Meatloaf

I had never in my life eaten or made meatloaf, a staple in many American homes for dinner. It's an American down home comfort food and yet I just never had any interest in it.

Until I moved to Costa Rica.

Before, meatloaf just looked too time consuming. Too many steps, too many ingredients, too much time to make. That's what I thought, until recently. After watching yet another chef prepare meatloaf on TV, I wondered to myself why I never tried to make it: it looked so simple. And it also looked delicious.

I decided to try and make it so I put it on my menu.

The adventurous me in the kitchen loves to experiment and make different types of foods, mainly trying out recipes I'd never dared try before. Watching the Food Network almost 24/7 has inspired me in the kitchen and has given me the extra boost of confidence to step out of my comfort zone. Just take a peek at the post where I blog my Chicken pot pie. Never made that before for the same reasons I never made meatloaf. Yet it turned out so easy and delicious, I can't wait to make it again.

Now making meatloaf is almost like making meatballs. You add some of the same ingredients like an egg and bread crumbs to bind the meat together but just put in a few extra ingredients for an extra kick for the meatloaf. Then you shape the meat like a loaf (instead of in balls), spread your sauce over it and bake for an hour. Easy as pie (literally... pie, yet another recipe I was scared to make yet turned out to be so simple).

Here's the recipe I used (just eye ball everything really). It was so yummy, you'll be dying to make it again.

1 lb ground beef
bread crumbs (maybe about 1 or 2 cups)
Black pepper
Cayenne pepper??? (I skipped this)
Chili powder
Thyme
Oregano
Parsley
Salt (I used a mixture of seasonings like all purpose and adobe and meat seasoning)
Paprika
Onions
Garlic
Celery
bell peppers
jalapeno peppers (for an extra spicy kick)
1 egg

Season meat (let marinate for at least an hour)
Saute onions, garlic, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers together. Add celery near end to still keep a little crunch.
Mix into meat mixture. Add egg.

Add breadcrumbs (I just toasted some day old bread and crumbled it up into mixture)
Mix together with your hands. Form a load and put on baking sheet on top of foil paper.

Add glaze on top
Glaze: mix ketchup, salsa lizano (I didn't have Worcestershire sauce but if you do, add that), honey, brown sugar, and mustard together. Save some glaze for afterward (that's what I'll do next time).

Bake for 1 hour at 375 degrees. Top leftover glaze on meatloaf. Serve with mashed potatoes and veggies.

You can vary the recipe as you like, adding and/or deleting ingredients to make the meatloaf your own.













So the pictures were taken AFTER dinner so I used the leftovers to post these pictures. Obviously the plate was a complete plate with mixed veggies on them. And there was more pieces of meatloaf than just the three in the photos.

Then there's not much left to do than just to dig in and enjoy. I sure did.