Meatloaf might be one of my favorite comfort foods. I bet most of us grew up with mom or grandma having their own “go to” recipe for meatloaf and they didn’t stray from that recipe very much. Being the type of cook that just can’t hardly make the same recipe twice, I always think outside the box when it comes to meatloaf. Recently when the grandkids were going to be having dinner with us, I tried this bacon cheeseburger recipe I made up as I went along. I used 1 package of bacon, 2 lbs. ground beef, 2 eggs, 1 cup of plain breadcrumbs, 1/2 cup diced onion, 1 lb of you choice of cheese, shredded or sliced and 1 colored pepper. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and mixed the ground beef, eggs, onions and breadcrumbs. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and set aside. In my cast iron skillet or your vessel of choice, I laid bacon in the bottom, placing one end in the middle of the pan and let the other end hang over the side. Once you have the bacon laid, put your ground beef mixture in the middle. Mold it how you want and add the cheese and then bring the loose ends of the bacon over the top. I sliced the colored pepper and added the slices to the top. This is completely optional and not required. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes and check for doneness. The temperature should be between 155 and 160 degrees and the bacon on top should be brown and crispy. Before serving or about five minutes before you take it out of the oven, spread a little bit of ketchup on one side and mustard on the other. You could mix it together and spread if you like both. Then, serve. Next time I make this, I will replace the colored peppers with pickles.
