Barbecue Meatloaf

Comfort food. When all else fails go for comfort food.

CrabCake2 is finally over the flu. Rest, various over-the-counter pharmaceuticals, orange juice and a few bowls of chicken soup got him through his bout with H1N1. As I mentioned last time, it's disheartening when the best medical science can offer your fever ravaged son is chicken soup. I haven't been paying close attention to the whole national health care debate, but after this latest experience, I'm going to assume that the lynchpin of any plan will entail a card entitling us to a "Bottomless Soup Bowl" at Olive Garden.

"What course of treatment do you suggest Dr. Campbell?"

"I'm not sure. What are the patients' symptoms nurse Progresso?"

"High fever, cough, congestion, headache and assorted aches and pains."

"Hmmmm? I think Chicken Noodle is in order, but before we start let's consult with Dr. Lipton."

Hmmmm?

More like, "Mmmm, mmmm, good", if you ask me.

Anyway, CC2 made it through. He lost a few pounds so we need to get him back up to fighting weight. When in doubt, go with comfort food. Barbecue Meatloaf is a Paula Deen version of the traditional standby. The meatloaf braises in a tomato based barbecue sauce that you whip up in a few minutes. I'll warn you though, we found the original sauce very salty. I'm not sure if it was from the canned tomato sauce or the Worcestershire, but I've removed the salt from the recipe to be safe. Eat and grow healthy by enjoying...

Barbecue Meatloaf

by Paula Deen with tweaks by SSSal

1 egg

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce, divided

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

1 cup fresh bread crumbs

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup water

3 TBSP vinegar

3 TBSP brown sugar

2 TBSP mustard

2 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix together egg, 1/2 cup tomato sauce and pepper. Add beef, onions and bread crumbs; mix well to combine (your hands are the best tool for this job).

Form mixture into a loaf and transfer to a baking pan large enough to hold the loaf plus the sauce, 9x13 or so.

In a medium bowl combine the remaining tomato sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, mustard and Worcestershire Sauce.

Pour sauce over meatloaf and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting the meat every 15 minutes with the sauce.

Remove from the oven and allow the meatloaf to rest for 15 minutes.

Slice and serve with a spoonful of the cooking sauce.

Pretty basic stuff. I don't know if it will cure anything beyond hunger, but the recipe is very satisfying on a cold autumn night. Well folks I'm off to research another advance in medical science; I'll post the recipe later. Until next time, remember you can do it, you can cook.