At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, there is a restaurant call 50’s Prime Time Café.  They server the classic American comfort food in a ’50s kitsch looking restaurant including vinyl chair (yes the ones with sparkles in them) in the waiting room and Formica tables in the dinning area.

The food is good and Cousin Ann’s Traditional Meatloaf is one of the items on the menu.

Meatloaf is a common dinner meal in our house and for the longest time I’ve just used McCormick’s meatloaf seasoning, which isn’t bad. Of course I use fresh veggies in it, but last year, Jennifer and I found this recipe on allears.net which claims to be the recipe from Prime Time Café.

I don’t know if it came from there or not, but it has turned out to be our meatloaf recipe of choice, sorry McCormick’s!

I’ve made a few modifications to it, one that my mom shared with me just last week.  She used Oats instead of breadcrumbs in our meatloaf that I ate growing up. I figured they had to make the meatloaf healthier right (at least a little?)

Ingredients:
2 lb ground chuck (80/20) beef
1 lb ground pork (we use Jimmy Dean low fat sausage which is a little less than 1lb)
4 eggs
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs (we use Oats)
½ cup diced onions
1/4 cup diced green peppers
1/4 cup diced red peppers
2 Tbsp worcestershire sauce
Cracked black pepper to taste
Kosher salt to taste
½ cup Meatloaf Glaze (recipe below)

Directions:
Dice peppers and onions (we use a food processor) and set aside for later use. Combine meats and seasonings. Add vegetables. Place meat mixture in a loaf shape on a cookie sheet with tin foil that has been sprayed or oiled.

Bake at 350º F oven for 1 hour (internal temp 155º).

Brush meatloaf with meatloaf glaze. Bake another 10 minutes. Let meatloaf set 10 minutes, cut loaf and serve.

Meatloaf Glaze
Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tsp Dijon mustard
1 Tsp worcestershire sauce

Tips: I recommend making this a day ahead so it can just be warmed up for supper the following night. I think the flavors are better the next day.  You can also make the meatloaf put it in the refrigerator (covered of course) and cook it the next day. If you do this, let it come to room temperature before cooking.

Ingredients

• 6 ounces Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded (we used 2% Kraft Sharp Cheddar)
• 1/4 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes (I think cold butter makes the dough easier to work
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour (plus a little more for dusting, could use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 AP)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher (or coarse) salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (use less if you want less of a kick)
• 1 tablespoon milk (we used 2% milk)

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 350° — we cooked ours on a silicone mat, if you don’t have one, you should get one! Alternatively, Grease baking sheet, or line with parchment paper.
2. Place first 5 ingredients in food processor, and pulse until it turns into coarse crumbs.
3. Add milk and process until dough forms. We ended up using another 1/2 teaspoon. You want enough milk to make the ingredients into dough (not dry crumbs)
4. Using your hands form dough into a ball, then flatten on floured work surface.
5. Roll out dough to 1/8″ thick. Try to roll into rectangle as best as you can.
6. We used a pizza cutter, cut dough into one inch squares. Use a wooden chopstick to poke a hole in the center of each cracker
7. Then we transfer crackers to the baking sheet using a pastry cutter (spatula would be fine). You can place them fairly close together, they will puff up, but not spread much, but do not double stack them.
8. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until edges start to brown. Do not over cook.
9. We let them cool in a colander resting on a wire rack to allow the air to circulate.
   Side note: We have a convection oven and cooked about 12 to 13 minutes.
10. Enjoy when cool. Store in airtight container (read they will keep for up to 3 days in a cool place).