Landon Tested, Mommy Approved

I haven't done a dinner post in quite some time. Tonight I made meatloaf for dinner. I'm not a huge fan of meatloaf. Actually, I'm not a fan of ground beef. Landon loves ground beef so I decided on meatloaf tonight. The thing I love about meatloaf is that it is easy to make. I always make two of them. I freeze the extra one for the days when I just don't feel like cooking. You know, the days where you were out all day and the last thing you want to do is come home and cook dinner. Eating out isn't always an option so it's nice to have cooked meals in the freezer that just need to be defrosted on those days. My favorite meatloaf recipe is Paula Deen's bacon cheeseburger meatloaf. Landon can't eat that one so I make her basic meatloaf these days. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 8 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

Topping:

• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix all meatloaf ingredients well and place in a baking dish. Shape into a loaf. Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf. Bake for 1 hour.

I also add 1/2 cup of pureed carrots into it as well since Landon refuses to eat any vegetables that appear on his plate. He always scarves it down and usually asks for seconds. I omit the onions (I hate the texture of onions when I bite into them, no matter how finely they are chopped) and I omit the peppers just because I don't like them. I'm sure it would give the meatloaf more flavor, but it tastes pretty good without them. We also added LOTS of garlic. Landon is at the age where he loves to help with the cooking. I allow him to mix the dry ingredients and beat the eggs. I also had him pour some garlic into the mix. He was very generous with the garlic so we had to add some parsley to try to balance it out!

I love coming across recipes that are quick and easy to make and that involve ingredients that are already in the pantry. The added bonus is that Landon loves it!