The name of this recipe in my “Missouri to Maui” cookbook is appropriately enough “Meat Loaf”. I tinkered with that name today, however, because the one consistent thing about making a delicious meat loaf is that your recipe changes every time you prepare it, and that because the amoumts of the ingredients vary with the amount of ground meat you are using. Today I had only just over a pound of good, fresh ground chuck so I compensated by using more vegetables than usual and today’s meat loaf result was delicious and and so made the name change essential. This “Vegetable Meat Loaf” recipe will undoubtedly morph again the next time I want meat loaf and that’s fine. What’s NOT to love about a dish this satisfying and versatile? Use the same ingredients and adjust their amounts and you will have juicy moist meat loaf every time.

It is my theory that most home cooks (home cooks, not the professional chefs who use any of the hundreds of other meat loaf recipes) basically make meat loaf the way their mothers or aunties did. Today I used the cookbook recipe but adjusted the vegetables and added shredded carrots, snipped fine, for the moisture they add to the loaf. I adjusted the simple seasonings (salt, pepper, and Worcestershire) and used less Saltine crackers and Panko for filler than I would have normally. Be sure to get around to smooshing it up with your hands to see if it binds together easily (if not, add another egg and resmoosh). The only ingredients you need for a sauce for basting the top and sides of the loaf as it bakes are ketchup and brown sugar. The sweet-spicy sauce makes the perfect ‘salad dressing’ the next day for preparing cold meatloaf sandwiches. You will be having cold meat loaf sandwiches on white bread the next day, am I correct?  =)

A 30-minute prep is all and then 45-60 minutes to bake while you rest for 30 minutes before preparing  a good side dish or tasty salad (or stir up a package of Idaho Baby Red packaged potatoes, adding a healthy 2 T. of butter to them like I did today), and you’re at the table ready to go with a warming, best-of-comfort-food supper!

Vegetable Meat Loaf

Ingredients

1-1/2 to 2 lbs. lean ground chuck
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup green pepper, cut in thin short strips
1 egg
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce, to taste
8-10 Saltine crackers, broken small
1/2-1 cup Panko flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Basting Sauce

1-2 to 1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions Preheat oven to 350. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. I do stir the mixture with a wooden spoon to blend quickly but then use my hands to shape, patting the mixture firmly. Place the log-shaped mixture into a lightly greased 9×5” loaf pan. Bake 1 hour, basting with the catsup brown sugar mixture several times as the loaf bakes. Remove from oven and allow to set ten minutes before slicing into thick pieces.