Junk in the Trunk

We spent the last week of February in Florida at Jeff’s parent’s winter home in Sun City Center.  While we didn’t have the usual Florida warm weather, we did have sun and lots of fun.  We also missed a 4+ day power outage and lots of fallen trees, which meant that we came home to the usual busy schedule and lots to clean up.

And, of course, I always can’t resist a new project, so I signed up for a weekly blog recipe challenge, where once a week (Sunday evenings) I’ll post one of my family’s favorite recipes.  This week, I actually have a story to go with a recipe:

One evening when we were in Florida, Nana (Judy my MIL) made meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  Carter was cranky after many long busy days at the beach,  Busch Gardens, a car museum, a train ride and the aquarium, and did not want to eat dinner.  To pacify him, we let him play with the new truck  Grandpa bought him at the car museum. 

I kept trying to get him to eat some meatloaf, which he normally devours.  Eventually, he took a piece, put it in the back of his truck and drove it away. No way was he eating it.

The next day, I staged a reenactment:

Here’s my family’s favorite Meatloaf recipe:

Upside-down Meatloaf:

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1-1/4 lbs. ground beef'
• 1-3/4 cups cooking oats
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 1 Tabl. Worcestershire sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray. Press the brown sugar on the bottom of the pan, and then spread the ketchup over the sugar.

Combine the remaining ingredients.  Shape into a loaf and place it carefully on top of the ketchup in the pan.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the juices run clear.  To serve, flip the meatloaf out onto a plate, and cut into slices. Serves 6.