# I want to make a MEATLOAF (recipes? tips?)



## Jill (Oct 22, 2013)

I have made meatloaf before, a couple of times. The flavor was good but it didn't hold together very well. I have a meatloaf pan (the kind that is made to drain), but could probably REALLY use some help from those of you who know how to make it well!!!

Thanks for any help you could give me, and I'm sure H will be thankful, too


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## chandab (Oct 22, 2013)

I don't have a recipe, as I just throw stuff together, and it usually holds together decently. [Well, as good as it can, since hubby likes a layer of mashed potatoes in the middle.]

I usually make mine with 2# hamburger (the size of packages we get from the processor), a small can tomato sauce (I like the flavored kind), 1 egg, and crushed up saltine crackers (I really don't know how many, maybe 8-10); I mix all the ingredients by hand in a bowl, then pack it in the loaf pan, cover it with foil and bake it (usually about an hour @350), then take off the foil put a little ketschup on top and bake it a little longer so the top browns a bit.

I know if you do a google search, you'll find lots of meatloaf recipes; perhaps one of those will hold together better.


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## Performancemini (Oct 22, 2013)

One thing I learned through my food service years was to make sure you mix up everything real real well. Use nice clean hands, not a spoon, etc. You can get it squooshed up better that way!


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## Riverrose28 (Oct 23, 2013)

I use two pounds of ground chuck

beat up and add two eggs

add a meduim chopped onion, and small chopped green pepper

Add a dash of garlic salt, and some pepper.

Add a half cup bread crumbs.

I mix it all with my hands

I also don't use a loaf pan, I use a baking pan and form the meat mixture into a loaf.

I surround with potatoes and carrots and add some water.

bake at 350 degrees until brown and done.


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## Jill (Oct 24, 2013)

Thank you ladies for the tips and recipes!!! I'm going to incorporate all of what you've told me. I had planned to make it today, but was "off my feed" yesterday (just no appetite), so tonight I have this store bought chicken parmesan to cook while it's still nice with some sides, but tomorrow, I'm going to do the meatloaf thing.

Maybe part of why mine wasn't "sticking together" well, is I was putting green peppers and onions in it, I think. And I liked the flavor but not the way it just fell apart. I should keep a kitchen journal so I can remember better, but I think since the last time I made it, for most recipes, I have sort of just microwave steamed the peppers and onions so that a lot of the moisture comes out and I can drain it before I mix it in? I'm going to want to use some of that in it and the ideas you each have told me. I hope it will hold together good!

Really wish we could have it tonight, but I don't want to let that chicken thing (grocery store prepped, but not frozen) go to waste or have to freeze it.

I'll post back after we see how it turns out tomorrow


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## Riverrose28 (Oct 24, 2013)

I use peppers and onions, raw, the trick is to mix well with your hands. Also don't cover it when in the oven.

There are only three of us now, so I usually use this for two meals, using the left overs to make chili in the slow cooker the next day.

Also I add hot water to all the fat left over and give that over dog food to my babies.


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## Reignmaker Miniatures (Oct 25, 2013)

I have a very simple meatloaf recipe that originally came from a Kraft cookbook/magazine.

2lbs ground meat (usually very lean beef but I've done it with chicken and I think turkey would be great)

2eggs

1/4cup bbq sauce

I pkg Stovetop stuffing (any boxed stuffing would probably work)

mix well and place in pan. Bake at 350 until it is done (when it shrinks from the sides of the pan that is a pretty sure indication it is cooked)

Since I started making meatloaf this way I never make the other kind and my family asks for meatloaf, I usually make extra so I can give a loaf to my son to take home for sandwhiches.


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## vickie gee (Oct 26, 2013)

Mix it up however you decide from the recipe suggestions but instead of cooking it in the oven wrap and double wrap it in foil. Poke a few holes through the bottom and

*cook it on an outdoor grill*








_No mess and absolutely delishioso. Make sandwiches out leftovers if you have any. Doubt you will have anything left. Trust me, cooking it on the grill will make it good. _


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## Mona (Oct 26, 2013)

Jill, this was my Mom's recipe. My daughter has it too, but won't give "her" "secret recipe" out to anyone! Not even her Mother in Law while she was still married! LOL! I have never been a fan of meat loaf...not mine, not anyone else's, but I REALLY love this one!!

*Meat Loaf*

2 eggs

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp. salt

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 1/2 cups ground beef (I never measure...I use whatever amount I want to fit my pan)

3 slices of crumbled bread

1 pkg. onion soup mix

1/2 cup shredded carrots

*Topping: *

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tblsp. mustard

1/4 cup ketchup

Mix together (I like more, so usually increase the amounts of each to suit my taste) and spread over meat loaf. I like to poke a fork down into the top of the loaf all over so the topping gets into the meat loaf a little as well.

Bake at 350 until done. Let cool in pan about 10 minutes before cutting/serving.

This recipe can be doubled and cooked in a large loaf pan as well.


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## Jill (Oct 27, 2013)

OMG, *YUM*!!!!





I haven't made it yet. I ended up freezing the ground beef, but will be aiming to make meatloaf later this week. It was not ever something I liked growing up, but I do now and especially reading your recipes.

It probably is that I'm not mixing it very well. I may do the initial mix and the get H in to help! I swear, my hands feel so cold, so fast. I hate to cut stew meat or spend much time mixing ground meat because it feels like my hands are numb pretty fast, and ones my hands or feet are cold, I cannot get warm again unless I take a hot bath -- and that's not always convenient





Would honestly like to make meatloaf tonight, but it won't defrost fast enough, and H took out some chicken from the freezer to make room for things I thought we needed at the grocery store. So I think we'll eat unfrozen steak fro dinner, then chicken tomorrow, THEN maybe meatloaf on Tuesday. I am excited to try out honestly everything I've read from you all here


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## Mona (Oct 27, 2013)

Jill, just a handy tip for if you use my recipe. What I like to do, is mix the eggs and milk together in a real larger bowl. Then take your bread and tear apart (or cut with a knife) into small pieces. Add it to the milk/egg liquid and use a fork to saturate and kind of "whip it" with the fork, like you were mixing a batter of some sort. It is much easier than crumbling the bread, especially if it is a real moist bread. Then I add all other ingredients except the burger, mixing well, (all can be done with the fork) and finally add the burger and this is where I mix by hand. Another thing you might want to try, and something my Mom did, was to use disposable plastic gloves. Not the powdered ones...just the cheap, plain plastic ones. It might help keep your hands from getting AS cold.


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## Jill (Oct 28, 2013)

Thanks. Mona



I wish I had already defrosted the meat. It will be for dinner some night this week, though


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