happy halloween everyone! what are you dressing up as? i am going to work dressed up as morticia from the addams family. that’s how I roll!

today’s recipe happened by chance. i was at the supermarket last week and while looking in the poultry/meat aisle i noticed this handy little package of ground beef labeled “perfect for meatloaf!’ and i thought to myself: “hmm, josie you have never made meatloaf, maybe it is time to start?” (yes, when i think to myself i think in the 3^rd person, doesn’t everyone do that? don’t answer that).  so i purchased the little 1 1/2lb package of “perfect for meatloaf” ground beef.  i had never made meatloaf before and only had it once in a diner after a camping trip when we were all tired and dirty and hungry.  it was a very dry meatloaf but i didn’t care, it was food and i was starving, but even the i just knew thought that there had to be a better way, meatloaf could be a moist delicious dinner. while thinking about how to make meatloaf better, i figured… “hey, bacon makes everything better! why not add bacon?” and I did, i covered the meatloaf in bacon and oh.my.god.! as one of my dear friends would say: amazeballs!!

anyway, enough chit chat. here is my recipe for bacon wrapped meatloaf!

INGREDIENTS:
3 cloves of garlic
1 medium or ½ large red onion
2 cups of chopped mushrooms
2 sprigs of green onions
2 stalks of celery
about 1 cup of chopped parsley
2 eggs
1tbs dry oregano
1tbs dry basil
2 tbs worcestershire sauce
1 cup panko bread crumbs
¾ cup of parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
1 ½ ground beef
½ pkg of sliced bacon
4 tbs chili sauce
1 tbs brown sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:
turn your oven on to 350º.  start by chopping garlic, parsley, celery, green onions, mushroom and red onion.

beat the eggs.

in a large bowl combine the onions, garlic, parsley and mushrooms with the ground beef. 

add the dry spices, eggs, panko, cheese, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. 

get your hands in there to combine everything well. You want to make sure everything is incorporated. 

        ahhh!! giant hand!!!

form a loaf on an ungreased pan. try to have a pan wider than your loaf to better allow you to cover it in bacon. 

now, the fun part! cover your meatloaf with bacon slices. tuck the excess bacon under the meatloaf (i never thought I would be typing that sentence… tuck the bacon under the meat! hahaha!).  try to have the bacon slices overlap each other to make sure all of your loaf is covered. 

once your loaf is covered in bacon mix together the chili sauce and the brown sugar. coat the bacon wrapped meatloaf with half of the chili mixture and bake for 20 minutes. 

after 20 minutes, take the meatloaf out of the oven.

coat it with the remainder chili sauce mix. 

bake your meatloaf for another 15 minutes or until the center is no longer pink and a thermometer reads 180ºF. let the loaf rest for 10 minutes before serving. 

serve with some mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. 

the bacon adds a nice flavor to the loaf and works to sort of keep the juices inside the meat. this was the juiciest meatloaf I have ever had (also, just the second – but the irishman said it was the best he’s ever had so there!). 

the spices really bring out the meatloaf-y flavor and the mushrooms add a really nice texture to it – plus it makes you feel sorta better to have vegetables snuck in there.

i hope you try making this at home. i had a really great response to it here. 

thanks for stopping by, have a great halloween!

hasta luego!