Meatloaf

Serves 6-8

½ cup dry cracked wheat cereal

1 cup water

Stir cracked wheat and water together in saucepan. While stirring, bring to a boil, then cover and turn heat to low. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the cracked wheat is cooking, mix the following in a large mixing bowl:

1 lb. super lean hamburger (93 % lean)

1 small onion (finely chopped)

1 bell pepper (finely chopped)

2 eggs

½ cup oatmeal

1 slice bread (broken into small pieces)

¾ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

1 Tbs worcestershire sauce

Stir in cooked cracked wheat. It is ok if it is hot. Spray loaf pan with Pam and put in meatloaf mixture. Cover with foil and cook 30 min at 350° then uncover and cook 10 more minutes to brown top of loaf. This is also a great make ahead meal, just put the uncooked meatloaf in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook it later in the day.

Ready for baking

Serve with ketchup.

I often serve baked potatoes with meatloaf because the oven is already hot so I just put in some potatoes with the meatloaf. When I served this meatloaf last time, I was out of potatoes so I reconstituted some dried potato flakes, put them in a 9 x 9 inch baking dish and sprinkled cheese on top. I just put them in the oven for the last 5 minutes of baking time to melt the cheese.

Meatloaf makes a great filling for sandwiches the next day.

Spread mayo and ketchup on bread, then put on a slice of warmed up leftover meatloaf and some lettuce. I remember taking these to school in my lunch and it was one of my favorite sandwiches.