Meatball Express Day....

Ingredients
All mixed up

Tray full ready for the oven

Finished batch...

Lady K stamp of approval....

From the recipes of Longmont Dairy Farm

Double Cheese Meatloaf

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

3/4 C (3 oz) Cheddar cheese

3/4 C fresh bread crumbs

1/2 C Longmont Dairy Farm milk

1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg lightly beaten

1 clove garlic. minced

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

Topping

1/4 C chili sauce

1/4 C (1 oz) shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine and mix all meatloaf ingredients. Press into 9X5 inch meatloaf pan. Bake 60-65 minutes or until meatloaf is cooked to medium doneness (160 degrees).

Spoon chili sauce over top of meatloaf and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes. Meatloaf is done when a knife inserted in the center draws clear juices. Remove from the oven. Sprinkle remaining cheese and return to oven until cheese is melted, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 8.

My tweak:

I double or triple or whatever ingredients depending how much ground beef I have. We get a lot of it when it's on sale, so I tend to use upwards of 10 or so pounds, plus a couple of packages of ground sausage, favorite is Jimmy Dean LowFat.

I also use whatever shred cheese is in the fridge, which is usually Mexican blend or Colby Jack.

I get out my biggest roaster pan to mix everything. I make the bread crumbs, then add and mix in the dry ingredients. I use Kosher salt and coarse ground pepper along with the other spices. It all goes into the roaster pan and then I start the wet ingredients in the food processor to include black olives for more texture and moisture. Today's mix is going to have shredded baby carrots to get more veggies into Lady K's diet.

Then it's time to squish everything together until well mixed. I make a couple of meatloaves for dinner later and the rest gets made into meatballs.

I make them small, maybe 2 tsp-ish in size, not an exact science here. They go on a cookie sheet and I try to fit 60-70 on a sheet. Bake them at 350 degrees for 13-14 minutes, let cool on the sheet then on the wax paper covered paper grocery bags. I freeze 30 per bag and double bag them to keep from freezer burn.

When I bake the meatloaves, I don't use the chili sauce. I use the cheese if I remember.