Balsamic BBQ Meatloaf

Last week I made the hardest decision of my life....I resigned from teaching to become a stay-at-home mom.  I love teaching, but I had a burden on my heart to stay home with my babies. After a lot of praying (pleading really), I decided staying home is what I should do.

As Dave Ramsey fans, my husband and I started to work on our budget as soon as I thought I might want to stay home.  For a few months now we have tried to live off of just his paycheck, using my maternity leave as a trial run for this new life.  This has left me with a reduced grocery budget, so I have been trying to come up with meals that we can make fairly cheaply and that will leave us with leftovers for lunches.

That brings me to today's recipe....Balsamic BBQ Meatloaf.

Now, I have never been a fan of meatloaf.  First of all, I don't like ketchup all that well.  My husband says that makes me un-American and that I am certainly an undercover KGB agent.  Secondly, I'm not a huge fan of hamburger (I know....even more proof of possible KGB status.). And lastly I don't like the potatoes cooked around the meatloaf.

This creation was my attempt at getting over my dislike of what is a fairly cheap family meal.  So here it goes...

Prep time: 20 minutes                Cook time: 45-60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1lb hamburger
• 1lb fresh ground pork
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1/2 cup of plain bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of fresh cilantro
• 1 egg
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup of BBQ sauce

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the 4 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Cook until it reduces by half and becomes thicker.  If you are using a quality, thick balsamic you could get by with skipping this step and only using two tablespoons.  However, I had some that I had bought at Walmart and it was pretty runny.

While you are waiting on the vinegar to reduce, add the hamburger, ground pork, diced onion (we like to really taste the onion so I dice mine in larger pieces), bread crumbs, 1/4 cup of cilantro, and egg to a large mixing bowl.  Use your hands (I know...gross) to mix the ingredients together.

Once the ingredients are mixed, create a loaf shape in your baking dish.

Once the vinegar is reduced, stir in the BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's that I got for free with coupons). After the vinegar and sauce are mixed, pour the sauce over the meatloaf, making sure to coat the whole meatloaf.

Oh, you're so saucy!

Bake for 45-60 minutes.

After you finish baking, sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of cilantro over the meatloaf and let it rest for about 5 minutes.

 
The vinegar adds a subtle "wang" to the sauce and I loved the fresh flavor added by the cilantro.  This meatloaf recipe will be a keeper!

Something I hate about finding recipes online is that I occasionally have a hard time figuring out what to serve with the new dish, so I will try to always tell you what my entire meal was when I introduce a new recipe.

I served this dish with mashed potatoes and corn.