Lil' Cheddar Meatloaves

DDW's Note:

We have given up all other meat loaf recipes for this one. I love the individual servings and every bite has the yummy catsup sauce where in "regular" meat loaf it's just a small strip on top! With the smaller loaves it also makes the cooking time a bit quicker. This recipe came from '99 TOH magazine but I added the rubbed sage for some extra flavor. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (4oz)
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage (optional)
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 2/3 cup catsup
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard

Directions:

1. In a bowl, beat the egg and milk.
2. Stir in cheese, oats, onion, salt and rubbed sage.
3. Add beef and mix well.
4. (It will seem runny at first but will thicken up as you mix.) Shape into 8 equal sized loaves (oval/egg shaped) and place in a greased 9X13X2" baking dish.
5. Sauce: Combine catsup, brown sugar and mustard.
6. Spoon over each loaf so they are all covered in the sauce.
7. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees.
8. For OAMC:.
9. To Freeze:Place the meat loaves in the casserole dish (without sauce).
10. Wrap with foil and freeze.
11. To Reheat: Defrost overnight.
12. Mix together the sauce and top each meat loaf with sauce.
13. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink in the center.
14. Cooked meat loaves (already topped with sauce) also freeze very well and then can be defrosted and heated in the microwave for a quick meal.

Reviews

[Sirpezy]

Wow, these were awesome!! I used 85/15 ground turkey & 1/2 ts of onion powder instead of chopped onions & omitted the sage. My DH, DD, Mom & myself loved it. I was kind of worried about how runny they seemed but they turned out excellent. The sauce is wonderful, I never thought to use brown sugar with the ketchup. I had also made these up a few hours ahead of time & stored in the fridge until I was ready to preheat the oven. Thanks for a keeper!!

[Trikster]

These are the best little meatloaves!! I love the fact that they are small as we are trying to do a little more "portion control" in our house. The flavor is great, very easy to make. I made them up and froze 4 for another time and when I defrosted those and cooked them, they were just as good as the first time. Putting this on regular rotation!! Thanks DDW!!

[Jellyqueen]

Great recipe. I knew on Sunday that I was going to have a very busy week, so I went ahead and made these up, placed them in the casserole dish, wrapped with foil and froze them. I took them out of the freezer on Wed. and put them in the fridge to thaw. Thursday afternoon I took them out of the fridge for about an hour, mixed up the sauce, spooned it over the loaves and baked. They were wonderful. Be sure to recommend this anytime you see someone wanting a recipe that freezes. I did us rubbed savory flakes instead of sage, we just don't care for sage too much. That was the only change I made.