Seejay’s Meatloaf

Sooner or later the mob gets hungry. I'm not sure why they think they should be fed? I mean, I can't even get them to mow the grass or feed the animals. They would rather watch the dog try and catch the squirrel that's been teasing her lately. 

Now Mia can be a real idiot. A sweet tempered dog, but still an idiot. She'll run around the tree for hours barking while the squirrel teases her. Mia is concentrating so hard on that squirrel that she won't even come in the house for a begging bacon treat. And this dog is addicted to these new treats. The only peace during the day is when the squirrel takes a nap!

Now the mob, sometimes it's only Panthea, will start whining occasionally for meatloaf.  Of course they, which is either Panthea by herself, or Panthea and the two youngest of our kids, won't cook their own meatloaf.....no, they want dad to cook it. So here goes.....

Over time, I’ve taken some different recipes for meatloaf and combined the parts I like, and found that my family likes also. Now this isn’t that high school meatloaf that tastes like card board, but on the other hand, maybe it’s too good. My family is yelling for more.

Ingredients:

• 1 Vidalia Sweet Onion finely chopped or diced
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ Green Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• ½ Red Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• ½ Yellow Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• ½ range Bell Pepper finely chopped or diced
• 3 or 4 Sticks of Celery finely chopped or diced
• 3 or 4 Cloves of Fresh Garlic, minced or finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 5 or 6 slices of Bread of your choice (Saltine Crackers may be used also)
• 2 pounds Ground Beef
• 1 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• ¼ teaspoons Seasoned Salt
• ¾ teaspoons Kosher Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• ⅓ cups chopped Fresh Flat-leaf Parsley
• 3 whole Eggs Beaten
• 10 slices Thin/regular Bacon

• Sauce:
• 1-½ cup Ketchup
• ⅓ cups Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Dry Mustard

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Put the bread in a bowl and pour the milk over the bread and let it soak for a few minutes.

Place the ground beef in a large bowl

Add the chopped onion, chopped bell peppers, chopped celery, Dijon mustard, Parmesan Cheese, Seasoned Salt, Kosher salt, Ground Black Pepper, Fresh Parsley, minced garlic, eggs and bread. You can vary the amount of onion, bell peppers and celery to taste.

Now hopefully your hands are clean. Using your hands, combine all of the ingredients until mixed well. Using a Roasting pan or broiler pan, form the mixture into a loaf shape. Aluminum foil under the loaf helps keep the mess down, just be careful to not overcook the loaf or it will stick to the foil. Aluminum foil doesn’t taste very good. I found that the traditional loaf pans are not big enough for my family.

Once you have the loaf shaped, make your sauce. Add ketchup, brown sugar and dried mustard into a mixing bowl and give it a good mix.

Add a layer of sauce onto the loaf, then lay the strips of bacon over the loaf, tucking the ends under the loaf. Now pour another layer of the sauce over the bacon strips. Spread with a knife or spoon.

It takes about an hour to cook, remember oven temperatures vary. After about 45 minutes, you can add another layer of the sauce on the loaf it you like, then cook for another 15 minutes. Then serve and get out of the way. I made three of these for a family get together, and they ate every bite.