Joey's Bison Meatloaf

I'm a meatloaf fan. I always have been. Not only do I think it tastes good, but it is an easy meal to make during the week. I can also make it as individual "muffins" or mini loaves so they are nicely portioned out. Vince on the other hand has no love for it. I've tried countless recipes trying to get him to eat (and like) meatloaf. He would grudgingly eat it but kindly ask that I not make it again. So I finally asked my mom what she does for meatloaf. I figured that a woman with 5 kids and 7 grandkids must have a secret of some kind for meatloaf. Boy, was I right.

Mom said that she finally asked Joey, my oldest nephew, to help her come up with a meatloaf recipe that all of the kids would eat. I knew that if a 12 year old boy would readily eat it that Vince would eat it too. So, mom gave me Joey's meatloaf recipe. I tweaked it a little to use what I had in the house and it was a hit. This is seriously the best meatloaf I have ever eaten in my life. It was so good that we ate it all before I had time to take any pictures of it, so you'll have to wait until the next time for that. The loaf itself came out so moist that it was very hard to slice into servings so I might make it as mini loaves or muffins next time to save myself from trying to portion it out. Other than that, I won't change a thing.

This recipe is NOT diet friendly in any way shape or form. I knew that going in so I made sure to save enough WW Points during the day to have this for dinner and not destroy my day. You could also use some of you weekly Points for it if you wanted to. However, if you are watching other things like fat, salt, or sugar, you may want to change some ingredients to suit your needs.

Here is the ingredient list for Joey's Original Meatloaf Recipe:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup Special K cereal
3 large eggs
2 Tbsp plus about 1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup hot water

My tweaked "grown-up" version is below.

Joey's Bison Meatloaf

Ingredients

1 Pound Ground Bison
1/2 Cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Large eggs
1 Cup Golden Grahams cereal
1 16oz package of low-sodium bacon
2 Tbsp plus 1/3 Cup ketchup
1/2 cup hot water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large skillet, cook half of the package of bacon until crisp.
3. Crumble the cooked bacon and set aside.
4. In a bowl, mix the bison with the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, cereal, eggs, cooked/crumbled bacon, 2 tablespoons of ketchup, and water.
5. Form the meat mixture into a loaf and place either into a loaf pan or onto a baking pan.
6. Cover the top of the meatloaf with 1/3 cup of ketchup.
7. Top the entire meatloaf with the raw bacon strips. Making sure to tuck the ends of the bacon under the loaf to prevent them from curling up during baking.
8. Place in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes. Then slice and serve.

Yields 8 servings (slices)