One meal my family enjoys is meatloaf. Any time I buy fresh ground beef I make several meatloaves. I serve one (well actually two... we need double these days) and freeze the other two for another day. Meatloaf is super quick and easy to prepare, especially if you do not have to thaw the meat, so I save a ton of time by mixing the loaves right away.
Here is our favorite meatloaf recipe:
1 egg
1 cup shredded cheddar or cojack cheese
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp. salt, seasoned salt, or garlic salt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion (I skip or reduce, not a popular ingredient around here)
1 lb. LEAN ground beef
In a bowl, beat the eggs and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion, and salt. Add beef and mix well. (I think it works best to just squish it all together with my fingers.) Put into loaf pan.
Top with:
2/3 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. prepared mustard
Mix together and spoon over the top of the loaf. (I sometimes serve the topping on the side. You can just warm it in the microwave before serving the meatloaf if you have a anyone who says, "Reddie stuff yucky! Joshua no I like it!")
Bake 350* 1 hour. Baked potatoes go with this really well because the bake time and temperature is the same for both the potatoes and meatloaf.
***I try to double as many recipes as possible and freeze half. It rarely takes a lot longer to make two than one. It creates half the mess. And it keeps me out of the kitchen more often! That is a win-win-win in my book.
