Old-Fashioned Meatloaf and a Giveaway Winner!

There are some tried and true dishes that will never go out of style for me.  I love a good traditional meat lasagna, chicken pot pie or shepherd's pie.  It is obvious to me that the reason I love these dishes are because they remind me of my childhood.  My mom made classic versions of these dishes and one bite brings me back to our family's kitchen table.

Recently, I discovered that meatloaf can be added to this list.  My mom made an incredible meatloaf with the traditional ketchup glaze.  While meatloaf has been pretty popular on a lot of "comfort food" menus in restaurants, I haven't had a meatloaf dish that really reminds me of my mom's version.  When Bret made a request last week for a classic ketchup-glazed meatloaf, I decided to give it a try on my own.  The first thing I did was to call my mom and ask for her recipe.  Because my mom rarely cooks with exact measurements, she didn't really have a recipe for me.  I did a quick search online and found a Paula Deen recipe for Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf a/k/a "Basic" Meat Loaf.  I figured that if there was anyone who could do my mom's meatloaf justice, it would be Paula Deen.

First, I gathered my ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef (I used an 80% cut)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion (This was about half a small yellow onion)
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used half a green bell pepper)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice (This is one cup of canned diced tomatoes with juice)
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoon brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
• 1 tablespoon prepare mustard (I used Stonewall Kitchen's Bourbon Molasses Mustard)

I pre-heated the oven to 375 degrees and got to work chopping up my onion and green pepper.  I put the chopped vegetables in a large bowl.

I then added the rest of the meatloaf ingredients to the large bowl - the ground beef, salt, ground black pepper, lightly-beaten egg, diced tomatoes with juice and quick-cooking oats.

I mixed everything together by hand.  I wasn't worried about over-working the meat since the tomato juice and egg added a nice moisture to the meat mixture.

I then greased a loaf pan and tightly packed the meat mixture into the loaf pan.  Earlier this year, I made mini turkey meatloaf using mini loaf pans to shape the meatloaf.  I set the loaf pan aside and let the meat mixture take shape into a loaf.

Meanwhile, I got my ketchup topping ingredients together.

I mixed together the ketchup, brown sugar and bourbon molasses mustard in a small bowl.

I lined a baking tray with aluminum foil and gave it a quick spray with baking spray.  I flipped the loaf pan over onto the baking tray and there was a beautiful meatloaf shape!

I generously brushed the ketchup glaze onto the top and all four side of the meatloaf.

I then put the baking tray into the oven to bake for about forty-five minutes.  The original recipe says to bake for an hour but my oven runs a little hot and I always cut down the baking time.  When the meatloaf was done, it had a beautiful glaze to it.  I let the meatloaf cool down and then carefully sliced it for serving.

The meatloaf was incredibly moist.  I actually think that the meatloaf could have used a little less moisture and I would drain the juice from the tomatoes the next time I make this dish.  The vegetables added a lot of flavor to the meatloaf and the ketchup glaze added the perfect sweet crust.  I cut the richness of the meatloaf by serving it with a side of Green Beans with Coriander and Garlic.

This recipe was a close version to my mom's classic meatloaf.  I'll have to disagree with Paula Deen though and say that there is nothing "basic" about this meatloaf!

Tell me, what is your favorite classic, traditional or old-fashioned dish?

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway for a free Eversave voucher to Sibling Rivalry!  Using Random.org, the winner is...

 ...Melissa from Melissa Nibbles!  Congratulations Melissa!  I'll email you the Eversave "save"!