Bacon & Bleu Meatloaf, April 3, 2018

When winter is encroaching on spring, as it frequently does here in Colorado, a good comfort dinner is perfect. The weather's been all over the place and I'm not averse to having a great leftover meatloaf sandwich when the outside temperature is in the 70s, either, but this dinner was perfect for the snowish weather. I made a different kind of meatloaf than usual, adding blue cheese where I seldom use cheese at all and adding bacon both crumbled within and laid across the top. It was delicious! My wife doesn't like blue cheese and didn't detect it at all, while I felt like it added to the overall flavor fulness, without being aggressive. I made mashed potatoes, corn, and veggies with Caesar dip to go along with the meatloaf.

Bacon & Bleu Meatloaf

5 or so strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled (save grease)

1/2 small onion, chopped

2 lb. ground beef

2 eggs

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/2 c. dry breadcrumbs

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

4 oz. blue cheese crumbles

3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

4 or 5 more slices bacon, uncooked

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook onion in bacon fat (it's fine to sub olive oil, though) until translucent and softened. Mix together everything but the uncooked bacon. Pat into a loaf, either in a regular loaf pan or in a 13x9 baking pan. Top with uncooked bacon strips. Bake about an hour and 15 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes or so before slicing to serve. Serves 6. 

Caesar Veggie Dip

1/2 c. mayonnaise

1/4 c. sour cream

1/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese

Juice of 1/2 lemon

3 cloves garlic, minced

Pea-sized dollop anchovy paste

Salt and pepper, to taste

Fresh veggies for dipping (we had baby carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and sugar snap peas)

Mix everything but veggies together. Serve with veggies. Makes enough for 4.