Entree: Ree's Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Potatoes and Strings

Watching a cooking/restaurant show on one of the food/cooking networks one day, we saw a bacon-wrapped meatloaf on a piled of mashed potatoes topped with onion strings. This sounded so good to us that day, so I looked up a bacon-wrapped meatloaf recipe. The Pioneer Woman's recipe came up. Already loving most of the recipes she provides, we tried hers. We decided it would become 1 of the 3 meatloaf recipes in a Codex, only with a few changes. Click the link for the original recipe in other details to get hers, this one reflects the changes (in size and sauce) that we made for our own family's taste. We call it's Ree's Meatloaf (Modified).

I direct you to last week's posted recipe for Ree's Onion Strings, which top the meatloaf. I've also included here our basic mashed potato recipe, which are plated first.

Ingredients:
Meatloaf
1/2 cup Milk
3 slices Bread
1 pounds Ground Beef
1/2 cup (heaping) Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/8 teaspoons Seasoned Salt
3/8 teaspoons Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/6 cups Minced Flat-leaf Parsley
2 whole Eggs Beaten
5 slices Thin/regular Bacon (you can wrap, but on the side is good as well)

Mashed Potatoes
4-6 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
3-4 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, parmesan, mix, any will do)
half-and-half or milk, probably 1/4 to 1/2 cup - we eyeball this

Directions:

Meatloaf

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour milk over the bread slices. Allow it to soak in for several minutes.
2. Place the ground beef, milk-soaked bread, Parmesan, seasoned salt, salt, black pepper, and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in beaten eggs.
3. With clean hands, mix the ingredients until well combined. Form the mixture into a loaf shape on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat to drain.
4. (Line the bottom of the pan with foil to avoid a big mess!)
5. Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.
6. Bake for 60 minutes. 
7. Slice and serve with mashed potatoes (& onion strings).

Potatoes

1. Boil potatoes about 20-30 minutes until fork tender. 
2. Drain water. Transfer into bowl for mashing and serving.
3. Cut the butter up into a couple chunks and add to the potatoes. Add the cream (milk, half-and-half) until the bottom of the bowl between the potatoes chunks is covered about a half inch. Mash with the hand masher. Throw in the shredded cheese and continue to mix and mash. If the potatoes are too dry, add a little more cream. 

Other Details:

Meatloaf

• Original Meatloaf Recipe 
• Potatoes serve 4-8. Meatloaf serves 6-8.
• Nutrition for 8 servings on meatloaf.
• Nutrition for 6 servings of potatoes. 
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Potatoes