Thursday, May 13, 2010

Grandma's Meatloaf

If God had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn't have given us grandmothers.
-Linda Henley


Remember my cute grandma, Betty Jean? Well, the other day when I was showing you her china (which is now mine) I got so wrapped up in trying to decide if the china was vintage or collectible or antique that I forgot to share with you her recipe for meatloaf. Only it isn't exactly her recipe anymore. I've fiddled with it until I've got what I think is the perfect recipe for meatloaf, but it starts with her secret ingredient, sausage. I think I'll be serving this on Sunday on her pretty china plates.

Meatloaf
2 lbs. lean ground beef
¾ lb. country style sausage
½ cup finely chopped onion
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

• Heat oven to 350˚. Lightly beat eggs in a prep bowl. Combine beef, sausage, onion, eggs, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, garlic, zucchini, salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl.
• Divide meatloaf mixture into two large loaf pans or four mini loaf pans. Bake, uncovered, for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes for large loaves or 45 minutes to 1 hour for mini loaves, checking to make sure meat it cooked all the way through at the earliest cooking time and cooking for additional time if needed.
• Serve with baked potatoes or instant or homemade mashed potatoes, veggies and fresh fruit.

Serves 6 to 8

Notes:
• I freeze one loaf instead of cooking it. I place the meatloaf mixture in a freezer bag, put the freezer bag in my loaf pan, shaping the meat mixture to the pan. Then I put it in the freezer and when the meat is frozen, I take the bag out of the pan and put the pan away. When I thaw it, I take the frozen meatloaf brick out of the bag, place it in the pan, cover it and let it thaw in the refrigerator over night.
• Leftover meatloaf makes excellent cold meatloaf sandwiches.

3 comments:

Shay said...

I want to give your meatloaf a crack Elizabeth but I'm not sure when you say sausage if that's what Australians called sausage or what McDonalds here calls sausage. Are we talking long and thin cylinders or a flat pancake of spicy meat?

Pictures are always good for those of us who can't interpret foreign cooking ingredients like coriander and egg plant and icing sugar and stuff.

Lane said...

Mmmmm. That makes me hungry. I also like to put a little sausage in my meatloaf. I didn't have the full time last night, so I formed them into patties and cut the cooking time down significantly. Take care. Lane

Wanda said...

I never have had meatloaf with sausage! Sounds wonderful! I'm going to have to try this! Delicious!