Every so often, you see a recipe somewhere and think, "Maybe I'll try that sometime. I wonder if anyone else I know has tried it, and what they thought of it?"
Well, I made this one the other night at my house, with just a few changes, and it was a huge hit. This one will definitely go on my "must-sometimes-make" list.
Link to the page:
Cheeseburger Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
Copied and pasted here, with the changes I made:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
1 red onion, finely chopped
2/3 cup ketchup
2/3 cup bread crumbs
2 large eggs
1/2 cup bread-and-butter pickle chips, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
8 ounces cheddar cheese, cut into 1/3-inch cubes
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees . Lightly oil a rimmed baking sheet. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring until slightly softened, about 3 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine the ketchup, bread crumbs, eggs and pickles; mix in the onion. Crumble in the beef, add the cheese and mix together. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and shape into a 4-by-12-inch loaf. Bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 160 degrees , about 35 minutes.
Let the meatloaf rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with mashed potatoes.
**My changes:
I didn't use the pickles at all. We don't eat bread-and-butter pickles anyway, but I didn't even use the dills we've got in the fridge.
I used shredded cheese instead of cubed. You don't get the runny little pockets of ooey gooey cheese, but the cheese blends in so well with the meat, and you get a little cheesy flavor in every single bite.
I added 3 strips of uncooked bacon, diced, to the mix. One word: yuuuuummmm.
One of my family doesn't eat ketchup. Instead of adding it to the mix, I set it aside and added a squirt of Dijon mustard and several healthy dashes of jalapeno Tabasco sauce. The rest of us topped our servings with it for a little zing.
And I don't know what she's talking about with this "35 minutes to bake" stuff. My loaf took an hour. But it was worth the wait, because it was really tasty.
