Mom's Meatloaf

You've probably noticed that I was blessed with great women cooking great food all of my life! I've posted a few of my Mom's recipes that were some of my favorites as a kid (and as an adult). This meatloaf is another one of hers :) And yes, I got her permission to post it! I must say, the best part about this dish is the sauce that goes with it. I could put it on many things, and I actually put it on stuffed peppers, whenever I make those. But back to the point, this recipe is for the meatloaf and the delicious sauce that goes with it. What goes best with meatloaf? Mashed potatoes, and you should definitely top them with the sauce - I highly recommend it! Meatloaf Ingredients: 1.5 pounds ground beef (I used 93/7 but you could use whichever you prefer) 1/2 green pepper, diced 1/2 red pepper, diced 1 small onion 1 egg 8 oz. tomato sauce (you'll use half in the meatloaf and half in the sauce) 1 tsp salt and dash of pepper 2 slices of bread (in food processor to roughly chop it) or 3/4 cup oatmeal

Sauce Ingredients: 1/2 cup water 2 tb apple cider vinegar 2 tb yellow mustard 3 1/2 tb brown sugar 2 tb tomato paste (optional - I use this to thicken the sauce a bit) Directions: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, salt, pepper, red peppers, green peppers, onion, egg, half the can of tomato sauce, and the bread crumbs/oatmeal. If using bread, pulse the slices in a food processor to get good sized bread crumbs. Mold the mixture into a greased loaf pan (ideally), or you can shape it on a sheet pan (I line it with foil for easy clean up). Bake for 1 hour. Top with some of the sauce and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your meatloaf. Mine only needed 10 minutes since I shaped it not as tall. In a saucepan, combine the rest of the tomato sauce, water, vinegar, mustard, brown sugar, and tomato paste. Bring to a simmer and serve on top of the meatloaf and mashed potatoes.