Recipe - Meatloaf

My other half likes to call me a carnivore. He's wrong, I do eat vegetables even though the portion is usually smaller than the protein serving :D

Despite being a 'meat-lover', I try my best to cook healthy well-balanced meal for both of us using fresh ingredients. I don't like to use processed food, and try my best to avoid buying it. I LOVE preparing my own food, and rarely you can find us eating outside. The only bad thing about it is that I am not a full time homemaker. I am a Master student during the day, and a home-based baker at night. Owh, and a full-time wife :D

Juggling my time to cook and prepare food is not easy; therefore, I like to cook simple, fast and yet delicious and hearty meal for both of us can enjoy.

This meal is one of our favorite. It is easy to prepare and taste delicious. I recommend to use food processor to make it as it makes your life easy. In fact, I recommend you to buy a food processor if you don't have one. You don't know how one machine can do wonders to your life.

If you like spicy food, I recommend you to add some chili powder to make the meatloaf a bit spicy. Or you can adjust the recipe based on your liking :)

Meatloaf (Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens)

The loaf
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup dry bread crumbs or 2 cups soft bread crumb
1/4 cup sweet onion
2 tablespoon fresh parsley (or you can use 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley)

1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon sweet basil (or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 pound lean beef (or lamb, chicken etc)

The sauce
1/4 cup tomato ketchup (I used 4 fresh tomatoes, diced)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon mustard (or 1/8 teaspoon ground mustard)

1. Combine all the ingredients to make the loaf (except the ingredients to make the sauce) in the food processor, and grind until everything is mixed. Put it into a loaf pan (8x4x12 inch)

2. Bake in 180 °C for 1  to 1 1/4 hour. Spoon out the fat if you want too. In a small bowl combine all the sauce ingredients (if you want to use fresh tomatoes, combine everything with 1 tablespoon of all-purpose flour). Spread the sauce over the meat and bake for 10 minutes more.

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