This past weekend Terry mentioned wanting to make Carla’s baked beans and Bethany’s chili. These are the names he has given two dishes that he makes each January. Both are more of a winter food. I said, “Well, I would be happy to make one of those on Monday if you want to suspend ‘Meatloaf Monday’. If he wants to eat other dishes we have to use our time to cook wisely. I know there are 7 days in a week, and I am still only finding one day to cook. I think this ‘not liking to cook’ thing is more of an issue than I was just too busy when I was working. Terry said, “Whoa, whoa. Hold up there, Nelly. We are not doing that.” I will try to make these dishes on other days soon.
Interestingly, my choice for this week’s meatloaf recipe was by the same Bethany mentioned above. Terry likes Bethany’s chili recipe from a days-gone-by Chili Cook-Off, and I make her Southwestern Salad often. She is another one of the good cooks I know. I was gifted mini-loaf pans during the holidays, so it seemed appropriate to make a recipe titled ‘Lil Cheddar Meat Loaves. I surveyed the recipe and shopped but only had to buy ground beef this week. The new ingredient in this recipe was one cup of cheddar cheese. The one observation is that the sauce made quite a bit for the loaf pans. I noted toward the end of the recipe it said to form 8 loaves in a 13 x 9 dish. I made 4 mini loaves in my new pans. If these were formed in a larger dish the sauce would be spread around full loaves, thus using more. Here is the recipe:
‘Lil Cheddar Meat Loaves
Meatloaf:
1 egg
¾ c. shredded cheddar cheese
½ c. quick cooking oats
½ c. chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1 lb. ground beef
Sauce:
2/3 c. ketchup
½ c. brown sugar
1 ½ t. mustard
In bowl beat eggs and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion and salt. Add beef and mix well. Shape into eight loaves. Place in a greased 13 x 9 baking dish. Combine ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Spoon over loaves. Bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for minutes or until meat is no longer pink; meat thermometer at 160 degrees.
Terry walked in and said the house smelled wonderful. I am fairly certain he says that each Monday. He commented this was the “sweetest” meatloaf by far comparing it to the meatballs we make during the holidays. The recipe called for ½ c. brown sugar so sweet makes perfect sense. Terry noted the flavor was good. The ranking was a 7.2. He noted the mini loaf pans increased the ‘cute’ factor. One other comment I heard him say, “I know there is onion as I crunched one.” Maybe the onion is a much bigger deal, like the green pepper, than I wanted to believe.
A side note to finish up this week is that my sister and her husband celebrated ‘Meatloaf Monday’ by having his mother’s dish. He even rated it as a 9. Apparently, he could not give it a 10 because his mom did not make it. Isn’t that sweet? I happen to have her recipe in my pile so in the coming weeks we will see where Terry stacks that one compared to all others. I am not sure how he keeps this all straight at this point.
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