Like many of us, I grew up eating meatloaf. It was always served with mashed potatoes and vegetables, primarily because it was an affordable way to feed a hungry family. Through the years, I have changed the way I make meatloaf and make a variety of them like cheeseburger meatloaf stuffed with crispy bacon, cheese and pickles to a regular plain meatloaf (similar to what I had as a child made with ground beef, oats, eggs and topped with tomato soup) to the cheesy stuffed meatloaf I am sharing with you today. Any which way you make meatloaf, it is always delicious and still a great way to feed your family.
Variations of meatloaf have been made by many cultures around the world and a version of it dates back to the 400’s which used “scrapple” (cheap meat cuts or scraps) combined with spices and seasonings and baked in a hearth or stone oven, primarily enjoyed by the upper class. Meatloaf recipes began to appear in cookbooks in the late 1800’s as cheaper cuts of meat became more readily available from the local butcher. Cooks chopped the meat finely and added cereal grains or torn bread to bulk up the meat and help to make it go further, while making the meatloaf less dense. Meatloaf became a dish that poorer families would make because scraps of meat or cheaper cuts could be used to create this delicious dish. A variety of meats have been used through time like beef, pork, lamb, venison, wild game and combinations of these. From feeding the rich thousands of years ago to feeding the hungry pioneer families, variations of meatloaf have been served for quite some time! No matter how we prepare it, meatloaf is an affordable and tasty way to put a meal on the table for our families!
Let’s get started!
Place ground beef in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, dried onion flakes, onion powder and chives. You can omit this and add diced onion instead. Add ketchup and mix well. You can also use tomato sauce instead.
Spread half the ground beef mixture in a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle shredded cheese over top and the remaining beef mixture. Bake at 350F for 1 hour. Spread 1/3 cup more ketchup over top and bake 20 minutes longer.
Let meatloaf stand 15 minutes before slicing.
Cheesy Stuffed Meatloaf
2 lbs ground beef
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1/2 tsp dried chives
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dried onion flakes
1/4 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
1-1/2 cups shredded cheese
Combine ground beef, seasonings and ketchup and mix well. Spread half the ground beef mixture into a greased loaf pan. Sprinkle with cheese. Spread remaining beef mixture over top. Spread 2 tbsp ketchup over top. Bake at 350F for 1 hour. Spread 1/3 cup ketchup over meatloaf and bake another 20 minutes. Let meatloaf stand 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with veggies and mashed potatoes.
enjoy from Our City Homestead to yours