Category: Meatloaf Mondays

As I was preparing for holiday grocery shopping, I knew this dinner would include Brent, Bethany, Everett and Peter. They were home for a few days to celebrate Christmas. I never asked if they liked meatloaf because it was Monday, and in the Schnipke house, we have meatloaf. Good thing they had their favorite pizza the evening before.

I want to add one thing here. Groceries. I keep running out of ketchup. I wonder why. I rarely buy one ketchup per year and now I buy 2 at a time. Also, I am purchasing so much ground beef I should think of buying in bulk.

What I did not share from Week #8, that bleeds into Week #9 is that Meatloaf Monday is gaining a fan base. When the Mathewson family, our friend Jana’s parents and siblings, were deciding what to cook for Christmas dinner this year, they decided to have meatloaf. Four people made a variation of this dish to share with everyone. Since Jana’s family was here on December 23^rd, they had meatloaf twice in 3 days. That is going hard on this dish! On December 25, as we were all enjoying our traditional Christmas dinner that includes a perfect filet, scallops, crème brulé and many other fixings, the Mathewson’s were having meatloaf.  I was very glad to have filet over meatloaf. I think Terry was happy with that too. Although he still says he is not tired of meatloaf yet.

The Mathewson Christmas dinner gave me the idea to make their winning meatloaf our Week #10. I thought it would be Jana’s recipe which is already in the pile of recipes I was gifted. But, oh my, her sister Rachael edged her out to win. Jana even thought it was the best.

Meatloaf

3lbs ground beef
2 eggs
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
2 packets Lipton Onion Soup
½ cup Ketchup
pepper
salt
½ c. milk
1 T. Worcestershire Sauce

Mix well. Add Panko breadcrumbs if too wet. Bake 75 minutes at 375 degrees.

Glaze

½ c. ketchup
2-3 T. mustard.
1 T. vinegar
2T. brown sugar

This is how this recipe was given to me via text. Maybe even less detail.  I had no idea about salt and pepper, so I just used the standard of ½ t. salt and ¼ t. pepper. However, with three pounds of ground beef maybe I should have added more. I knew Terry would like the addition of mustard and onion soup mix v. real onion. We have not seen either of these ingredients in a recipe yet. He also likes those Ritz crackers used in Week #4. For his second helping, Terry added mustard to his slice and pronounced a solid 9.0. A very high score.

I mentioned earlier that Everett and Peter, two of our grandsons, would be joining us for this meal. Their practical and smart parents asked them each to try at least one bite. I know we should not have busted out laughing, but Peter, age 5, said very emphatically, “That was disgusting!” I know Rachael has children and works with children so she will not be offended by that comment. Out of the mouths of babes. Peter and Everett were much happier with Christmas leftovers.  Here is a sweet photo of the child who pronounced empathically what he thought of this dish. Makes it easier right, Rachael?

Since this was a three-pound meatloaf and we had so many Christmas leftovers, we shared the leftovers with our neighbors. When Terry’s uncle brought back our dish, he said it was very good. Sharing the love, (and meatloaf) during Christmas.

This week took some research because we had a Monday evening event with friends coming over after. They were to join us for Meatloaf Monday. The piles of recipes did not contain a crockpot recipe for meatloaf, so I employed my friend Melissa’s recipe at this point, called Millennial Meatloaf.

Even though she is a self-professed millennial, the first person to grab her phone to fact check or look up what we need in a meeting, she has cute recipe cards and even wrote out very detailed instructions for me. A true to the heart millennial might have just texted to me, use Pinterest. I appreciate her lemony effort.   First, I had to reactivate a very old Pinterest account. I added one word and ended up with “The Best Crockpot Meatloaf Recipe” See? Even Pinterest claims to have the best meatloaf recipe. I do like Melissa’s thinking on “easy and quick” though.

This recipe from “The Chunky Chef” offered this information.   A meatloaf cooked in the crockpot is not as difficult to ‘mess up’ and be dry or tough.  Wait! I had not messed up any meatloaf to this point, had I?  Maybe I had no idea and did. I love the helpful hints throughout this recipe. For example, ground beef is best if ‘80/20 or 85/15’. Fat content always improves the odds, right?  ‘Use hands to mix’. Yep, learned this in Week #5.  Inspired, I added to my skills by watching some videos on mincing onions. It was not very helpful. People like me cannot use knives safely to cut tiny pieces. Others have recommended I try a grater or food processor.   I found both these to make the onions wet and slimy. I am sure I am not executing the suggestions correctly. One more comment. I think we all can agree we can trust someone called ‘The Chunky Chef’. So, here it is.

