Amish Meatloaf

I'm not sure what's supposed to be Amish about this recipe, but it is very good. Recipe from a freezer cooking email group. As a note - I generally do not use the bacon at all and I use a brown sugar/ketchup topping rather than the cheese. If you are doing this for the freezer, this can be frozen after assembly, then thawed and baked as directed. Or, cook completely, freeze, thaw and reheat. It's so fast to put together that I generally just make it and serve it the same day.

• Ready In: 1 hr 5 mins
• Serves: 6-8
• Yields: 1 loaf

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup evaporated milk
• 1⁄2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1  egg
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1  cup  Ritz cracker crumbs (about 3/4 of a sleeve)
• 3⁄4 cup  grated swiss cheese, divided
• 1⁄4 cup  finely chopped onion
• 1 1⁄2 lbs lean ground beef
• 2 -3  slices bacon, cut in 1 inch pieces

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine evaporated milk, sage, egg, salt, pepper, crumbs, 1/2 cup of the Swiss cheese, onion, and ground beef.
3. Mix until just combined, do not overmix.
4. Pack into loaf pan and arrange bacon strips on top (again, I do not use these).
5. Bake for 45 minutes.
6. Remove, sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of Swiss cheese, and return to oven for 10 minutes.
7. Let stand 5-10 minutes (I remove from pan with slotted spatula so it drains a bit).
8. Slice and serve.