Creative Meatloaf

It's a rainy, cloudy, stormy, lazy Sunday evening. I am not leaving the house. Hmm....dinner. I know I have a lot of ground beef because I had bought one of those 5-pound packs to last a while. I am thinking meatloaf.

Traditional Recipe: 1 pound ground beef, 1 egg, breadcrumbs, ketchup, seasonings. Bake at 350 for an hour.

I have never made meatloaf the same way twice. Instead of breadcrumbs, I have used Saltine crackers, Ritz crackers, oats, cornflakes, or stuffing mix. Instead of ketchup, I have used tomato puree, tomato sauce, or even A-1 sauce (my husband's favorite). I have seasoned with Italian spices, plain old S & P, or onions and garlic.

Tonight, I root through my cabinets and think "Italian Style!" I have some leftover marinara sauce and some dry spaghetti sauce mix in a packet that I have been wanting to get rid of. I originally bought it for a recipe that required an Italian dressing mix and realized it wouldn't work. I get out an egg and breadcrumbs and put the beef in the microwave to defrost.

Meatloaf is incomplete without potatoes, so I peel and dice the best ones I have. (In my cabinet, it seems there's always some sprouting.) I put a pot of water on the stove to boil.

In a large bowl, I start on my meatloaf. I beat the egg and add about a 1/2 cup of the marinara sauce and then I add half of the spaghetti sauce packet. Whoa - it's orange. OK, I will leave the rest out. I add 1/2 cup breadcrumbs. (I'm actually not measuring, so don't pay too much attention to what I say about that.) I add the ground beef and mix with my hands. (Wedding ring is off!) I am trying to remember what consistency the meatloaf is supposed to be. I add some more marinara, then some more breadcrumbs and hope for the best. I pour it into my foiled and sprayed loaf pan and into the preheated oven for an hour.

After I boil and mash the potatoes, I give them "Italian" treatment too (in my opinion). I squeeze some garlic through the garlic press and add butter and grated Parmesan cheese and then stir in some milk. I try it and add some salt and pepper. Yum!

After half an hour, the meatloaf smells great, but I manage to hold everyone off until it's ready. I slice it immediately after removing it from the oven because my family is acting like hungry wolves. Some slices stay together, some don't. That is fine though because I have to crumble the girls' up anyway.

That meatloaf was the juiciest meatloaf I've had! Is meatloaf supposed to be juicy? Maybe I should say moist. Anyway, I liked it. My husband didn't say it was the best ever (I think he prefers the A-1) but he had seconds and the girls finished their plates (which never happens!) so I'd say it was a success. I think it was the spaghetti sauce mix after all.