Best Crockpot Meatloaf Recipe

By: The Chunky Chef

Meatloaf
2 lbs. of ground beef
1 large yellow onion, finely minced
2 boxes (6 oz. each) dried stuffing mix. (I like the savory herbs variety)
1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 large eggs
2 T. glaze (see below)
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. black pepper

Brown Sugar Ketchup Glaze
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 T. finely minced onion
1 T. yellow mustard
2 t. white vinegar
1/2 t. black pepper

1. Line crock pot with foil. Heavy duty works well. Lightly spray with non-stick cooking oil.
2. Combine all ketchup glaze ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Whisk and set aside.
3. Add ground beef, minced onion, stuffing mix, milk, eggs, 2 T. of glaze, salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix until well combined.
4. Shape into an oval-like shape and place in foil lined crock pot. Top with 1/2 cup of the glaze, cover, and cook on low for 6 hours (3 hours on high).
5. When finished cooking, carefully lift out the meatloaf, using the foil overhang, and place on baking sheet. Top with 2/3 cup of the glaze and broil until glaze is sticky and bubbly.
6. Serve sliced with remaining glaze sauce served on the side for drizzling.

You are more than welcome to search for this recipe on www.chunkychef.com.  It really was a great way to keep Meatloaf Monday going and cook while I was not home. Six adults, including Jana and her family, tried this recipe. It seemed to get very good reviews. A young man who joined the McVettas gave it a 9.7.  He lives on his own and likely does not get too many home-cooked meals or he was trying to impress. Either way, it was so nice of him. Terry was only slightly less impressed at 9.2.   This would move “The Chunky Chef” into 3^rd place, with mine still inappropriately sitting at a 10. You know what would be fun? To slip mine in now and see what he ranks it. Would he even recognize it? I might have to do that to spice up the January doldrums.

This week was challenging. That is an understatement without going into the details of why. First, I had no time to grocery shop and chose a recipe quickly that actually had a few extra steps. Then if that was not enough, I had no time to write the details down Monday evening, Tuesday or even Wednesday. I was not home, and Terry did not give me much to go on. He said it was good, and he liked it. I thought maybe this was all starting to bore him a bit. I was not home when he ate this week’s dish so it’s harder to get details from the man that never sits down.  I like to listen as he eats and ask questions. I might have him video when I am not home. (Right, like he would do that. I would give up after he asked me how he could do that on his phone.)

As I finally started to type this, I realized I had lost the recipe. I know it was Melodie’s. I know it had Chile Sauce, which I have never bought or used before. To make matters worse I had no time to hunt for the recipe because I forgot we had a trip to Michigan planned to see friends and do some year-end Board of DD work as Esther turns over a project to me (the newest retiree). She has kept this project in the last 9 years she has been retired. When Esther asked about ‘dinner’ for Thursday night when we were scheduled to arrive, I said “Well, you could make your own meatloaf recipe”. Then we take out that one variable in all the recipes- ME.  When we arrived, Terry got a mid-week meatloaf prepared by someone else. Esther said she gave me two recipes, hers and her son-in-law’s, who she claimed makes the better meatloaf. Because she said that before we ate, it might not have helped her with the judge. However, I told her that I did not think I had her recipes in my pack of 42. She said she mailed them to me in a card so here is something else lost I need to find.  You are going to see a theme throughout my entries. I lose things. Often. But I always find them. Even months and years later sometimes. I could tell story on story about lost rings, glasses, air pods, etc. And the miraculous findings of them all.  I will have to hunt for these two more recipes lost in my retirement cards and make both of these in future weeks. Maybe back-to-back to pit family against family.

I realized on this trip, and so far in this blog, that many people in my life are great cooks. Esther is no exception. She prepared a wonderful Blueberry Sour Cream Pie for dessert and then Friday, she made a Green Chile Cheese Puff for breakfast. I asked for both recipes.

