Brown Sugar Meatloaf

 I had always hated meatloaf; at least I thought so.  Actually, as a child I would never touch the stuff.  My mom wasn't one of those people who made me eat things I didn't like or didn't think I liked, but she also didn't fix me a special meal on meatloaf night.  Instead, I usually just ate the biggest plate of mashed potatoes and green beans that you'd ever seen!  My adversion to meatloaf came to a sudden end when I attend my first Sunday lunch at Stephen's grandmother's house.  We hadn't been dating very long and he invited me to the annual Sunday lunch his grandmother prepares (for 8-15 people) EVERY SUNDAY! Now, that's a lot of cooking.  And I'm talking a HUGE meal- meatloaf, green beans, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, relish plate, mac & cheese, rolls, and a dessert! Yes, she does it all and she does it EVERY SUNDAY except the winter months they spend in Florida.  Anyway, back to my meatloaf story.  I show up for lunch and guess what's on the menu? Yup, you guess it, meatloaf! YIKES!  After I had a moment of panic I pulled myself together and told myself I can get anything as long as it's bathing in ketchup. So, when the meatloaf came to my plate, I took one slice and put so much ketchup on it that it was hardly recongnizable :) After I finished my first slice, I decided it wasn't too much and went for a second, with very little ketchup! And do you know what? I LIKED IT! It still wasn't my favorite meal by any means but I could eat it without gaging and didn't need a lot of ketchup.  That's what I call a success.

Not long after we got married I decided to make a meatloaf so I searched the internet and found this recipe (I changed it to meet my taste) and it's my favorite! It's even on my top 10 list of favorite things to make! And that's not just because it's so dang easy.

Brown Sugar Meatloaf
Printable Recipe 
adapted from allrecipies.com

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup ketchup

• 1 & 1/2 lb lean ground beef

• 3/4 cup milk

• 2 eggs

• 1 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 small onion, chopped

• 1/4 tsp ginger

1 cup saltine crackers, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 5x9 loaf pan

Mix brown sugar and ketchup together (I often add more brown sugar), set aside

In a large mixing bowl, mix beef, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, ginger, onion & crackers until well combined.  Form into a loaf and place into loaf pan.  

Spread the ketchup/brown sugar mixture on top of meatloaf

Bake in preheated oven 1 hour or until juices run clear. Drain off juices and serve.

*Serves 6 people or 4 very hungry people :) ENJOY!