
Ingredients:
*1 cup bread crumbs or saltine crackers (put crackers in a sealed Ziploc bag with air let out, crush them up)
*1/4 cup milk
*2lbs. ground beef (for a lower calorie meatloaf, I use lean ground beef)
*1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce or ketchup, divided
*3/4 cup finely chopped celery (optional)
*1 envelope of your favorite meatloaf seasoning or your favorite herbs and spices (I like McCormick)
*1 egg, lightly beaten
*2Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
*I also like mixing in a little Worcestershire sauce
*I sometimes also like to add chopped onions (optional)
*2-4 pieces of loaf bread
Make it:
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix bread crumbs or crackers and milk in a large bowl. Add meat, egg, half of the tomato sauce and the remaining ingredients; mix until well blended.
I recently learned to line the bottom of your pan with pieces of loaf bread. That will catch all the grease that drips off during cooking. Before serving just discard the bread from the finished, sliced product. Shape meat into an oval loaf and place into a lightly greased meatloaf pan or a shallow baking pan.
Bake for 1 hour. While your meat loaf is cooking, create your signature sauce to put on top. In mine, I add the rest of the tomato sauce, a few spices, BBQ sauce, and a couple of my favorite steak sauces. Like I said before, it's all about making it fit your personal taste and adding what you know you and your family will love. Bake an additional 20 or until meatloaf has a internal temperature is 160F.
Round out your meal with a serving of mash potatoes and steamed veggies
Kitchen Tips:
To thaw ground beef safely, keep meat wrapped and thaw in the refrigerator- not on the counter top. Store on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator to prevent any drippings from cross-contaminating other foods. Use thawed meat within 2 days.
-Candie Bradfield