Cooking in College Meatloaf

You know what’s easy to do? Cooking meatloaf. You know what’s hard to do? Blogging about meatloaf. What are we supposed to say? It’s loafy, it’s meaty? We’re not exactly sure so we’re going to stick to the facts – It’s simple to make and it’s cheap to make.

Our method of making meatloaf is adapted from one of our cookbooks. We wish we could make our Moms’ versions of meatloaf but they are both reluctant to give out their recipes (one trick they use to get us to come visit them more – good homecooked meals!)

Anyway, we’re just going to dive right into this one. But here is one quick tip, there are countless ways to make meatloaf. You pretty much can’t go wrong if you stick to the basics. And since we are in college, this is our basic way to create a tasty meatloaf.

Meatloaf

It’s loafy, it’s meaty.

• Servings – 6 mini loaves
• Prep time – 10 minutes
• Cook time – 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pancake mix
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1.5 pounds of meat loaf mix (or 1 lb lean ground beef and 1/2 lb of ground pork)

Protocol

1. Heat your oven to 450º F.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together ketchup, apple sauce and brown sugar together until evenly incorporated. Reserve on the side 1/4 cup of this sauce.

3. Mix in the rest of the ingredients in the mixing bowl with your hands. This will get messy.

4. When everything is incorporated nicely together, spray a 13×9 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place loaf in the center.

5. Still using your hand, work the loaf into an approximate 12×6 inch rectangle. Divide this into 6 equal size mini loaves using a spatula. Separate them to leave about 1/2 an inch between them.

6. Brush onto the mini loaves the remaining 1/4 cup of the sauce from Step 2. If you want more, just mix together more ketchup and brown sugar.

7. Place baking dish into the oven and cook for 18 minutes and let stand for 2 minutes before serving.

8. Serve with a side of veggies and enjoy!

-D&E

P.S. – Do you have a special way or “ingredient” that you use in your meatloaf? If so, share it in the comments below!