This week was “Mobile Meatloaf Monday”. To add to the Ms we hit the road to watch Morgan McVetta play her last home basketball game. I know the McVetta’s are fans of meatloaf, and since I chose another three pound recipe, I thought we better share. The game was successful with a W for the home team on senior night.
For the prep. This meatloaf was quite the dish to make. The first two ingredients were three pounds of ground chuck and then three sleeves of saltine crackers! No milk. Imagine my surprise. I truly wondered if it would be dry. This is the first week of no new ingredient. It was bound to happen eventually. However, this recipe included barbeque sauce which still seems fairly rare in meatloaf. I chose ‘Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbeque Sauce’ as Terry is a fan. The new aspect for this week; however, was using my cast iron skillet. The day before this Meatloaf Monday was the Super Bowl. I made Mexican Corn Bread in the same cast iron skillet. I am lucky if I use that skillet twice per year and I used it twice in one week. What is happening?! I cooked a meal two days in a row. Just ask me (or precious Samuel) about the Steak Street Tacos we had on the Super Bowl. The meat marinade I stumbled on was the best.
Here is the recipe by Tim Richards. Tim is a former co-worker and known to be a very good cook.
BBQ Meatloaf
3 lbs ground chuck
3 sleeves saltine crackers
1/2 cup bbq sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
dash of garlic
3 eggs
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup green pepper ( I omitted this due to learning in Week # 4 that no dish gets a fair chance if I add this ingredient.)
Mix hamburger and all ingredients with a fork. (Tim underlined fork on the handwritten recipe card. I must ask why sometime, because I found that my hands were the only way to get this meatloaf good and mixed.)
Oil the skillet. (This is something Chef Dad says all the time about our cast iron skillets. And I mean, all the time!)
Flatten down the hamburger in skillet.
Cover with Foil. Bake 2 1/2 hours at 350°.
Take foil off. Brush with BBQ sauce. Broil until browned.
Doesn’t this look delicious?! This is now the longest baking meatloaf I have made. From the day I first looked at these gifted recipes, I thought this one was going to be fun. And it was. After mixing all the ingredients, I was shocked how it perfectly patted down to fit in the skillet. As I have noted before, Terry loves potatoes and those weeks sometimes have the higher scores. Maybe there is something to that?! But last week was a 9.3 and no potatoes. Thanks to Kevin & Jana for the potatoes and delicious broccoli.
The time to bake this week’s meatloaf was perfect for a girl’s basketball game, with a great amount of three-point shots, fouls, turnovers, a little showboating and even the pep band. The ‘lil Hornettes cheerleaders were so cute too. This was truly a beauty to pull out of the oven. From the moment of each bite from seven people, it was enjoyed. One thing noted was how delicious the crispy sides and bottom were- I agree with that assessment. My favorite moment of the night was when Paige’s friend Lydia, who has now been at two Meatloaf Mondays and did not eat the selection in Week #8 as she does not like meatloaf, decided to try a very small sliver. Then she went back for seconds! That is a win. I think I heard her say, she doesn’t eat her mom’s meatloaf. I am not a 100% sure on that, but I did tell her, I would love the recipe. 🙂 Maybe she has been converted as I have to eating meatloaf. I will say, I do not look forward to it on Mondays, as Terry does, but it certainly has been fun to taste each one.
This BBQ Meatloaf moved into second place with an excellent 9.7 rating from the boss. Way to go, Tim!
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