by Kate Johns

Created on: July 20, 2008

The first meal I learned how to cook as a new bride was a versatile, delicious meatloaf. Every family seems to have their very own, personal recipe handed down from generation to generation. I have two recipes combining the ethnic tastes of our two families that were blended together by marriage.

I call this recipe Polish Meatloaf, because my father made this tasty delight for our family at least once a month. He was 100 percent polish and knew how to stretch a dollar farther than anyone I've ever known.

Polish Meatloaf

What you will need to make this dollar stretching meal:

1 to 2 pounds of hamburger that still has some fat in it. The fat makes the meatloaf taste better. Depending on how many people you are serving and how much money you will want to save depends on how many pounds of hamburger you will use. With this recipe, adding 2 slices of bread, stretches the hamburger. And with the cost of everything going up, it helps to save money. Cook this meatloaf for about 1 and 1/2 hours.

1 medium sized onion chopped.
2 slices of bread that is older.
1-cup of seasoned bread crumbs
1 cup of ketchup
1/2 to 1 cup of water
2 large eggs
A pinch of fresh garlic (I added this, to make it tastier)
1/2 cup of butter
Several dashes of parsley
Several dashes of pepper
Salt to taste

Place hamburger in bowl first and break it up. Mix all the ingredients together by spoon. Then with clean hands mix it together, and form into a loaf for the pan.

The second version of meatloaf I have I call the English Meatloaf. This is the recipe I obtained from my husband's relatives.

Utilize all of the same ingredients except for the hamburger, garlic, and the seasoned bread crumbs. Buy hamburger that is as lean as you can get it, but still with a little fat in it for some taste. 90 percent lean will do just great. Leave out the garlic entirely. Do not add any bread to the mixture, just add in 2 cups of bread crumbs. They can be seasoned or unseasoned. And use 2 pounds of lean hamburger. Cook this meatloaf for the same amount of time 1 and 1/2 hours.

You will notice the taste differences with these recipes. Meatloaf is a very versatile dish and you can add or subtract the ingredients you want to put in, including whatever makes it tasty delight for your family.

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