French Onion Meatloaf

I recently had a night where I could make whatever kind of red meat I wanted. I thought long and hard...weighing my options...looking through mom's old cookbooks and my recipe cards to see what one recipe I could make for dinner that night. I kept coming back to mom's meatloaf. You know, the kind of comforting meal that your mom would always make on a cold winter's night when the house smells of chocolate chip cookies and your sister is battling you in a game of Mario Kart.

This whole meal just screams childhood memories and I couldn't resist making meatloaf. As I sat down to a plateful of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn, I was so excited! It also could've had to do with the fact that the US Women's soccer game was on (off to the semi-finals!!) and I had freshly-made Oatmeal Raisin Cookies that I might have snuck chocolate chips into...but it was such a comforting meal full of deliciousness and good memories :)

Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients: 

• 1 packet dry onion soup mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 lb. ground beef (I used the 80% lean but you can use leaner)
• 1 cup plain bread crumbs

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the onion soup mix with the sour cream. Add eggs and stir to combine.
3. Mix in the ground beef and then add bread crumbs. (Don't be afraid to use your hands to really mix it all together!)
4. Place the mixture in a nonstick or greased loaf pan. With your hands or the back of a spoon, shape the meatloaf mixture to make sure it is smooth on top and it reaches every corner of the pan.
5. Place in the preheated oven and reduce the heat to 375 degrees F**. Bake for 1 hour. When finished, invert the loaf pan onto a plate, or serve from the pan. Enjoy!!

Note: **Why do you reduce the heat from 500 to 375 degrees F? When baking, you want the temperature to be low enough that the insides of whatever you are baking are cooked through before the outside gets burnt. With this recipe, the 500 degree temperature allows the outside to get really crispy before the temperature goes down to ensure that the insides cook through.