Everything but the kitchen sink Meatloaf

Ok before I get to my post for today I wanted to let everyone know about a fabulous give away that is going on over at Emily's blog. http://emilymmeyers.blogspot.com/2012/05/giveaway-time-again.html Hop on over and visit with her and enter to win a great give away from MODCLOTH.  Ok now time for my great recipe.  :)

Pink slime!  Everyone has heard about this right?  Yuck, I am already a picky meat eater but when I heard about pink slime I really thought I am done with hamburger.  I am not the biggest fan of the stuff anyway.  Every time I have been preggers that is the one thing I can not eat, cook, or stand to smell.  So after I heard about the nasty stuff in our hamburger I was determined to not feed it to my babies.  Well I found the wonder of a "Fresh Market"  Yay have you been there?  It is a wonderful place, like the best store ever!  I live in a very small town and we do not have this wonderful luxury near, I have to travel over an hour for the nearest one. 

Anyway this post is not about how great the store is or how I wish we had one closer or how I am only buying safe beef and chicken for my family (I don't need the pork cause I talked my father n law into raising some pigs) but about a recipe for meatloaf.   I made some of the best meatloaf EVER last night! And remember I am not the biggest fan of hamburger but it was great!  I started with some fresh ground, antibiotic free, hormone free, humanely raised beef (sorry this pink slime got to me).  After the hamburger I decided to throw a little bit of everything in.  And when I say everything, I mean everything.  Which is what lead me to the name of my dish. :)

Here is what I put in my meatloaf:  1-2 lbs hamburger (mine was ground sirloin), salt, pepper, 1/2 of a bell pepper (minced), 1/2 of a small onion (minced), garlic, paprika, cumin,  ground cayenne red pepper, bread crumbs, 1 egg, dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, grated Parmesan cheese, and shredded cheddar cheese

I did not measure anything.  Sorry.  I am just not that kind of cook.  Not to say I never measure, but when I am just playing with something new well I don't really worry with measuring.  I add till it looks/tastes right.  (I did not tasted this DO NOT taste raw hamburger)  I am sure no one will but better safe than sorry.  So I added all of those ingredients until I was satisfied with it.  I did not go over board with any of the spices but I did add quite a bit of mustard, probably around 1 1/2 TBS.  Then I mixed it well and shaped it in the form of a loaf.  I placed my meatloaf on a foil lined baking sheet (cause who needs dishes) and put it in a preheated 350 degree oven for an hour.  Most of the cheese oozed out but it was on the foil so who cares.  :)  Anyway it was super great so I thought I would share.



my plate (sorry I had been eating before I snapped a pic)



sorry I do not have great photo skills, but it was still yummy (you can see the cheese)

I pretty much grabbed every spice I could find and well anything I thought might work with hamburger.  My friend Alana would have called this "garbage burger"  :)  but it was great.  I didn't know if it would all work but that is most of the fun with cooking, the experiment.  The few times I have followed a recipe completely it has flopped, but when I take one and change it up a bit it just seems to work. So give it a try.  I am sure there are plenty of other spices that would work well or maybe better.  Have fun, cooking shouldn't be stressful, be creative, be daring!  And please share if you make it or change it up or if you have a super meatloaf recipe.