Here we are a new year, new adventures, new meatloaf recipes. Well, that is what we are here for, right? And today is Monday, so here we go. Terry continues to love this weekly project. Admittedly, my journaling suffered in December, but I never missed a week (as you can see) of making a new meatloaf. Just not as many insights or Terryisms. That is a new term, by the way.
Because I was feeling a bit of a holiday hangover from baking, cooking and such, I decided to go with the easiest recipe in the bunch. Now the funny thing about this one is that when Trina, Terry’s cousin Doug’s wife and friend after all these years together in Grove, brought it up to me at the party on September 26, she said with a chuckle, “It’s funny I am giving you back your recipe that you gave me at my bridal shower.” We both laughed at this irony. However, when I sat down with the recipes in October, I noticed it was not the one I make. Trina and Doug married the same year we did so perhaps I had a recipe I shared back then, but did not use. Remember, I do not like to cook and I do not like meatloaf so anything is possible. However, this quick low fuss meatloaf is perfect for a holiday hangover when cooking is the last thing you want to do. Terry had a snow day today so he joined me in the grocery shopping. I only had to keep one special ingredient hidden in the grocery store.
“It sure smells good in here,” Terry said when he got home from hunting. This week I was reminded that God has a way of bringing people to mind that we need to connect with, or send up a prayer for at that moment. That was Trina. She was on my mind because I pulled her recipe this week and had bought the ingredients. On the way home from the store, we received a text that led me to text Trina. I hadn’t talked to her in many weeks, if not two months, and here I was making her recipe. I was so glad to get caught up as her meatloaf was baking. She had no idea I was making her meatloaf recipe as we were touching base on something unrelated. A God appointment is a good term here. I am always so impressed with Trina’s ability to run a household and put a full meal out every day. I know Doug has eaten well over the years. They really are the best people, after an evening together, we always say we need to that more often.
As Terry was finishing up, he said, ‘This tastes really good. The consistency is very different from the others.” With only 4 ingredients it is no fuss for sure. The recipe card lists a prep time of 5 minutes. I think that is generous. It was quick and with so few ingredients, it’s a fast dinner at the last minute for anyone. I pared this with a sweet potato which was perfect. Terry rated this meatloaf an 8.1. I liked this variation very much, and I know why. It tasted like a very good hamburger with crispy pieces on top. It did not have a sauce with ketchup. It was not slimy, greasy or wet like many meatloaves. If you are someone that does not like all the ingredients or the texture of most meatloaf recipes, this might be the one for you. At this point in the project, this was only the second recipe that had no ketchup. It seems that is some type of requirement for meatloaf.
Two recipes in this game so far have contained the stuffing mix. Terry shared that he never ate stuffing as a child. He said he started to eat Doug(my dad’s, not the other Doug in this story). Doug tries hard to match my Grandma Louise’s stuffing which is truly an art. Terry said he now really seems to enjoy the Stove Top brand. I, on the other hand, do not like stuffing- at all, but this recipe was better to me than most.
This was easy. Simply titled…
Meat Loaf
1 lb. of ground beef
1- 8 oz. box Stove Top Stuffing
1 c. water
2 egg whites
Mix all ingredients together and put in greased 9×5 loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes. For an even crispier top, I baked it 55 minutes. It is finished when no longer pink inside.
Because this was so much like a crispy hamburger we used the leftovers in a nacho dish later in the week. Yes, I cooked twice this week!
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