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Sweetnell's Basic Meatloaf

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A great basic meatloaf. Serve usually with mashed or boiled potatoes. Serve with a brown gravy (Recipe below).

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Sweetnell's Basic Meatloaf 1 Picture

Ingredients

  • Topping:
  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 Medium onion finely* chopped
  • 1/2 cup finely* chopped bell pepper
  • 2 stalks finely* chopped celery (I just cut lengthwise a couple of times to make the celery pieces smaller before I chop the celery)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 cup of canned diced tomatoes, with the juice, or crushed tomatoes
  • 1 cup bread crumbs (not Italian)
  • For those that don't like veggies or onions or green peppers, otherwise, go for it.*
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon French's mustard
  • Gravy Recipe suggestion:
  • 3 Tablespoons of McCormick's brown gravy mix.
  • 1 1/2 cups of beef broth (and if you wish you can also include a package of onion soup mix)
  • 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 3 level tablespoons of cornstarch, with 5 tablespoons of water combined in a cup and stirred until dissolved to make a slurry.

Details

Servings 8
Preparation time 15mins
Cooking time 75mins

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a small pan, add a little oil or butter and saute onion, bell pepper, and celery until onions are translucent. Let cool until it is handle-able. In a large bowl mix all meatloaf ingredients including the sauteed vegetables, (Do not pack or overwork the meatloaf) and place in a baking dish. Place on top of two thick bread slices to absorb fat liquids, and shape into a loaf (you do want the loaf to hold together so this is where you would be less delicate in packing the meatloaf). Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake 375 for 60 minutes or until a meat thermometer is at 170 degrees.

I like to lightly cover my meatloaf for the first half hour so that the outside doesn't burn but remove for the second half hour. Remove from pan to serve. Discard the bread on the bottom.

For gravy:
Combine all BUT cornstarch slurry to small pot. Bring to a soft boil. Re-stir the cornstarch slurry and whisk into gravy to thicken. Bring back to a boil stirring constantly until thickened. Caution - stop as soon as it thickens, do not let gravy boil for to long because it will go back to thin. (Gravy will continue to thicken as it cools) Taste the gravy to check for salt and flavor. You might need to add a little beef bullion (I use "Superior Touch" paste bullion - a tsp at a time) If I can get away with it, I will put in a tablespoon of half and half (or milk) and stir in right before I serve)

If gravy is too thick simply add a little more broth.


For my amazing son CJ

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