Brown Sugar Meatloaf

Sunday Dinner….Brown Sugar Meatloaf…
 I haven’t done a meat loaf in awhile and I’m craving one on this cold winters day.  I learned  a few yummy recipes from my mother that I can remember her teaching me….I was a newlywed when I got this one….
Yummy brown sugar meatloaf....

 She didn’t like us kids in the kitchen when she cooked. (Now of course I know why!) But I did learn how to make her meat loaf. It was delicious. I always loved meat loaf night.

The ketchup I use is always Heinz. It’s the best!

The sugar/ketchup mixture….I had about a third of it to the mix before baking it….
.the rest is for topping it after it’s baked awhile …

 Sometimes she would add leftover cooked rice to the meat loaf recipe and roll the mix into meatballs and then call them porcupines. I loved those too. You could do that too. I added brown sugar to this recipe to ramp up the flavor even more. It makes it just that much better.

Vidalia Sweet Onions are the best in recipes…

I saute the onion a bit before adding it to the meatloaf….I don’t love crunchy onions in my meatloaf!

 I always try to add sweet Vidalia onions or a sweet white onion when I can find them in the market. They are usually at Costco too. But sometimes I don’t want a 20 pound bag of onions, you know?  

I use Johnny’s and Lemon Pepper for seasoning my meatloaf….

Mix up meat, crackers, onions and about 1/3 of the sauce and 2 eggs, and spices….

The basic recipe is just ground beef,round or saltine crackers, eggs, ketchup, onions, brown sugar, season salt and pepper.  I toss in a little lemon pepper too.

Meatloaf before sauce….Just pour sauce on top after it’s baked for 30 minutes…then bake another 30 minutes…

I have also made this recipe into 2 mini loaves and put one in the freezer  (topped with ketchup mixture) for another meal since there are only 2 of us now.  That makes a nice treat when you come home from work tired and hungry. You have one to just pop in the oven!  Serendipity! 

Here’s the one I covered with foil and put into the freezer for sometime next  month….

RECIPE FOR MOM’S MEATLOAF (BROWN SUGAR ADDED)

I added a sweet potato and a side salad and raspberry jello with raspberries and blueberries for dinner…..

INGREDIENTS FOR BROWN SUGAR MEATLOAF

  • 1/3 cup dark brown sugar 
  • 3/4 cup ketchup       Mix these 2 ingredients and set aside
  • ———————————————
  • 1 1/2 lbs ground beef 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/2 Vidalia onion diced
  • 3/4 teaspoon Lawry’s Season Salt
  • A few shakes of lemon pepper
  • 3/4 cup saltines finely crushed or Ritz crackers
  • 1/3 to 1/2 of the sugar/ketchup sauce mixed into meat mixture

  • DIRECTIONS:
  • Mix brown sugar and ketchup and set aside. Then mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate mixing bowl. Add 1/2 the ketchup mixture to the meat mixture and stir together. Then form the meat mixture into a  roll into a bread pan or a shallow 9 x 9 casserole dish.

  • Bake in the oven for  55 to 60 minutes at 350. After 30 minutes take out the meatloaf and pour off some of the fat. Then I add the brown sugar/ ketchup on the top and smooth out with a spatula. 
  • Mom’s Yummy Meatloaf….with a little sweet improvement! 

  • Bake the remaining 25 to 30 minutes.  Let meatloaf set out for 10 minutes to rest a bit before slicing for serving as it will stay together better. Enjoy!