Going back to the lost recipe from Melodie. I found it! And here it is:

The Best Meatloaf Recipe

Meatloaf

½ medium onion diced
1 t. butter
2 eggs
¾ c. milk
¾ c. Italian Breadcrumbs
2 lbs. ground beef (80/20)
1 T. Chili Sauce or Ketchup
1 t. Italian Seasoning
2 T. chopped fresh parsley
1 t. Kosher Salt
½ t. black pepper

Meatloaf Sauce:

½ c. chili sauce
½ c. ketchup
2 T. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
In a small pan, cook onions in butter over medium low heat until tender. Cool completely.
In a medium bowl combine eggs, milk & breadcrumbs. Let mixture set for 5-10 minutes.
Add ground beef, cooked onions, chili sauce or ketchup, Italian seasoning, parsley, salt and pepper. Mix.

Form an 8 x 4 loaf on a prepared baking pan and bake 40 minutes.

Combine chili sauce, ketchup and brown sugar. Spread over meatloaf and bake an additional 10-15 minutes. Let meatloaf set for 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 8.

Here are the directions I left for Mr. Schnipke to bake his own dinner that was prepared. As I noted earlier, this recipe had an extra step with sauteed onions in butter.  Terry loves chili sauce so I knew he would like that new ingredient. I am not sure if it was the busy week, I was not home for discussion, two meatloaf dinners in one week or that this one followed the infamous 9.9, but Week #6 garnered a 7.5.  He liked it. He ate the leftovers as he does each week. 😊

I pulled out the stack of recipes gifted to me, and only had to pick up two things after church on Sunday December 1^st Ground Chuck and dry parsley. This excellent cook was so detailed on her recipe card she even told me she uses 85 or 90% lean chuck.  I love that kind of detail! I can honestly say I did not know that parsley came dry. I have never bought it wet either. 😊 I have this issue with spices that I might as well interject here. They often expire before I have used them even twice.  Seriously, I had to hunt for the photo I took cleaning out my spice cupboard a couple of years ago. Twenty-five + bottles bit the dust, and likely over $100.  I have slowly added each back as needed.  So, when shopping for this elusive dry parsley, I said “Well, when does this expire?”  January 2025. What?! That is two months. NO way. I am not proud of my next move, but I took every bottle out and grabbed the last one, May 2025. That is still too soon. I surmised this must be something that people use quickly or often. Let’s see if I use it again before May. I bet not. I think there should be smaller bottles of spices so there is less waste, and we spend less when the expiration is so quick. McCormick, do you hear me?

I sent these photos to my sister in December of ’22 when I cleaned out all the expired items in my spice cupboard. Kudos to Melissa for keeping the photo for 2 years so I could use it now. I challenge you to do the same and post a photo. I suppose those that cook often and know how to use a sprinkle of this and a pinch of that will have no expired spices. Overachievers. 😊

This week’s meatloaf is compliments of my friend Twyla. To the left of the beautiful recipe card, it says, “very delicious” and it is titled “Best Ever Meatloaf with Veggies”.   Can one person tell me they do not have the ‘best’ meatloaf?  Does anyone reading this have one with a name that says, “So-so Meatloaf Recipe”?

As the meatloaf was cooking tonight, I was working on a hundred tasks. Mondays have also become laundry day, change the sheets day, water the plants day and pay the bills day. If I’m going to cook, I must be home. None of these things were ever regular while I worked. So, here is another benefit with Meatloaf Mondays; a bit of structure for all the household tasks that used to be put off or squeezed in between all else in life.

I could smell this meatloaf baking down in the crevices of our basement. It had the whole house wrapped up in the aroma. Terry walks in and says, “Oh, this one must have garlic.”  I said, “You can’t possibly smell garlic.”  He laughed because he said he saw the little jar of garlic in the fridge. I learned this week you can buy garlic in a little jar.  I don’t have to buy fresh garlic that goes bad and gets thrown away?  Brilliant.  I pulled out the ‘best ever meatloaf’ out of the oven and Terry says, “This is the most amazing looking roast beast ever.  It’s huge.” I think the roast beast comment is because it’s Christmas time and he was channeling his Grinch memories. Anyhow, Terry is a big fan of cooked carrots and potatoes too.  When I start to serve his meatloaf, the first thing he does is gets the ketchup out of the refrigerator. I thought this was odd as he hasn’t taken a bite yet. He explained it was for the potatoes.  “Why don’t you take a bite before you slather it all in ketchup? They have been cooking with the meatloaf.” He agrees and says, “Great idea!”  He takes a bite of the potatoes and just goes crazy with how good they are. Then he eats the meatloaf, and he raves and raves and raves. “Oh my gosh, this is so good” he finally says after his second or third piece when he came up for air.

