I have a magical meatloaf.

Or so my husband says. And when a husband clarifies that one of his wife's dishes is made of magic then it must be so. So today, while sitting around the lunch table my meatloaf became a topic of discussion. At first it was the smell of it and then it was the taste of it. Now listen, meatloaf is one of those dinners that only Your Momma can make right and you'd enjoy it. I understand this because I feel the same of my mom's meatloaf, and well, my own of course. I've talked to so many people about them not liking meatloaf and sure, it doesn't sound appetizing. But it really could be. If only we could name it something else...

Since we can't, I'm here to share with you my meatloaf recipe. Also, I've noticed that when others post recipe's they do a play by play of what it's supposed to look like after each step. Thing is, I made meatloaf last night, and the chances of me doing a step by step approach tonight is slim. So this is the only picture I have for you. 

If you didn't listen to music in the 90's then you won't get it. If you get it, I hope you laughed as hard as I did...because, really, every time I look at this graph I laugh. I've laughed a lot in the last hour. 

Right. So. Back to my loaf of magic meat. It's easy but takes a time to cook. So if  you usually have dinner on the table at 6:30...well, just don't start at 6:00.

What you will need, and forgive me as I loosely recall the ingredients because I just dump things inside...but what I used last night:

1 lb of lean ground beef
1 lb of turkey breakfast sausage (these aren't specific meats. It's just what I used).
1 cup Hot Sauce (mild Pace Picante sauce is what I usually keep on hand)
1/2 cup Parmesean cheese
1 cup Oatmeal (you can use bread crumbs but I've opted those out of my diet and I use Oatmeal instead).
Parsley
An egg
Seasoned Salt
Pepper
Worcestershire sauce (did I spell that right?)
Ketchup
Mustard
Brown Sugar (yes, sir!)


Notice there are hardly any measurements and the few that are there are roughly estimated. I've been making this since high school, so I've forgotten the actualities. Bear with me. If you're making it and it looks right...then it's right. It's just meatloaf.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Then get out a glass dish of some sort (something bigger than a bread pan because the juices flow and you don't want it to make a mess. A small casserole dish will work). Spray that dish with a veggie spray of some sort and get ready to get your hands dirty. But wash them first.

Then in a big mixing bowl dump the meat and mix it together. And dump in the egg, the hot sauce, the Parmesan, the oatmeal (if you feel like it needs more then add more), season salt (add however much you think it needs), pepper (same rules apply) W sauce (about 4 or 5 squirts), and about a 1/4 cup of Parsley (this is a rough measurement and may be too much. I use the lid of the carton and it's a big carton). Then squish it all up. Squish it real good and when it's all good and mixed put it in the baking dish and form the loaf part.

Wash your hands because you won't have to touch it again. Grab that Parmesan cheese. Lightly sprinkle the top. Grab the ketchup and cover the top with zig-zag lines. You don't have to smooth it over just go from the beginning to the end. Grab the mustard and do the same. Then top it off with sprinkled brown sugar (if you need a measurement then, umm, do about three big pinches across the top?).

Bake for an hour or until it's done in the middle. Then enjoy. I like to eat it with ketchup, since I've been doing it that way since I was 2. I hope your meatloaf is as magical as mine. If you decide I need to add pictures to this post then I'll add them at a later date. Leave a comment and let me know. Also? I don't plan on ever EVER making a cook book...therefore do not judge me on my instructional skills...or lack thereof.