Mr. Hawthorne Makes Meatloaf.

Mr. Hawthorne has been seeing an ad on TV for Perfect Meatloaf™. And he had to have one. He ordered his through WalMart for $15.

I love the fifties-style recipe booklet. Those creations are atrocious. Mr. Hawthorne has been very excited about this new piece of equipment and has been looking forward to producing his first meatloaf. Yesterday, he grabbed the recipe booklet and scurried back to his bedroom to read it. When he came out, he asked me if I had artichoke hearts. Why yes, I do. Did I have sun-dried tomatoes? Yes. What about roasted red peppers? Of course. Oh my goodness, Mr. Hawthorne. I believe this is called pushing the envelope or thinking outside of the box. Who is this man? And what have you done to Mr. Hawthorne?

Here's the finished product. Thankfully, Mr. Hawthorne came to his senses and no artichokes or sun-dried tomatoes were used.

As good as this was hot, I can't wait for it to set overnight and have the texture change so's I can have a cold meatloaf sammich on white bread with butter tomorrow.

Here's what Mr. Hawthorne prepared: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and peas.

Here's Mr. Hawthorne's mise en place: .89 lb ground beef (sale price $2.56) 1.11 lb meatloaf mixture (beef, veal, pork) 1/2 whole wheat bagel, ground up 1/2 green pepper, chopped 1/2 onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 eggs freshly ground salt and pepper 1 tsp oregano 2/3 can Hunt's Meatloaf sauce Reserve 1/3 can for topping. Roasted red peppers Pepper Jack cheese slices

Mr. Hawthorne ground up 1/2 whole wheat bagel in the Magic Bullet and ... ... added salt and pepper for seasoning.

Mr. Hawthorne finely chopped 1/2 onion.

To peel garlic, put the flat blade of your knife against the garlic and smash with your hand. The peel comes right off.

Finely chop half a pepper.

Pepper, garlic, and onion. I would have gone with a smaller dice, but I ain't cookin' today.

Bread crumbs, meats, onions, and garlic in.

Peppers in.

About a teaspoon of oregano.

2/3 cup Hunt's meatloaf sauce.

2 beaten eggs in.

Isn't this pretty?

The only way to mix is by hand, so dive in.

Mix until thoroughly combined.

And here's Mr. Hawthorne's new toy he's so excited about. Perfect Meatloaf™

The meatloaf sits on a removable tray, so you can lift the meatloaf out during cooking and pour out the grease. Mr. Hawthorne did make note of a design flaw: One will naturally and unintentionally pick the pan up by the handles. The handles go to the insert not the pan itself, so when you go to pick up the pan, you're picking up the meatloaf out of the pan.

Instructions said to spray the pan first.

Mr. Hawthorne firmly and evenly pressed 1/3 of the meatloaf mixture in his pan.

Roasted red peppers went on top.

Then slices of Pepper Jack cheese.

Half the remaining meatloaf went on top.

Then another layer of roasted peppers and cheese slices.

Press the remaining meatloaf in the pan.

Ready for 350 degree oven.

Bake until internal temperature is 165 degrees. And if you don't have one of those probe thermometers, you owe it to yourself to get one. This meatloaf baked for almost 2 hours.

Halfway through cooking, Mr. Hawthorne lifted the meatloaf out and poured out all the grease.

He was very excited to get almost a cup of meatloaf joos. The probe was inserted.

The meatloaf was returned to the oven and the remaining Hunt's sauce was spooned on top.

Internal temperature - 165 degrees. Let it sit for 20 minutes or so before slicing.

Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. That would have been just fine with me. True comfort food. Green peas and corn were superfluous but a nice touch.

Here's the hot meatloaf.

And here's the cold meatloaf next day. On white bread with butter.

Meatloaf doesn't acquire a proper texture until the next day. And I can eat a meatloaf sandwich on white bread with butter for lunch every day until this loaf is gone.