Meatloaf

 My grandfather works at his local volunteer fire department. In fact, he lives right next door to it, and when we visit for holidays, the firefighter radio is often on. It’s usually silent, though I’m sure with the increase in fires (since it’s been so dry,) he’s been gone a lot more. The VFD brings this whole community together- they have all sorts of activities which my grandparents are crazy about. In a town full of old people, you can be sure there will be get-togethers multiple times a week.

One of the best parts of this small town is the cooking. My grandmother gave us a 30^th Anniversary cookbook as a present, which contains decades of fantastic, delicious recipes. My favorite recipe, the one my grandmother uses to make meatloaf, comes from this particular cookbook. It’s attributed to someone named Barbara, who I’m sure would be just thrilled if she knew I was making it. The top of the meatloaf browns relatively quickly, but the recipe implicitly says not to cover it, so I let it be. It looked burnt, but it certainly didn't smell or taste that way.

"Barbara's Cheddar Meatloaf"

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (I used mild, I'm sure sharp or even none at all would work)

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1 tsp. salt

1 lb lean ground beef (I used 93/7)

1/2 lb sausage (here she recommends Jimmy Dean Sage)

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard (I used dijon for some added flavor)

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

In a bowl, beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion and salt. Add meats and mix well. Shape into either one large loaf or 8 small loaves. Place in loaf pan for large loaf or 9x13 baking dish for miniature loaves. Combine ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce; spoon over loaves. Bake, uncovered, at 350°F for 45 minutes for small loaves, or for 1 1/2 hours for large loaf.

I'll be honest here: this meatloaf drained me. I had a dentist appointment at 3:30- I waited for 40 minutes before finally being acknowledged. The 15-minute torture session teeth cleaning left me rather irritated as well as tardy. I'd planned to begin making the meatloaf at 4 so I could put it in the oven by 4:30 at the latest and have it ready by 6. I finally got home at 4:30 to discover our milk was spoiled. I drove to a nearby friend's house to borrow milk, then hurried home to commence the meatloafing. It finally found its way to the oven by 5:15, much to my dismay. Dinner was ready at around 6:45, but it was delicious (so I guess that makes up for it?) Also, I got to dig my hands into the meat and squeeze it through my fingers. It was pretty nasty in retrospect, but great stress relief at the time.

As I said before, the top was a little less than attractive when it came out of the oven. I hesitated before posting it, but oh well! Who cares what it looks like if it tasted super awesome? That's probably enough rhetorical questions for this post. It might be that this is just how it's supposed to look- I never pay much attention to the glaze when I'm not the one making it!

All gone! Looks a bit gory, actually.

Tips/Next time I would...:

• Work with a friend! My sister was helping me at first, but after her comment about how disgusting the beginning product looked, I kicked her out of the kitchen. I don't need that trash in my house!
• Give myself much more time to prepare. All in all, the prep probably took around 30 minutes. Most of it was me wrestling with the food processor and driving to my friend's house for milk, though.
• Make it a little more pretty, if possible. Not sure if lightly covering it part way through would help at all, but it's worth a try.

Bonus image: the lemon-glazed cake I made for my mom last week!