{1970s Recipe Box} the first dud--Meatloaf in a Loaf

Well, it was bound to happen.  Two months into mom's recipe box and we found a dud.  To be fair, it wasn't awful (I'm pretty sure that honor goes to the recipe I won't be trying "Tuna and Corn Dish" *urp*)

We are all are friendly enough to meatloaf around here, and I think the best recipe we've found is Pioneer Woman's meatloaf.  And this one is nice if you want to shake things up and make it Asian style.  But since I'm doing this little experiment for the year, I thought I might as well put up the results.  (But stay tuned through to the bottom and I'll share a recipe that was amazing and made up for this one.)

The rule I'm following with all of these recipes:  Make it as it is written.  So with that in mind.  Here it is in all its 70s glory. (Splotches and smears are authentic 1970s nostalgia.)

P.S.  I have never owned or purchased MSG because growing up in the 80s I heard horror stories.  So that was omitted.  

But before we get into all the details.  Can we just take a moment to enjoy old typewriters?  You know that the card slid on that twitsty typing barrel right at the capital S.  They never held things like this well.  And check out that power punctuation.  The period pressed through like braille!

My "bread case" of choice was a loaf of Costco's Country French loaf.  It was a little smaller than a typical French loaf, but it was the chosen case to carry this experiment.

And, I didn't have any fresh green peppers and forgot to buy them at the store, BUT, I did have dehydrated green peppers from my garden and I was curious to see how they worked and tasted anyway, so here they are, dry and sharp.

And, a little boiling water bath and they are almost as good as fresh.  Almost.

I mean, that's two things so far that I haven't done as written, but honestly the dehydrated peppers are not the problem with this recipe.  But, I should have chopped them finer.

All the ingredients...  (and can we take a moment and admire that big, thick beautiful cutting board my son got me for Christmas.  SO nice and roomy!)

Mixing up in there like a bad 1970s prom dance.  (The lengths we're willing to go to for nostalgia.)

And then, the soupy (it was very very wet and loose) meaty mix, was spooned into the bread shell.  Which was kind of sad, because that was a good loaf of bread.

And here it is, out of the oven.  And, as you can probably tell, the bread was so hard and crunchy on the outside and so sticky and goopy on the wet part, that it felt like it was going to crack your teeth and stick to the roof of your mouth at the same time.  Which is kind of an achievement in itself.

But the side dish was good!  Oven roasted brussels sprouts tossed with a touch of olive oil and salt and pepper.  Roasted till all golden and mixed up with craisins and drizzled with balsamic vinegar.  Yum.

But, since the dinner was a disappointment, let me direct you to a recipe that was amazing and made up for it.  I'd like to introduce you to Binging with Babish's One Pot Stroganoff.  It's a creamy mushroom pasta sauce topped with seared skirt steak.  Ya.  This is not a 1970s recipe.  This was a make up meal for the punishment meatloaf dinner.  So everything was worth it in the end.

Here's the video that includes the stroganoff and two other recipes that we will definitely be trying after the next recipe box flop.