Simple Meatloaf

Hello again my cooking class heroes! There's lots of time to update you on where I've been over on my personal blog, but for the time being, how about this weather? In the morning it's freezing, and in the afternoon I'm shedding layers right down to my yoga shorts and t-shirt! We've been keeping busy here in Bloomington, and let me tell you, busy doesn't even begin to cover it! It's nights like these that I want to get dinner in the oven, pull my computer out from under the school books, and browse the endless expanse of FoodGawker until it's time to snuggle up to a warm meal and a comfy boyfriend! This meatloaf is just the answer for that. Perfect for any time of year, this meatloaf is moist, delicious, and best of all simple! The ingredient list is so short it'll blow your mind, and honestly you probably have all of these things on hand! (Coming from a person who never has any of the things that "should be in your pantry already", this is huge!)

I'm sorry in advance for the quality of the pictures this week. My shameless plug at the end will explain things, but bear with me for a few weeks while we work out the kinks :) The ingredients for this meatloaf come together in a matter of seconds, and if you're like me and plan meals a week in advance, you've probably already thawed out your ground beef for this. Ready? Let's go!

Here are the things you'll need: 1 pound of ground beef, 1 egg, 1 cup of 2% milk, salt and pepper to taste, and 1 cup of bread crumbs, plus ketchup for your topping. See? Super simple and you probably have this on hand!

First thing's first - throw it all together and mash it with your hands! This recipe is so easy to change for different pallets too, if you think the mixture is too runny for your liking, add more bread crumbs. If you think it's too stiff (doubtful that you will, there's a ton of moisture in it to compensate for the evaporation in the oven), add more milk. Whatever your picky eater desires!

After you've gotten in to the consistency that you'd like, drop it onto a pre-lined cookie sheet, or a loaf pan. I'm not sure where my loaf pan went, so I went with the pre-lined cookie sheet. I've made it like this before, and it turned out great. Form it into whatever shape you'd like, loaf, circle, incoherent shape that doesn't have a name, it's all good! It won't expand in the oven, so whatever shape you put into the oven is the shape that'll come out.

Put on as much ketchup as you'd like for your topping, and spread it on there. Then go ahead and throw it in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

I like to have my meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn, guess we're just old fashioned here :) I hope you guys enjoyed this week's recipe, and I'm hoping to keep you guys stuffed with more recipes every Saturday/Sunday. We'll see how things play out, but expect me back at least twice a month! Thanks for reading guys, see ya next time!

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 cup 2% milk
1 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
1 large egg
Ketchup to taste for topping

Calories per serving (assuming your loaf makes 7 slices): 129 Calories

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl except for the ketchup
2. Form into a loaf and press into a greased loaf pan, or shape into loaf onto a foil lined cookie sheet
3. Spread ketchup over top of loaf, as much as desired
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until internal temperature of loaf reaches 165 degrees
5. Enjoy!



*Shameless plug time* Matt and I started a Vlogging channel! This is mostly for our personal use to keep things together as memories, but we'd love to share the fun! We're going to be cooking, baking, playing games, and just plain having fun and sharing it with you guys. Of course this means there will be a video to go with every blog post, and I hope you guys are as excited about it as I am. We'll see where this thing takes us. I hope you guys have a great week, and we'll see you next weekend for (hopefully) another video and recipe!