Mmmmm Meatloaf

A few years ago my dad and I used to cook together each Sunday and one of our favorite Sunday Night recipes is a delicious meatloaf adapted from Emeril Lagasse's "Mighty Meaty Meatloaf." It's been a while since I have cooked meatloaf last, and so I thought tonight would the perfect night to cook, especially since my sous-chef (aka The Mister) was home a little early.
Preparation is about 20-25 minutes but cooking time is a little over an hour.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sause
2/3 cup crushed Ritz crackers
6-8 strips of bacon

Glaze:
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Heat the vegetable oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, salt basil, thyme, and black pepper.  Cook until the onions are soft and lightly golden, about 6 minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the beef and pork.

In another medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, heavy cream, ketchup, onion and garlic powder, Dijon mustard, and Worcestershire sauce, and whisk to combine.  Add the egg mixture to the meat mixture along with the cooled onion mix and Ritz crackers.  Mix with your hands or a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined.

Mix glaze by combining the ketchup, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl.

Transfer mix into a loaf pan (or cupcake pans; yields approximately 18 "cupcakes"), whether in a loaf or cupcake pan, smooth the top into a rounded shape.  Cut the bacon in small pieces and top the meatloaf with the pieces of bacon and spoon the glaze evenly over top.

Bake the meatloaf in the loaf pan for 1 hour and 15 minutes (in cupcake pan bake for 45 minutes) and then broil for 5-10 minutes to crisp the bacon and glaze.   Yum yum yum!

{meatloaf cups with homemade mashed red potatoes}

PS. Tonight was Day 1 of the Shred!  (I hope I survive the next 29 days!)