1 Garlic Clove, Minced

1 & 1/2 pounds of Ground Beef

1/2 Cup of Ketchup (extra for topping at the end)

1 tbsp of Water

WHAT YOU DO:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl, combine first 9 ingredients (everything except the beef and ketchup) and mix together with hands

Add beef, mix with hands – I know its kind of gross but you can do it and it makes for a better texture!

Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and stuff beef mixture into pan, pressing gently to make sure mixture is evenly distributed.

Bake, uncovered for 30 minutes

stir ketchup and water together and spread evenly on top of meatloaf

Continue baking another 50 minutes

Let stand 5-10 minutes once finished.

I love to add ketchup at this point, but you can leave it plain or add another sauce of your choice.  

I’d say to refrigerate any leftovers but I’m pretty sure you won’t have any!