Giraffe's Low-Carb Mighty Meatloaf

Mom's meatloaf has been a favorite of ours for many many years. 

Through the years, we've begun substituting ingredients to allow for a more carb conscious dish.  However, we've tried to maintain its scrumptious flavor.

  We’ve been substituting bread crumbs with Parmesan Cheese to give our dish a cheesy and zesty flavor, which seems to accomplish the same purpose - to increase its moisture content and to hold our contents together.

Our meatloaf is similar to Mom's.  Each meaty bite is moist, flavorful, and cheesy.

Preparation time is a mere 5-10 minutes, while baking time is another 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Our luscious ingredients include:

• 4 Roma Tomatoes
• 3-4 lb. Ground Beef
• 3 eggs
• 2 Tbsp. Chili Powder
• 1 Large Can of Sliced Mushrooms
• 1 Cup Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
• 1 tsp. Pepper
• 1 tsp. Paprika
• ½ Large Onion
• ½ Cup of Mayonnaise
• ½ Bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup Reduced Sugar
• Large package of Shredded Cheese of Choice

We begin by placing our Ground Beef into our large mixing bowl.  

Next, we'll add our eggs and mushrooms to our hamburger.

My mom bought us this awesome "1 Second Slicer" that slices almost any vegetable, literally in a second.  This invention is amazing and saves us much time.  We'll therefore, use our slicer to chop our onions, and will then add to our hamburger mixture.

Click on any word in this sentence to take you to Amazon.com, to purchase this amazing product!

 We thoroughly enjoy "stewed" tomatoes in our meatloaf.  So, instead of using our 1-second slicer to chop our tomatoes, we'll simply smash our tomatoes in a Ziploc Bag and will then add them to our meat mixture.

Chopping our tomatoes in our 1-Second Slicer is also acceptable.  

Next, we'll add our Mayonnaise, Ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, Parmesan Cheese,  and spices to our mixture.

We'll usually add a little more Ketchup to our mixture, since we enjoy our meatloaf extra moist.

If your meatloaf seems too loose, after baking, not to worry.  The longer your meatloaf sits, the more your loaf will solidify.

Next, we'll stir our mixture, with our hands, until our contents are well blended. 

We've tried using spoons to mix our ingredients. However, our contents never really seemed to thoroughly combine together.  Therefore, we began using our hands to really mix our ingredients. 

We'll then, pour our hamburger mixture into our greased 8 by 13 inch baking pan and will bake on 350F degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the middle of our meat is no longer pink, in color.

 After our meatloaf seems fully cooked, we'll drain our grease into an empty container and will slice our meatloaf in half, just to make certain that our middle is fully done.

Finally, we'll pour our bag of cheese generously over our meatloaf, until fully covered.  

We'll, then, return our meatloaf to our oven for an additional 5 minutes, or until our cheese has fully melted.

Voila!  

Our SUPER cheesy and moist meatloaf is ready for dinner.

Oh my gosh!!!  The aroma of our hamburger, coupled with our onions and spices are permeating our apartment.

Our first bite throws us back into a time when we would anticipate Mom's dinners, after a long school day.

Our hearty meal will usually last us for at least two more dinners and also makes for great leftovers.

We hope you enjoy our meatloaf recipe as much as us.

From our kitchen to yours ~

Enjoy!