Meatloaf

Classic Meatloaf

People put all sorts of interesting things in meatloaf, but I suspect that it's usually best in relatively simple form. My friend, Susan, mixes oatmeal and tomato sauce into the meat. Oatmeal seemed an odd choice to me, but Paula Deen uses it, too. Instead of tomato sauce, though, Paula uses diced tomatoes with the juice. The sauce on top appears to be an almost universal choice, although some replace the mustard with dried mustard.

Using Susan and Paula's recipes as guides, I made two meatloaves. One with expected ingredients, and one in which I substituted red lentils for oatmeal and added an apple. I liked the apple in the meatloaf, but the lentils tasted potato-ey and changed the texture too much. Next time, I'm adding bacon across the top!

Classic Meatloaf

1 pound ground beef

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 cup canned diced tomatoes with juice

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup diced green pepper

1/2 cup diced onion

1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Topping

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1/3 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons mustard

Preheat the oven to 375. Mix all the ingredients (except the topping) together and shape into a loaf. Stir the topping ingredients well and spread over top. Bake one hour.