Meatloaf Throwdown

Hello MIHM readers! You know what is a really underrated meal? Meatloaf! So last week, we grabbed our crew and hosted a Meatloaf Throwdown. The rules were simple - make a meatloaf and bring your A game. 

For blog purposes, we won't go into details about exact recipes. We all used our own variations with meat, fillings and toppings. If you plan to host your own meatloaf throwdown, Google is the best place to start for ideas...because what is life without Google?! :)

My mom, brother and I all cooked our meatloaf in the oven at the same time. My dad took his loaf to the crock pot! (Great idea of the day - my mom and Corey used smaller, disposable baking trays to limit the portion size.)

Corey made a stuffed meatloaf with ground beef. He grilled onions and mushrooms with various spices and Caribbean jerk sauce (the recipe called for Worcestershire sauce, but the MIHM kitchen was out of that at the time!). He sprinkled cheddar cheese on top. He found his recipe with Google, and was inspired to make stuffed meatloaf. We all loved his creation. Because he used ground beef, it tasted like a delicious burger. And, the Carribean jerk was an awesome last minute touch. You could definitely taste it in the meatloaf, but it wasn't overpowering. 

My mom made a Thanksgiving meatloaf with ground turkey. She was inspired to try something unique after eating "the same meatloaf recipe for the last 25 years." Did we mention meatloaf is one of my dad's go-to meals? :) My mom mixed the ground turkey with stuffing (OMG genius idea!!) and then mixed together chili sauce and cranberry sauce as the topping. This was delicious, and tasted like a full Thanksgiving meal in your mouth all at once! The cranberry/chili sauce had a great kick to it too. 

My dad ventured into the crock pot for his meatloaf. He used our "family" meatloaf recipe, or as he said when I asked him for an ingredients list, "Chuck's Meatloaf Ingredients." :) He was inspired to make the best, different meatloaf. He used ketchup for the sauce, and this guy loves ketchup! My dad said he would definitely make this again because it took five minutes to put together, and you don't have to stand over it and watch it cook. Ah, the joys of the crock pot! My dad's meatloaf was really good. It was flat - maybe an inch thick - because of how it was laid out in the crock pot, and we all liked that! 

I, too, used "Chuck's Meatloaf Ingredients" when making my meatloaf, so the recipe itself was nothing new to anyone at the table. (But it was still tasty!) I went for the visual appeal in this throwdown, making meatloaf and mashed potato cupcakes, a Pinterest find! My mom made homemade mashed potatoes as a side dish for our meatloaf throwdown, so all I had to do was use an ice cream scoop to add them on top of my meat. Because I cooked the meat in cupcake pans, I took about 10 minutes off of the baking recipe. 

Here are the final meatloaf slices in all their glory! We had a lot of fun with the meatloaf throwdown because everyone took a different approach to what they decided to serve up! It was fun to see how the family got inspired, and what everyone's thought process was. My Girls Team partner likes to think of us all as "winners" for participating, so there was no crowned throwdown champ, but this was a really fun MIHM...and now we need a break from eating meat for a while. Part of the throwdown challenge was just making it through the sampling of all of this meatloaf! 

P. S. This isn't the Girls Team's first rodeo with food throwdowns. Check out our Grilled Cheese Throwdown from 2012!