Meatloaf Monday

Yesterday I was let off of the hook when it came to dinner. Hubby made a request! Sunday evening he asked if we could have meatloaf for dinner Monday. Absolutely! I even had ground beef in the refrigerator begging to be used up. It also gave me all day to contemplate what kind on meatloaf I wanted to make. I love playing around with meatloaf recipes. No matter what it usually comes out ok. It really is difficult to wreck a meatloaf so bad that a little ketchup couldn't resurrect it, LOL! Since I still had bacon on the brain from my Bacon Jam I decided to make this meatloaf a twist on one of my favorite burger combinations: mushroom, onion and swiss - with bacon! I didn't have any bacon thawed so I used a little bacon fat to add flavor to the meat. I think cooked chopped bacon would have been better and shouldn't have been so lazy but now I know not to take short cuts next time around. This recipe makes a gigantic meatloaf and can easily feed 4-5 hungry people.

Meatloaf (V.2) mushroom, onion and swiss - with bacon!

4-5 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
3 pounds ground beef (more or less)
1 box chicken stuffing
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 C swiss cheese, shredded or chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 eggs
1-2 tsp kosher salt
1-2tsp black pepper
1/2 C ketchup

Mix everything except ketchup together in a large bowl until well incorporated
transfer mix to a roasting pan and shape into a log
brush with ketchup and bake 350 for 1 hr.

Husband said this was his favorite meatloaf yet so I will definately be making this again. The use of prepared ingredients also add to the ease of preparation which is great on a busy weeknight. You could easily adapt this to make it from scratch too.