Sunday, March 8, 2015

Meat loaf dinner in a crock pot!

I am not a meat loaf lover. I think I ate too much of it growing up. However Mike loves it and the leftovers in a sandwich so I do make it a couple of times a year. I usually chose a new recipe, hoping that just once I will find one I love. Well I finally did. This is a one dish meal. The original recipe belongs to Sandra Lee but I fine tweaked it for our tastes!!!! 

4-5 medium potatoes, diced. I used red potatoes and left the skins on 
1- .06 ounce pkg. Italian salad dressing mix {divided}
1 3/4# ground beef
1# Italian sweet sausage
3 oz. prosciutto, finely chopped
1 can condensed tomato soup {divided}
1 jar {6.5 oz.} marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
1 egg
1 can condensed mushroom with roasted garlic soup
1/2 cup beef broth
2 cups bell pepper strips 
1 onion, diced 

In a 5 qt. slow cooker, toss the diced potatoes and half the Italian dressing. 
In large bowl mix together, ground beef, sausage, prosciutto, 1/4 cup of the tomato soup, artichoke hearts, bread crumbs, and egg until well combined. 
Shape into a loaf and set it on top of the potatoes, making sure that the meatloaf does not touch the sides of the slow cooker. 
Combine the rest of the tomato soup, the mushroom soup and the beef broth and poor over the meat loaf. 
In a bowl combine the green peppers, the onion and the rest of the Italian dressing. Place on top of meat loaf. 

Cover and cook on high for one hour, then turn to low and cook 5 to 6 hours. 
I cooked it for 6 hours on low and it was perfect. 

Mike and I both thought this was pretty fabulous!!! The potatoes were perfect and the sauce complimented both the meat loaf and the potatoes. 
I think I can finally stop looking for a great meat loaf recipe!!! 
The original recipe called for a 1/4 cup of basil pesto to be added to the meat mixture and for the sausage to be hot.