Heidis Never Fail Meatloaf Recipes

NEVER-FAIL MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Mix all of the ingredients together thoroughly, using your hands. If you prefer to use a spoon, beat the eggs slightly before adding.
• Pack into a standard loaf or form a loaf on a baking sheet.
• Top the loaf with the bacon slices.
• Bake in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for 1 hour or until done.
• Variations:.
• Replace the corn flake crumbs with any other dry cereal, cooked rice, uncooked rolled oats, or cracker crumbs. Increase the measure to 1/2 cup when using soft bread crumbs.
• Replace the sage with your favorite dry herb or herb mixture. When using fresh herbs increase the measure to 1 tablespoon.
• Add minced garlic when making meatballs.

MEATLOAF THAT DOESN'T CRUMBLE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• In a food processor or blender, combine the bell pepper, onion and celery. Process until finely chopped, but not liquid. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the ground beef, ground pork, cracker crumbs, onion soup mix, salt, pepper, sage and milk. Mix well using your hands, or if you have a stand mixer, mix using the paddle attachment. Transfer to a 9x5 inch loaf pan and form into a loaf, mounding in the center. Cover with a generous layer of ketchup.
• Bake for 1 1/2 hours in the preheated oven. Serve hot. Refrigerate leftovers, slice and serve cold in sandwiches.

NEVER FAILS ME MEATLOAF

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375. Wash hands.
• Pulse the crackers or oats in a food processor a couple of times. You don't want to see whole oats in the end.
• In a clean bowl, mix all ingredients except meat and oats (or crackers) well. Then add ground meat and mix only as much as is needed to incorporate all ingredients. Try not to overmix because this tends to make your meatloaf mixture more dense than is necessary. Mixing gently with your hands, mix in the oats or crackers until mixture is no longer runnuy. If it is, add more crushed crackers, oatmeal and/or pasta, remembering that the pasta will absorb excess liquid only as it cooks. Important: when right, the mixture should retain a shape made by your hand. If you don't get this part right, your meatloaf will not retain its shape when cooked. If you get the mix right, it will cut nicely and likely lose a crumble or two when transfering from the pan to plate. For that reason, I do this in mini muffin pans too and they come out just right, not crumbling.
• Put mixture into a loaf pan. Pat lightly to smooth out top of loaf. Cover loaf pan with foil and put in oven. Prepare topping by mixing ketchup with the 1 tsp of brown sugar and set aside.
• After 45 minutes, carefully pour off excess grease (place something on top of loaf so it doesn't fall OR use a turkey baster to suck out the juices) and thn spread topping over meatloaf. Put back in oven, uncovered. Cook for 5 more minutes and check to see if loaf is done by using a thermometer reading. If not done, check every five minutes until done. It is done and safe to eat at 160 degrees, but you can take it out at 152 and let it rest for five minutes and the temp will rise to a safe temperature.
• I do not trust the "it's done if it aint pink no more" method because ground meat products can both look brown long before they are safe to eat and look pink long after they are actually done. A thermometer is just easier to use and safer too. So, you use your own judgment on cook time. I pulled mine out of the oven after 52 minutes of cook time and it was 161 degrees and DELICIOUS.
• If you are making mini muffins, start your initial cook time at 30 minutes and keep checking with your temp till the center of the muffins reach at least 155. Also, you still have to remove the excess grease from the pans during cooking. For that reason, when making meatloaf muffins, I put a baking sheet under the pan to catch drips.
• A word of warning: This recipe is not friendly to subbing out the pasta or the lean ground meat. If you omit the pasta, the loaf will not be moist and hold its flavor. If you use higher fat ground meat, your pasta will be cooked in grease and the loaf will be mis-shapen, swimming in grease and unappetizing. Believe me, I know -- I've tried both. When you have both ingredients, just try it as it's written and most of all:.
• Enjoy.

CLASSIC MEAT LOAF

Steps:

• Saute onions and garlic. Combine all ingredients except sauce. I mix it with a stand mixer. Grease a 9"x13" glass baking dish and form meat into a 3" thick loaf in the center of dish. Cover with sauce and bake at 350 for one hour or to 160 degrees. Allow to rest 15 minutes before cutting.

THE BEST MEATLOAF I'VE EVER MADE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, and cook the onion and garlic 5 minutes, until onion is tender. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper.
• In a large bowl, mix the onion and garlic, beef, crumbled bread, crushed crackers, egg, sour cream, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 can tomato sauce. Gradually stir in the milk 1 teaspoon at a time until mixture is moist, but not soggy. Transfer the mixture to a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
• Bake uncovered in the preheated oven 40 minutes. Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), and continue baking 15 minutes, to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
• In a small bowl, mix the remaining tomato sauce and ketchup. Pour over the top of the meatloaf, and continue baking 10 minutes.