Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf

I kept debating whether or not to even post this recipe. It's not that it's not absolutely delicious. It's just that it's so basic. But like I've said before, this blog isn't about elaborate, crazy, how-the-heck-did-she-do-that type food. It's about passing along recipes that I've tested and really liked. Stuff that (for the most part) is super easy to make and is a crowd pleaser.
Meat loaf is kind of one of those ho-hum, Monday night type dishes. But honestly, this was one of the first dinners I made where my husband said, "This is the best meat loaf I've ever tasted". Talk about a confidence booster! It really is so basic and simple to throw together (might I add, cheap?), but is so full of flavor.

Old-Fashioned Meat Loaf

(Original recipe by Paula Deen)

Photo source: Food Network

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef (for a more healthy dish, use ground turkey instead. For fancier, try adding equal parts veal and pork to the ground beef.)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice (I can't seem to find an 8 oz can, so I just use a measuring cup... just try to keep the tomato/juice proportion about equal... nobody likes a runny loaf. hehe).
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

Topping:

• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix all meatloaf ingredients well and place in a baking dish. Shape into a loaf (or like me, just use a loaf pan... for the life of me, my "loaf" never looked quite right when shaped it myself. The whole point of not using a loaf pan, though, was so that the topping would cover the sides as well. Try it though. Maybe you'll be more successfull at it than me).

Topping:

Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake for 1 hour.

It says it yields about 4 servings, but if so, those are some pretty hefty servings. I'd say more like 5 or 6, especially if you're having mashed potatoes with it.

Also, try making the leftovers into a sandwich. Yum.