Meat Loaf- Southern Style

By martha-2

Ingredients

• For the sauce:
• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 lb pork-not sausage
• 1 cup tomato sauce or V-8 juice
• 1/2 cup uncooked oats
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 of a large yellow onion
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbl hot sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbl hot sauce (or less - make it yours!)
• 1 Tbl honey or brown sugar

Preparation

Step 1

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.In the bowl of a food processor, combine everything except the meat and sauce ingredients and pulse well to combine and form a loose paste.

3.In large bowl, mix the meat with the v-8 mixture, mixing lightly but thoroughly. Don’t over mix the meat, it will make the finished meatloaf too tough.

4.If you wish, divide the meat mixture in half. Form the mixture into two loaf shapes. At this point I freeze one, or just bake off both depending on how many I'm feeding. One will feed a family of four easily.
5.If you make two loaves, then simple experience tells me that each takes about 1 1/4 hours. However, the best way is with a thermometer - and an internal temperature of 150-155F.
6.About a half an hour into the baking time, pour the sauce on top of the loaf and continue baking. I usually paint goofy messages on top of mine - it makes my children crack up. If you have a baking rack, it works for removing or keeping the fat away from the loaf. A turkey baster works well too - or just pour it off once or twice as it renders.