Sunday Meatloaf

Baby threw his back out, so he was alternately resting and sleeping this past Sunday. With not much to do apart from take care of him when he was awake, I grew bored and as I often do, I began to putter in the kitchen. We had just thawed some left over ground beef from one of our numerous meatball adventures, but hadn't decided what to do with it yet. So, I set to work to make dinner: Sunday Meatloaf with Tomato Jam for Two. For something so off the cuff, with ingredients we had on hand, it came out really well--and so did Baby, after a trip to the chiropractor Monday morning.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

For the tomato jam:
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes (I had Ragu spaghetti sauce and used most of the jar)
2 garlic cloves, crushed

2 Tb olive oil

2 cloves
1/4 cup or so, honey

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Saute the garlic in oil until golden. Add tomatoes. Simmer with cloves for about a 45 minutes (if you are using a jar of spaghetti sauce, as I did, this won't take as long). Remove from heat and add honey; stir in pepper and let thicken.

For the meatloaf:

1 lb. ground beef (we used short rib, rib eye, skirt steak meat)

About a cup of homemade bread crumbs

Roughly a 1/4 cup Old Bay Dip & Crisp seasoned bread crumbs (if you can't find this, just add more bread crumbs and some plain Old Bay seasoning)

1 egg

Several dashes of Penzey's Shallot Pepper

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Mix the meatloaf ingredients together, form into a loaf and place into an appropriately sized baking dish, sprayed three times with fat free Pam. Glaze your meatloaf with the tomato jam and cook in the oven for about an hour.