Bacon Shell Meatloaf

ARGH I haven't put anything up here in a while, it's been a crazy quarter. Luckily, I've now lost all reservations about skipping classes, so it's getting easier. Soon it'll be summer, and I'll have all the reading time I can get my claws on! Oh, and lots of experimental cooking time. I'm thinking very seriously about buying an ice cream maker and trying to put Jeni's out of business, or gaining at least 20 lbs trying to. My last ice cream recipe just didn't have the creamy texture of, say, Denise's Ice Cream (RIP), and I'd love to make crazier flavors like the Guinness recipe I've been eyeing. AND it would be awesome now the pool is opening up! What a great weekend!

Anyway, I made this a looong time ago, but Memorial Day weekend is the perfect occasion to put it up, so here it is...

First step: mixing ingredients together. I even fried the green peppers with bacon grease...

Somehow, raw meat looks even less appetizing in tube shapes.

After mixing it all together by hand, I had no idea how to get this huge ball of meat into the pan delicately. It didn't help that my hands were covered in raw meat chunks like some b-movie monster. RAAARRGH!

It worked, but it turns out that meat in this quantity is by nature pretty ridiculous. I mean, look at this giant loaf! HAHAHA!

Bacon shell. What more can I say?

DO NOT DO THIS STEP. It looks delicious (which is the only reason why I put it up), but the bacon can't get nice and crispy and just releases water (which you'll see in the last picture).

Oh yeah! The recipe:

Bacon Shell Meatloaf

1 package BACON
1 lb beef
1 lb italian sausage
1 egg
1 green pepper
1 sweet onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp garlic
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 bottle bbq sauce, half for inside the loaf, half for the topping

1. Cut up your green pepper and onions. (OPTIONAL: Fry a few strips of bacon, then fry the green peppers and onions in the grease. Mix everything in during step 2).

2. Mix all the ingredients but the bacon together. It's best to do this for your hands, so make sure you have some soap on standby for afterwards.

3. Form your meat into a loaf in a pan. It's best to have an actual loaf pan for this, but I used a 9x13 pan.

4. Layer bacon on top and cook uncovered for 45 minutes on 350 degrees. Dump on a bunch of barbecue sauce and cook for another 10 minutes.

Behold the almighty BACON LOAF. (And disregard the bacon water it's swimming in, oops)