Italian Cheese-Stuffed Meat Loaf

By eapeterson

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb. lean ground beef
• 2 cups soft French bread crumbs (or plain white bread)
• 1/2 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
• 2 eggs
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 (8 oz.) can pizza sauce
• 1 1/2 cups shredded provolone cheese (can use sliced and chop up whole pkg)
• 1 (7.25 oz) jar drained and chopped roasted red bell peppers (in the pickle/salad dressing aisle)
• 1/4 cup chopped ripe olives

Details

Servings 6

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, eggs, garlic, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup of the pizza sauce. Mix well.

Place 1/3 meat mixture in pan and press evenly.

Top with 1/2 of provolone cheese, roasted peppers, and olives. Repeat with 1/3 of meat mixture. Repeat cheese, pepper and olive layer. End with last 1/3 of meat mixture.

Bake 50 minutes.
(Don't need to pre-brown the ground beef)
Optional: Top with remaining pizza sauce and bake additional 10 minutes.