Meat loaf? Me? Hell yes! Reliving all of life’s pleasures, great and small, meat loaf has always conjured up visions of a home smelling of simmered comfort food – but this time it’s made complete with a 03 Twomey Merlot and a few changes, in italics as usual below:
- YIELD: 6 servings (serving size: 4 ounces)
- COURSE: Main Dishes
Ingredients 
- 2 (1-ounce) slices whole wheat bread (Lazy me=Italian seasoned breadcrumbs!)
- 3/4 pound ground round
- 3/4 pound ground turkey
- 1 1/2 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms (*My change: My kid only likes button mushrooms.)
- 1/2 cup grated fresh onion
- 1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 garlic clove, minced (Two, just to make it worthwhile!)
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Preparation
Place bread in a food processor, and pulse 10 times or until crumbs measure 1 1/3 cups. Combine the crumbs, beef, and next 7 ingredients (beef through garlic) in a large bowl, and shape meat mixture into a 9 x 6-inch loaf. Place loaf in an electric slow cooker. (I “whiszheled” it, a word we made up when we used to use both hands to mix up ingredients for my mom’s meatballs. It went well, though the mushrooms could have been chopped instead of sliced to make it a little easier.)
Combine ketchup, mustard, and pepper in a small bowl, stirring with a fork. Spread ketchup mixture evenly over top of loaf. Cover with lid; cook on LOW for 5 hours.
Eddie loved it, Sam not so much, and though the mushrooms were huge to begin with they shrunk up fine with the juices from the meats. Eddie was concerned that without a way for the drippings to trickle away it would be mushy.
It was fine. And enough leftovers for another old favorite: meatball sandwiches! Recipe was found here: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-meat-loaf-with-shiitake-mushrooms-10000000549823/