Mmmm....Individual Meat Loaves for Foodie Friday

     I don't make meat loaf often. Mine has never been bad, but it hasn't been anything to blog about! My husband loves it and while I don't eat a lot of beef, once in a while it sounds good. So, I went searching for meat loaf recipes I could adapt to our tastes. I found one that is good, really good. It just isn't blog picture perfect, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway.

     I started with an Ina Garten recipe. Don't you just love her? She makes good stuff! I made a few small changes because at our house we avoid onions whenever possible. I'll tell you what the original recipe said and you can decide, but my way was really good.

Ingredients:
1 T. olive oil
1 stalk celery chopped (not in Ina's recipe)
1 yellow pepper chopped (not in Ina's recipe)
Ina used 3 cups of chopped yellow onions instead of the celery and pepper...that's a lot of onion.
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 T. Worcestershire sauce (Ina used 3)
1/3 cup canned chicken broth
1 T. tomato paste
2 1/2 pounds ground chuck
2 slices whole wheat bread baked in the oven until crisp, crumbled (Ina used Progresso dry bread crumbs)
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup ketchup

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a sauce pan cook the celery, pepper, thyme, salt and pepper (or onion if you prefer) in the olive oil until tender (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and add Worcestershire sauce, chicken broth and tomato paste. Set aside. In large bowl, combine ground chuck, bread crumbs, eggs and slightly cooled celery/pepper mixture and mix until blended. You can use a fork or clean hands.

Divide the mixture into 6 or 8 small loaves on a sheet pan. Drizzle with ketchup and bake 40 to 45 minutes. I baked ours a little longer because we like our meat really done.

I served them with homemade mashed potatoes (no, I don't peel them) and brocoli slaw. I know they aren't "company" perfect looking. They got a little brown around the edges, but we liked that part. The chicken broth adds extra moisture without changing the flavor. I'll be making these again.

Please visit our hostess Michael at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday. You will find some of the best recipes in all of Blogland!