Food: Versatile Meatloaf

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Versatile Meatloaf
Thursday, December 08, 2005

Meatloaf is meatloaf, you say? That's not always the case. I know meatloaf has kinf of a bad reputation, but there are lots of ways to dress it up. Meatloaf doesn't have to be boring and mundane. Liven up your next meal with one of these ideas, and get rid of the hamburger blues.

Try experimenting with your meatloaf recipe. Now, we all know the basic ingredients for meatloaf, right? We all put in eggs, bread crumbs, a bit of ketchup, some milk, and the hamburger. It's time to get creative today. Guess what? It doesn't really matter what you put into a meatloaf, as long as you maintain the same general consistency as your original recipe. You'll need something liquid, something to soak up the liquid, and something to spice it up and add a bit of flavor. This is where the experimentation comes in. If you generally use bread crumbs, try cracker crumbs instead. Try crushed pretzels. Try potato chips. Try flavored crackers like cheese crackers. If you generally use milk to add a bit of liquid, try boulion. Try soup or broth. You can even try water! And you can play with the spices in your meatloaf, too. What if you add a different kind of sauce instead of ketchup? Maybe a barbecue sauce would add some zip, hmmm? You can try tomato soup and use the spaghetti spices for an Italian touch. I use basil, oregano, and parsley when I'm in this mood.

And guess what? You can even change the MEAT in your meatloaf! Try using tuna or chicken instead. The same basic principles apply and you use the same basic ingredients. Add some eggs, milk, and some kind of bread or cracker crumbs. You'll want to use different spices or sauces, obviously, but the idea is the same. You want to end up with a dish that is the same general consistency as your usual meatloaf. The tuna version actually tastes very good with a tart white sauce on top. The chicken loaf is a good match up for a ranch dressing based sauce.

And meatloaf doesn't have to be cooked in a loaf pan all of the time. Try fixing your meatloaf in muffin tins to make a teensy loaf for each person. Or you can split it into two or four middle-sized loaves and put a different topping onto each one. Top one with ketchup, one with barbecue, one with steak sauce, and you get the idea. What if you cooked meatloaf in a crock pot? These can be a bit more moist than the oven cooked variety, but they make great leftover meatloaf sandwiches.

I've even made little meatloaf pizzas! These were quite the hit with the children. Just form your meatloaf into flat circles and shape the edges up just a bit higher than the rest. Now, put some pizza sauce into the depression. Bake the little circular meatloaves on a baking sheet until they are about done. Right before it is time to serve them, lay narrow strips of mozzarella cheese across the circles, like the spokes of a wheel. Pop them back into the oven for just a minute or two. They should cook long enough to melt the cheese and maybe give it just a little bit of a crust.

There you have it: four different ways to liven up your next meatloaf meal. You can change the recipe, change the meat, change the shape, or dress it up with some extras like cheese or toppings. If you keep the family guessing, chances are good that they won't complain the next time you announce meatloaf for dinner!

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