Easiest Meatloaf Ever

Our 1st Food Friday recipe. Hope you enjoy it :) What is Food Friday? Find out here.

Ingredients:

1lb ground sirloin
1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup
1 1/2 cups instant oatmeal
1 cup diced onion, green pepper, celery mixed
1/4 cup ketchup *optional*
1 Tbs minced garlic
1 Tbs salt
1 tsp black pepper




General instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degres
Set your 1/4 cup ketchup to the side (or optionally set aside 1/4 cup of the tomato soup).
Mix all the other ingredients together and place in your pan of choice
'Ice' the loaf with your 1/4 cup ketchup (or tomato soup)
Back at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until meat is browned all the way through.

What makes this so easy? I use frozen and pre-diced vegetables, and pre-minced garlic from a jar. I get all my frozen vegetables at Kroger, they have a very wide selection in the Kroger brand- even a diced onion, green pepper, and celery mix that's perfect for meat loaf. They taste nearly as good as fresh, last longer, no dicing, chopping, or slicing necessary, and they are very affordable. Sure, you could argue that fresh vegetables and garlic would provide a better flavor. You can feel free to modify this recipe and make "Slightly Less Easy Meatloaf" using fresh, never frozen, produce if you choose. Secondly, I use a casserole dish instead of a loaf pan. I can mix my ingredients in the pan instead of dirtying a large bowl (Look, I'm efficient. Not lazy.) and the cook time is shortened. So, I guess technically this is meat casserole, not meat loaf...

I served this to my husband most recently this past  Monday. On Tuesday we had Olive Garden. Mid-way through his spaghetti and meat sauce Joe looks at me and says "I liked last night's dinner better", then I proceeded to warn him, "I'm going to blog that you said that..." :)