For some reason when you say meatloaf a lot of people make that face.  You know, that bad face that says, YUCK!  And I admit, I don’t like a lot of people’s meatloaf either.  But really, how can you hate what is essentially a big, giant hamburger?  I made it often because my youngest son was not much of a meat eater, but he would eat hamburger in almost any permutation.  I was not willing to serve hamburgers every night of the week, but meatloaf seemed like a real meal, so I ended up with several versions.  All three of the boys would eat it, and it was easy to make an extra one to freeze for later.

Jeff and I went to the store and we bought all the ingredients, because my plan is to make my old recipes and measure and take pictures and write it all down and then post them.  I never cooked with real recipes, I just threw in this and that, and over time they evolved.  I chopped and measured and mixed and cooked.  I photographed and set the table and we sat down to eat.  It looked great.   But…. The garlic mashed potatoes were wonderful.  The spinach salad was super.  But the meatloaf was, bland.  Not my meatloaf at all.

So, I have to go back and try again.  I suspect I didn’t put enough of my normal spices in it, since I was trying to measure (instead of, “hey, that doesn’t look like enough of that!”)  So, I’ll try it again before I post the recipe.

I thought about NOT posting anything and then I thought, no, everyone has cooking disasters.  At least this was edible.  Too bad it was 1 1/2 lbs of bland.  On the other hand, I can crumble it up for chili or spaghetti or something else.  Appropriately we can eat it anyway.