Eryka's Classic Meat Loaf

A Two for Tuesday Recipe:

As I mentioned before, I absolutely love comfort food. I enjoy trying new recipes on a weekly basis but have found that I tend to go back to the same few recipes. Why? They are delicious, simple, everyone enjoys it and let's face it, it's comfort food. Bad day at work? A warm, juicy meat loaf can take care of that! And this is the recipe I am sharing with you today. I have stumbled upon many meat loaf recipes, not to mention have tried many different meat loafs, however this recipe is my absolute favorite. The meat does not dry out and with only a few ingredients it packs a lot of flavor. Two tricks to this meat loaf that I find produce more flavor and mositness; when you combine all the ingredients let it sit together for a while in the fridge and use a mini food processor to chop up your onions and green bell pepper. Doing this assures that there are no large chunks in the meat loaf, as well as, the extra juice the vegetable provides to the meat, in other words ... it adds moisture. I hope you enjoy this delicious meat loaf, I sure do. And in case you are wondering there are no left overs of this dish in my home!

1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 chopped green bell pepper
1 egg beaten
8 ounces diced tomatoes
1/2 quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 lb ground beef


Glaze:
1/3 ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar (light or dark)
1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a bowl, mix all ingredients together before adding the ground beef (to avoid over mixing the beef). Once all the ingredients are blended add the ground beef. Refrigerate for about 2 hours covered with plastic wrap.

3. Place mixture on a baking sheet/disk and shape into a loaf.

4. Mix ingredients for the glaze and top loaf.

5. Bake for 1 hour.

Serve with mashed potatoes, rice pilaf, roasted vegetables, macaroni and cheese and today's other Two for Tuesday recipe Hot Bacon Mustard Potato Salad. Enjoy!