comfort food kind of day

For our anniversary a few weeks ago, I decided to make Dave a big dinner of things I never make...including a meatloaf for the main course. Frankly, I was never a fan of meatloaf because I didn’t like mom’s growing up. As it turns out, she didn’t like it either. She told me she only made it because it was my grandma’s recipe, and what my dad asked for.

So, while scouring the internet for a recipe I came across Paula Deen’s. Well, how I can go wrong with Paula! But, because I don’t like green peppers, I decided to sauté them with half the onions to cut down on the heavy flavor, and add a little sweet to the meat.

Dave was so impressed that he declared “every Thursday should be meatloaf night!” While I thought that was a bit excessive, today was the perfect, cold, rainy, fall day for some hearty comfort food. Hope he is not disappointed to see there is no bourbon pecan pie.

Here is the recipe with my revisions:

Old-fashioned Meat Loaf

* 1 pound ground beef
* 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I like to sauté with ½ the onions)
* 1 egg, lightly beaten
* 8 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice
* 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

Topping:
* 1/3 cup ketchup
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix all meatloaf ingredients well and place in a baking dish (I use a meatloaf pan). Shape into a loaf.
Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake for 1 hour.

Meatloaf, Mashed Taters & Baked Apples