Stuffed Meatloaf with a Bacon Blanket

It’s a beautifully Saturday here.  I’m loving this amazing weather.  This morning I went to get some groceries to do some cooking this weekend and then met up with a friend.  We grabbed a quick breakfast and went to a craft fair at our old high school.  It was a fall craft fair with so many things.  It made me feel optimistic that maybe the fall weather will stay past this weekend but I don’t think that’s the case after my Alexa read me the 10 day forecast.  Oh well! Today it feels a little like fall and I decided to make a comfort food for dinner.

I made a meatloaf with a bacon blanket.  Sounds like heaven right??  I never have been a fan of meatloaf, honestly.  It always seemed like an odd concept.  You mix together ground meat some other ingredients and form it into a loaf and bake it.  Doesn’t really sound super appealing.  However, over the years I’ve learned to tweak it and make it how I like it.  Now I don’t think of it as just a lump of baked meat.

I made the meatloaf today with a mixture of ground beef and ground turkey.  When I’m trying to keep it healthier I usually opt to go with all ground turkey.  I haven’t used ground beef in a while and decided I’d use that today.

Once I made the meatloaf I covered it up in a bacon “blanket”  if you will.  Just last week I tried the woven bacon for my BLTs so today I did the same thing on a larger scale.  It came out pretty well. I’m not sure I’ll ever make bacon any other way again.  I hope you enjoy this dish.  (Btw, can we change the name from meatloaf to something more appetizing?  I’m not sure what, but I’ll start brainstorming.  You do the same and report back. 🙂 )

Stuffed Meatloaf with a Bacon Blanket

MeatLoaf

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs lean ground turkey
1.5 lbs lean ground beef
3/4 cup panko bread crumbs, seasoned
2 eggs
10 oz mozzarella cheese
3 T Worcestershire
1 T Garlic Powder
1 T Onion Powder
2 t oregano
2 t parsley
1 small onion, finely chopped or grated
3 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1/2 cup tomato sauce, no salt
Sprinkle: Salt and Pepper

Bacon:
1 lb bacon

Glaze:
3/4 cup tomato sauce
2 T Worcestershire
2 T Dijon mustard
2 T honey
1 T ketchup

Directions: Mix all ingredients above for the glaze in a bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 375°.  Make 1 lb of bacon in the oven.  I made mine woven. Bake in oven for 20 minutes, it will be under cooked. If you just cook regular slices of bacon, watch the time because it may not take as long.  You want it to still be flexible when you remove it.

Add all above ingredients for the meatloaf  to a large bowl minus the mozzarella.  Mix it very well.  Form into 2 even loafs.  I do measure out the meat to make sure it’s as even as possible. You don’t have to do this but it’s just a good way to make sure the meat is evenly divided. Once you make the loafs remove the top section of the meat and add in 5 oz of mozzarella to each and then add the top back and reform the loaf.  Bake in the oven for 35 minutes.

Then remove meatloaf and add the glaze, recipe below.  Put back in oven for 10 minutes.

After remove from oven then top with the partially cooked woven bacon.  I just lay the bacon over the top. You can make more bacon and wrap the meatloaf fully.  However, remember the bottom of the bacon won’t crisp up and will remain soggy.  This is why I just lay the woven bacon on the top.  Then place back in the oven for 10 minutes.  Your meatloaf may take longer to cook. I made mine a little smaller  in width so they cooked quicker.  Remove from the oven and cut with a serrated knife to make sure the bacon stays in place.  Enjoy!

Note:   You may want to use 2 different pans to make the meatloaf.  Once it’s baked it will produce some fat so before you put back in the oven with the glaze and bacon I’d change to a new pan.  This is why I use disposable pans.  I may double the glaze next time. Also, if you bacon comes off when you cut the meatloaf just top on top of your slices.  One of my pieces the bacon came off and that’s what I did.  Tasted just as good.  This makes 2 meatloaf.  You can just add the bacon to 1 of them and freeze the other one just don’t add the bacon.

 

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