Maple Bacon Meatloaf

I know that meatloaf isn't the most spring-like main dish, but I made it a couple of weeks ago on a colder day here in New Hampshire when eating meat loaf for dinner still seemed appropriate. Since then the weather has been so nice that I've been outside working in the yard instead of blogging about recipes. However, I am now making it a priority to post this recipe for maple bacon meatloaf so that I don't lose the little piece of paper with my ingredient list and then feel sad that I will never be able to replicate exactly what I did. You see, I have been tweaking my meatloaf recipe over the past few months, trying to make it exactly the way we like it, as well as being dairy-free. Finally I have come up with just the right combination of ingredients. In addition, I like the fact that the choice of ground meat for the meat loaf is flexible: this time I used half turkey and half beef, but you could also use all turkey, or half beef and half pork, or pre-packaged meat loaf mix. Regardless, you'll have a delicious meatloaf that tastes just as good the next day.

Maple Bacon Meatloaf
serves 6 adults

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground meat (turkey, pork, beef, a mix of two of those, or pre-packaged meat loaf mix)
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard. I use Koop's mustard, which is labeled gluten free; however Grey Poupon is fine, too.
  
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste. Look for a can that has just tomatoes and no citric acid.
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
  
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs. I use Gillian's Foods bread crumbs, which contain white rice flour, water, yeast, salt, and raw cane sugar. However, you can also make your own gluten-free bread crumbs with the Ener-G Tapioca bread that we use for sandwiches. Just toast 1 or 2 slices (depending on the size of the slices) and let the toast cool. Then break the toast up into small pieces and put those pieces in a food chopper to make them into bread crumbs.
  
• 4 slices of bacon. To find a corn-free bacon, look for one that has just these ingredients: pork, salt, sugar, celery powder, and spices. I recommend a bacon I find at Trader Joe's called Classic Sliced Dry Rubbed All Natural Uncured Bacon. Another corn-free bacon is Hormel Natural Choice 100% Natural Original Uncured Bacon. Be sure that the bacon you use does not have any dextrose, sodium erythorbate, sodium lactate, or lactic acid starter culture.
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp. real maple syrup

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place a medium-size pan on medium heat. Add 1 Tbsp. of olive oil to the pan to heat up. While the oil is heating, chop the onion. Then saute the onion until softened. While the onion is sauteing, in a large bowl whisk together the egg and bread crumbs.

When the onion is softened, add the garlic and saute while stirring for 1 minute. Then add the pepper, salt, parsley, and thyme, and stir for about 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard, tomato paste, and brown sugar. Let the onion mixture cool for a few minutes. Then add it to the egg and breadcrumbs in the large bowl and stir so that everything is thoroughly mixed together.

Next break the ground meat into small pieces and add it to the onion, bread crumb, and egg mixture. Using your hands or a spoon, gently mix the ground meat with the rest of the ingredients. Then press the meat loaf mixture into a 9" x 5" loaf pan. Place the 4 slices of bacon length-wise across the top of the meat loaf so that they completely cover the meat loaf mixture. In a small bowl whisk together 1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard and the maple syrup. Pour this mustard and maple syrup mixture over the top of the bacon slices.

Then put the meat loaf into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, 15 minutes (depending on how hot your oven is), until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the meat loaf registers 165 degrees.