Meatloaf

October 18: National Meatloaf Appreciation Day

Highlander would occasionally rock out to Meat Loaf (Michael Lee Aday), the Grammy award-winning musician and actor, by playing his CDs or piano sheet music. While Meat Loaf the entertainer is a vibrant performer, meatloaf the food is just a plain dinner staple. Despite the latter, we do appreciate that the recipe is very easy to prepare and makes a hearty meal. So for National Meatloaf Appreciation Day, we baked basic meatloaf and surrounded it with a few Meat Loaf CDs to make the above photo a little more interesting than the taste!

Recipe

(Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)

For the meatloaf

• ¾ cup milk
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup bread crumbs
• ¼ cup onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground sage
• 1 ½ pounds ground beef

For the topping

• ¼ cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, stir the milk with the eggs. Add the bread crumbs, ionion, parsley, salt, pepper and sage. Mix in the ground beef and combine all ingredients well.  Pat into a large loaf pan.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes. When done, remove the meatloaf from the oven and drain any grease. Meanwhile, make the topping. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Spread over the top of the meatloaf. Return to the oven and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let stand for five minutes. Transfer to platter, slice and serve.