My Grandmother's Kitchen

Oh how I miss my Grandmother's cooking!  I loved helping her out in the kitchen.  That is where I learned to love cooking.  Grandmother always made the best food without recipes.  Her meatloaf was awesome - I don't make it as good as she did, because I don't have her recipe! - but I use her method of free form loaf.  Here's a typical meal at Grandmother's but it's missing several more vegetables like okra, cabbage, field peas - she was always cooking for a crowd!

Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes, Meatloaf, & Squash

I remember the first full meal I ever cooked included meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  I found the recipes in my Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cookbook.  I was about 9 years old and my Uncle Jeff came over for dinner and was completely impressed with the meal.  I won't forget that feeling of pride for being a good cook.

Here's a meatloaf recipe from Family Fun's Cookbook.  I used this cookbook when the kids were young to make meals they would enjoy.

Meatloaf

2 eggs
2 lbs ground beef
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped
2 Tbs. barbecue sauce
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Sauce:
1/2 cup ketchup
3 Tbs. brown sugar
1 tsp. ground mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat 9"x12" pyrex dish with cooking spray.  In a large bowl, beat eggs then add ground beef and combine.  Add the oats, onion, ketchup, bell pepper, barbecue sauce, salt, pepper, basil and garlic powder and mix well with your hands but don't over mix.  Pour mixture into the center of the prepared dish and gently form into a rectangular loaf.

Make the sauce by mixing ketchup, brown sugar and dried mustard in a small bowl.  Spread the sauce over the top.  Bake for 1 1/2 hrs or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.  Start testing the temperature after an hour.  Remove the meatloaf from the oven and carefully use paper towels to sop up some of the grease from around the loaf.  Let the loaf sit for 10 minutes then serve.