Lindsey and I have had a weekly goal to invite more people over for a meal. Church acquaintances, long-time friends, other family, etc. It’s always a “we should do this” and sometimes weeks go by without sending out an invite. 😥

We updated our kitchen a couple years ago and one of the plans for the much larger area was to be able to fit more people in our kitchen. So let’s do this! Put it in the planner for the week.

One of the best places to have wonderful, meaningful conversations is around a meal. ❤️

We recently had a lovely couple from church over for dinner.

Since I love to cook, one of the best parts of inviting people over is cooking.

Some seasons of life have allowed me to make a well-thought out, hopefully impressive looking meal, taking hours to prepare.

But I’m not there right now.

I need something delicious, features meat we can be proud of, but it needs to come together in less than a couple hours of work.

Enter: Meatloaf.

Or not?

Meatloaf can be kind of blah.

And all the meat needs to be completely thawed out 4 hours before the meal comes together.

But it still looks like a lump of brown when it plops on the plate. And sometimes mine gets watery. Somehow.

Is there a way to make meatloaf beautiful?

A few months back, I found a recipe for mini meatloaves.

This concept is spectacular. Why?

1. They cook much faster than 1 large loaf of meat.
2. They are fun looking with ketchup or mustard on top.
3. They are individually portioned, so it’s easy to serve.
4. They each get a little crispy around the edges, which makes them taste extra great.

Now doesn’t that picture above look much tastier than a brown lump?

(Here is a photo I took sometime back of a meatloaf recipe….while the flavor was fabulous, there’s not much you can do visually with a blob of brown meat…😶.)

ANYWAY…..

So here’s how my Saturday noon meal prep went, not having hours and hours to create a masterpiece…

1. Friday morning… I had Julie take all the ground meat (beef and pork….I’ve added lamb in the past too) out of the freezer and put the chubs in a large pan on the counter full of water.
2. That afternoon, I took the meat out of packages and put in a colander to drain out the liquid.
   • (You could also take out the meat out of the freezer on Tuesday of the week and leave in fridge for a couple days to thaw. I’m quite sure the food safety people would be far more likely to recommend this…but I didn’t plan that far ahead….)
3. I put the drained meat in a bowl, along with all the seasonings and mixed thorough. I put the meat in the fridge.
4. Saturday morning about 9-10 am….I formed the meat mixture into little loaves, drizzled ketchup on top, and baked on cookie sheets at 350 until the internal temp was 165 degrees.

5. Here’s the best part….I read this once on a cooking blog….I took them off the cookie sheets and stacked them all in a crock pot that was on Low until dinnertime. That made it SO easy….I didn’t have to try and keep food warm in the oven, all the while getting dried out…and I was free to prepare other parts of the meal or the kitchen for the arrival of company. Plus the meat tastes even better since the flavors have had more time to meld together. **Gamechanger!**

More tips:

• Here’s a simple, but delicious meatloaf recipe: https://www.piggeryrunfarm.com/triple-meat-meatloaf/ You can use any kind of ground meat. But of course you know where you can find the pork. 🙂
• Here’s a more impressive, very tasty one: https://www.piggeryrunfarm.com/bacon-cheeseburger-meatloaf/ This would take a little longer to prepare, considering cooking the bacon and slicing the cheese. But it’s mouthwatering.
• A fun tip: If you have thicker ketchup (not a generic brand) and you’re serving children, I’d recommend making smily designs with the ketchup or mustard on top of the minis. They are a hit!
• Also, along with the mini meatloaves, I also made garlic and butter mashed potatoes and cooked winter squash……both also went into crockpots for easy serving and opening up the option of having the meal ready an hour ahead of time.

Sadly, I didn’t prepare a lovely photo of everything all on one plate. But the meal went very well, the couple loved the food and we had wonderful conversation.

So, my goal was complete!

Hopefully this was some recipe inspiration AND a way to prepare a lovely meal without rushing and being exhausted before your company even arrives.

Try it and tell me what you think! tastypork@piggeryrunfarm.com