I grab a fork, and I taste this meatloaf too. It is good.   Terry says, “I taste something in this. I don’t know what it is. There’s no green pepper, is there?” I must have traumatized him with that pepper.   Then he asks about onion.  I said, “Yes there is actually onion but only a small amount.” A ½ cup is the standard I followed.  I tell Terry there are also a lot of other ingredients. This recipe had far more ingredients and details than any other recipe thus far. About 20 without the potato and carrot recommendation.  After a long time, Terry says, “9.9.”   Wait!  I know this is much better than mine. He said, “I can’t give it a rating higher than yours.” I thought that was so sweet until later that evening he said he couldn’t give it a 10 because “you’ll never make meatloaf again”.  He wasn’t being kind to protect my feelings. He was being pragmatic. Self-preservation was in play for his Monday dinners.  That’s not how we play this game. He has to be honest. We decide at this juncture the winner at the end of the project will go up against “my 10”.  They will be cooked on the same night for a blind taste test. Maybe we will invite the highest scorers to eat and blind taste test as well. This will be fun!

This week the recipe is by our friend, Twyla. Her recipe also called for a few different items I had not seen before besides the dry parsley. The minced garlic, which I mentioned I bought in a little jar. Panko breadcrumbs and white vinegar are new for week 5. Plus, as you can see from the photo this one is quite the presentation.

I do know my friend Twyla to be quite the cook. It doesn’t surprise me that she would produce a recipe that is a 9.9. But that made me start to think of something about recipes. Does a recipe have to be created by you to be your recipe? To get credit for that recipe, does it have to be your creation or just something you are known for and after so many family gatherings it becomes your dish?   I realize I get credit for the apple dumplings and peanut butter pie, when as I said in the welcome of the blog, I got these recipes from other sources. Do I have to give credit to the people who gave me the recipe every time somebody compliments me on it? “Yes, thank you. These are Cynthia’s apple dumplings.” Is this an ethical dilemma? How do I know that this apple dumpling recipe started with Cynthia? When she taught me how to make these apple dumplings in her kitchen many years ago, did she not tell me where she got the recipe from? Her secret caramel sauce makes them the best.  It’s not like we’re all Rachael Ray or Bobby Flay. I guess for this experiment and because I don’t know the backstory on all these recipes unless somebody credits their great grandmother, we will say this is Twyla’s and so far, she has given the traditional Terry Schnipke family meatloaf, a run for its money.

Here is Twyla’s recipe.

I was going to type it out with the front and back, but I had to use photos so you can see all the love and details  such as “very delicious” in upper left corner. She is not wrong.  I might just like meatloaf after trying this one. Twyla also notes using her hands to mix. So, I did. And she is not wrong about that either. It does mix well and there is deep satisfaction to this process.

This is the week I decided to make this project a formal blog. To this point it was just my notes and personal satisfaction. With the growing fascination and requests for information about how the project was progressing, I had to get over whether sharing my thoughts on meatloaf, life and anything in between is egotistical or stupid.   Meaning, does anyone care what I have to say? Or do they care what Terry thinks about meatloaf? Or even how to keep the joy and fun in marriage after 35 years. Then I remembered a conversation with my friend Kari about retirement. We talked about finding what we like that will make us happy, give us purpose or satisfaction, learning to do something new or growing an interest.  I had heard much about how some people struggle with retirement. Some people were bold enough to share that they believed I would struggle as I was always in overdrive on every idea and project. I justified my hours and fast pace were because the work was for the betterment of lives of those we serve…But I knew it was time to find new interests. Never did I think it would be meatloaf. But is this about meatloaf only? Nope.

I love to write, and I love a good story, especially when I can remember them.  I also knew I needed to learn to stick with a project long term v. flying from crisis to crisis with no downtime like the last 10 years. Even if there was no one except my closest family and friends to read it, it will be fun. There are always new questions for me to ask such as, I wonder when meatloaf was first invented. How did it get the name? That will have to be researched on another day.