Monday, January 30, 2012

Not the lunch lady's meatloaf

I've always thought of meatloaf as being gross cafeteria food.
this is about as disgusting as it gets

I didn't grow up eating it. In fact, I specifically remember the one and only time I was forced to eat it at a friend's house when I was in fifth grade.  I forever thought it was terrible.  That is until a sweet friend brought us dinner after Mae Michael was born.  Turkey meatloaf was the main course, and I was willing to try it.  Much to my surprise it was delicious.  I'll be honest, though, I wasn't completely converted for two reasons.  #1- someone else made it, not me, and if I tried to make it I'm not sure it would turn out as good.  and #2- I didn't want to admit to Jason that I liked it enough for it to show up on our menu rotation (this would be like admitting MAJOR defeat.  He loves to prove me wrong, and I love to talk about how gross the food he eats is... i.e. meatloaf, chicken fried steak, salisbury steak, any "home-cooked" type of food).  So, meatloaf stayed away from our house for over a year.

Until last night.  Jason made a meatloaf.  It was delicious.  I criticized while he was cooking, but I sat down to eat it, and I don't know if it was the excitement of being able to watch the premiere of a new season of "The Challenge," or if it really was that good, but I enjoyed dinner last night!

He followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe, for the most part, taking out the parsley, adding green onion and mushrooms, and subbing mustard for the mustard powder.  I was a little grossed out by the bacon; not because I don't like bacon but because it got chewy instead of crispy.  But, I'm sure it added flavor and it was easy to peel away.  I would definitely recommend adding the mushrooms.  They helped keep the meat moist, and added a little texture.  The green onions added color and flavor, but if you just have yellow or white onion on hand that would do.

Here is her recipe: My Favorite Meatloaf by The Pioneer Woman  Give it a try next time you have ground meat on hand.  I don't think you will be disappointed!

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