When I think of meals made from scratch, I think of my childhood. Meatloaf was every Sunday and we looked forward to that meal all week! Mom made meatloaf, whipped potatoes, a vegetable and salad. As much as I love cooking for my family, often it takes longer than you have time or energy for. I just hate to spend time preparing, cooking and serving a meal when I could spend that time being with my family.
Here are the ingredients for your meal:
- 3 lbs. of Ground beef, turkey or pork
- Two eggs, breadcrumbs and ketchup. Add onions, garlic, or peppers to the meat mixture. Get creative! I have added crushed cheese crackers, BBQ sauce and ranch dressing.
- 3-5 lb. bag of potatoes
- Sour cream (optional)
- Vegetable of your choice
- Salad fixings
- 1-2 large muffin pans
Preheat the oven to 350 and gather your ingredients. Wash, peel and cut your potatoes into medium sized cubes and put them into a large pot filled with water. Mix your ground meat, two eggs, bread crumbs and ketchup in a large bowl. After your ingredients are mixed together, grab your greased muffin pan (I use spray cooking oil) and scoop out your meat mixture into the muffin pans, filling them about 2/3 full. Your oven should be ready so stick the pans into your oven for 30 minutes. While your meatloaf is cooking turn your burner on high, bring the water to a boil and cook the potatoes for 15-20 minutes.
When your meat and potatoes are about ready, make your salad and cook your vegetable. We love broccoli and I steam it which only takes about 8 minutes to cook. I am not very adept at making gravy from scratch, so I buy gravy in the packet which takes about 5 minutes. I leave the mashing of the potatoes for the last step. I put a few pats of butter, a little salt and about 1 cup of milk. I use a hand mixture but you can mash them any way you like.
To save time preparing the meal, I use child labor! My kids are 10 and 13 and LOVE to help in the kitchen. The kids love to peel the potatoes and with supervision I allow them to cut the potatoes and veggies for the salad. My daughter loves to use the hand mixer on the potatoes and for the most part they stay in the bowl! The meat loaf cooks in less than half the time as it does for a loaf. If you have great helpers in the kitchen everything is prepped, cooked and on the table, in about an hour. See? Easy Peasy!! Watch out for homemade calzones next time?.
