Bev's Famous Meatloaf (Miranda Lambert's mom)

I've been feeling under the weather for a few days and for a person who likes to stay busy and be productive as much as possible, being forced to rest in bed or on the couch is NOT fun! When I'm in the mood for some chill time with a fantastic book or maybe some Pinterest, or some of my DVR'ed shows like (guilty pleasure) The Bachelor, The Walking Dead, Person of Interest or Glee…that's a whole other thing. But when I'm forced to rest, it's ridiculously challenging. I always think of so many more things I "should" be doing than I do when I'm imposing relaxation time upon myself just for the sake of vegging out. Um, anyway, rabbit trail much? My point is that yesterday I finally felt much more like my usual self and to celebrate, I decided to make some delish comfort food for dinner. So, what made it on the menu? Miranda Lambert's mom's famous meatloaf, steakhouse-style baked potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli and homemade creamed spinach. Can we say "Oh my yum!"? So on to the meatloaf.

Serves 6

2 lbs. ground beef

1 lb. ground pork sausage

18 saltines or Ritz, crushed into crumbs

1/2 cup green bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup onion, finely chopped

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon Worcestershire

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup ketchup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a bowl using your hands until well mixed. Form into a loaf and turn into a greased casserole dish, shaping as needed. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from oven and pour off grease. Stir together ketchup and brown sugar and spread evenly over meatloaf. Return to oven and bake an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 15-20 minutes. 

So to be honest, the original directions say to mix half of the brown sugar into the meatloaf, but I'm not a fan of the sweetness in the actual meat part of it, so I just mix it all into the ketchup for the glazed part. I'm weird, I know. To the rest of the world it probably tastes the same on top as it does mixed in, but to me, it tastes fine in the glaze on top, but not fine when mixed in. Also, if you're like me and your meatloaf tries to exit your pan while you're pouring off the grease, you can either a) remove the loaf to a dish temporarily, or b) do the more complicated route that I usually do and use a spatula to hold that sucker in place while you pour the grease out. Why keep things simple when you can over-complicate them? Reminds me of that meme of the person performing all sorts of acrobatics to reach the TV remote without leaving their chair/bed. Yep, that's me! I don't think I've made the same exact meatloaf more than 2-3 times each because I am constantly trying new meatloaf recipes, but I must admit this one is probably my new favorite. I loved the addition of the green peppers. I might try adding those to one of my other recipes too--so good! 

Hope you have a great Friday!