Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Sunday Dinner....Brown Sugar Meatloaf...
 I haven't done a meat loaf in awhile and I'm craving one on this cold winters day.  I learned  a few yummy recipes from my mother that I can remember her teaching me....I was a newlywed when I got this one....

Yummy brown sugar meatloaf....

 She didn't like us kids in the kitchen when she cooked. (Now of course I know why!) But I did learn how to make her meat loaf. It was delicious. I always loved meat loaf night.

The ketchup I use is always Heinz. It's the best!

The sugar/ketchup mixture....I had about a third of it to the mix before baking it....
.the rest is for topping it after it's baked awhile ...

 Sometimes she would add leftover cooked rice to the meat loaf recipe and roll the mix into meatballs and then call them porcupines. I loved those too. You could do that too. I added brown sugar to this recipe to ramp up the flavor even more. It makes it just that much better.

Vidalia Sweet Onions are the best in recipes...

I saute the onion a bit before adding it to the meatloaf....I don't love crunchy onions in my meatloaf!

 I always try to add sweet Vidalia onions or a sweet white onion when I can find them in the market. They are usually at Costco too. But sometimes I don't want a 20 pound bag of onions, you know?  

I use Johnny's and Lemon Pepper for seasoning my meatloaf....

Mix up meat, crackers, onions and about 1/3 of the sauce and 2 eggs, and spices....

The basic recipe is just ground beef,round or saltine crackers, eggs, ketchup, onions, brown sugar, season salt and pepper.  I toss in a little lemon pepper too.

Meatloaf before sauce....Just pour sauce on top after it's baked for 30 minutes...then bake another 30 minutes...

I have also made this recipe into 2 mini loaves and put one in the freezer  (topped with ketchup mixture) for another meal since there are only 2 of us now.  That makes a nice treat when you come home from work tired and hungry. You have one to just pop in the oven!  Serendipity! 

Here's the one I covered with foil and put into the freezer for sometime next  month....

RECIPE FOR MOM'S MEATLOAF (BROWN SUGAR ADDED)

I added a sweet potato and a side salad and raspberry jello with raspberries and blueberries for dinner.....

INGREDIENTS FOR BROWN SUGAR MEATLOAF

1/3 cup dark brown sugar 

3/4 cup ketchup       Mix these 2 ingredients and set aside

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1 1/2 lbs ground beef 

2 eggs

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 Vidalia onion diced

3/4 teaspoon Lawry's Season Salt

A few shakes of lemon pepper

3/4 cup saltines finely crushed or Ritz crackers

1/3 to 1/2 of the sugar/ketchup sauce mixed into meat mixture

DIRECTIONS:

Mix brown sugar and ketchup and set aside. Then mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate mixing bowl. Add 1/2 the ketchup mixture to the meat mixture and stir together. Then form the meat mixture into a  roll into a bread pan or a shallow 9 x 9 casserole dish.

Bake in the oven for  55 to 60 minutes at 350. After 30 minutes take out the meatloaf and pour off some of the fat. Then I add the brown sugar/ ketchup on the top and smooth out with a spatula. 

Mom's Yummy Meatloaf....with a little sweet improvement! 

Bake the remaining 25 to 30 minutes.  Let meatloaf set out for 10 minutes to rest a bit before slicing for serving as it will stay together better. Enjoy!