How to Make Meatloaf in the Summer

Well, hello there! The big chic starts school next week and my mind has been turning towards lunchboxes and Foodie Footsteps. It's been a great summer, and although I haven't been blogging, I've thought about my blog sooooo many times. I should have blogged more this summer about recipes that I was making, but we have been so busy. A Disney trip, a visit to the great grandparents across country, and countless play dates, summer camps, and movie days have occupied my mind as well as my time. I hope that I still have some readers left after my summer break!

Anyway, for those of you that are still left, I thought I'd share a very interesting recipe that I rediscovered this summer. I say "rediscovered" because I've had the recipe for quite a while stuck in one of my many binders filled with printed, copied or handwritten recipes that I've collected over the past fifteen years. If you're like me, you have an entire section of your kitchen dedicated to this mish mosh of recipes. The hubs complained about it constantly. A very good friend and fellow foodie told us about an e-reader for your kitchen. I thought it was an awesome idea, but the hubs, being the money saver that he is, had a hard time justifying the purchase. Well, a few weeks ago, he finally broke down (or I wore him down, depending on who you ask) and he bought me a Demy Kitchen Reader.

My New Best Friend...the Demy

It is SO cool. You put all your recipes into the Key Ingredient website and sync them to the Demy. You can create your own cookbooks and add pictures and everything. I thought adding the recipes to the Key Ingredient website would be horrible, but most of my recipes are from magazines and websites and you can just cut and paste them from the website. Now, I don't have to print out recipes or take my laptop into the kitchen (which REALLY freaks out the hubs). All my recipes are at the tip of my finger...literally...it's touch screen. Such an awesome idea. You don't have to have a Demy to use Key Ingredient, either. You can create an account and add recipes to it (similar to All Recipes). Here are links to both in case you'd like to take a gander: For the Demy For Key Ingredient

There is a point of all of this rambling, I swear. One of the bonuses of putting my recipes into the Key Ingredient website, is that I found a bunch of recipes that I completely forgot about. One of those recipes was a meatloaf made in the bread machine. Yes, you read that right...meatloaf in the bread machine.

Now, if you've read my blog, you know that big chic loves some meatloaf! But, since we live in Texas, summer in unbearably hot and the idea of baking in the oven is not a pleasant one. Meatloaf is usually not on our summer foods list. The bread machine puts off very little heat, though (especially compared to the oven). I decided to give it a shot, I mean, how bad could it be? I'm guessing you could use any meatloaf recipe as long as it made to same volume. This is the recipe I used...

Breadmaker Meatloaf

MEATLOAF

1 medium onion, chopped

2 lbs ground sirloin

1 cup mushrooms, sliced (I used dried wild mushrooms that I rehydrated in some boiling water)

2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp parsley, chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup bread crumbs (I used Panko)

2 eggs, beaten

GLAZE

1/2 cup ketchup

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp prepared mustard

Combine all meatloaf ingredients in a bowl. Mix glaze ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Remove the paddle from the bread machine pan and press meatloaf into the pan.

Next is the hardest part. You need to set the machine to skip the rise and proof setting and to bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes. My machine doesn't have a way to bypass the proof or rise cycles, so I had to start a bread cycle and let it go through the steps. I put the pan into the bread machine when there was 1 hour and 10 minutes left in the bake cycle. Needless to say, since a full cycle on my machine is almost four hours, this recipe would require some pre-planning. (It would be worth it though since the proof and rise cycle use almost zero heat!)

When there are 30 minutes left on the bake cycle, open the machine and pour the glaze over the top of the meatloaf. Close the lid and continue to bake.

Once the meatloaf is done, allow it to cool for a minute and drain the juices. Remove from the pan...gently...NOT like this...

Slice and serve

I certainly won't say that I had the most supportive team of taste testers for this. When I told the hubs what we were having for dinner, he crinkled up his nose and said very slowly, "okay". The chics said, "in the bread machine?" and made yuck faces. After tasting it though, all of their skepticism disappeared. It was surprisingly moist and delicious. We'll be making meatloaf in our bread machine again. It makes me wonder what other things I could make in the bread machine...hmmm...