Crock Pot: Day 3 ~ Meatloaf

So I did a little research online and found several recipes for meatloaf in the crock pot. The only thing I took from them was the amount of time AND I needed to spray my crock pot with cooking spray. Other than that I just used my meatloaf recipe.

If you don't have a meatloaf recipe, here's mine. If you do, make your meatloaf. Put it in your crock pot that has been sprayed with cooking spray for 6-8 hours on low. It seems that the reviews I read said that it is best to not put the meat loaf right against the sides of the stone (I made my loaf in the bottom & then put my hands around the side and smashed it towards the middle).

*This recipe is some of my mom's and some of one she and I found years ago and some of just being a cook and trying things out. It has morphed over the years and I don't always make it the same.

Here's what you need:
1.5 lbs (or so will feed our family of 6) of ground beef (I use 90/10 you don't want too lean or too fatty)
1 onion (color doesn't matter, I used yellow)
7 (or so) cloves of garlic (don't be afraid to use this much garlic)
2 eggs
1 can of tomato paste
2-3 tbsp of bacon bits (I use Tastefully Simple's Bacon Bacon (link to purchase this spice)- you can use real bacon but I have a pork allergy so we use fake stuff. If you use the real stuff you need to cook it in advance)
Salt (maybe a tbsp or so)
Pepper (also maybe a tbsp or so)
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder
Bread Crumbs
Cheese (either graded or shredded-I used provolone leftover from yesterday's Italian Roast sandwiches)
1 can of french cut green beans (I think french cut & canned work best for this recipe)

I'm getting better about getting all the ingredients out at the beginning.

Put the ground beef in a large mixing bowl.

Finely chop garlic and onion. I used my mini chopper to do this (mostly because you get a great small chop with it and my slap chopper broke last year and I never got around to replacing it).

Finely chopped garlic.

I only put in 1/4 of the onion at a time in my mini chopper.

Mix the eggs, tomato paste, bacon bits, salt & pepper in a small bowl.

Tomato mixture.

Put tomato mixture, garlic and onion in with the ground beef. Here's for the gross part (at least for me)...get in there and mix it all up with your HANDS. There's no better way to do it.

Once it is well mixed, I add about a cup or so of bread crumbs. You want to "dry" it out a bit but you don't want to mixture to be so dry it crumbles. If you add too much bread crumbs, throw in a tbsp of milk. (I promise it is okay to put milk in your meatloaf). I usually add a little bread crumbs at a time till I get it right. This is one of those moments where I am a cook and don't really know how to do that whole measuring thing!

Split the meat in half and put half down in the bottom of the greased crock pot. Make the meat into a "bowl" shape.

Meat "bowl" in the bottom of the crock pot.

Put a layer of cheese in the "bowl" (if using sliced 3-4 pieces).

3 pieces of provolone in the meat "bowl"

Put in the can of green beans (make sure you drain them first).

1 can of french cut green beans on top of the cheese.

Put on more cheese (I used 3 slices on the bottom and 4 on the top).

Another layer of cheese.

Put the rest of the meat on top, making sure you seal the layers together to the cheese does not stick out. Sprinkle the top of the meat with salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder (it is kind of like a meat rub on top).

Top coated with spices.

Turn the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours.

It is meatloaf but it is like a casserole with the beans & cheese.

*Optional variations:
Dice up bell pepper for the meat mixture
Put bacon on top
Put ketchup on top
Put Soy Sauce in the mixture
Put Worcestershire sauce in the mixture
Make it mexican style with Rotel, taco season, corn in the center and mexican cheese.