I rarely have the luxury of extra time on Friday afternoons.  I love when the days get longer in the spring time. Still, I somehow manage to race against the clock each Friday, to ensure that everything is ready in time. I had the day off this Friday. I managed to use it well. I also managed to have everytthing cooked with two hours to spare. That’s unheard of in this house. Of course, I managed to find what to do in those two hours. There is always plenty of tidying up, working and parenting that can be done in that time.

What I was extremely happy about though, was that I could actually take a photo of one of the Shabbat foods. It’s the little things, right?

When I did my weekly shopping trip to the kosher grocery store, they had ground beef on sale. I probably should have bought a few extra packages to throw in to the abyss of my deep freezer. I just bought one package though, and decided to wait until Friday to figure out it’s fate.

When Friday came along, the ground beef screamed meatloaf at me. I chose to make a mushroom meatloaf. Everyone is happy with this meatloaf. I pair it with a vegetarian mushroom gravy. The gravy can do double duty for any side dishes.

Mushroom Meatloaf
Ingredients

1.5 lbs ground beef
2 small onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 containers mushrooms (1/2 container, chopped; the other 1/2 – thinly sliced)
2 tsp. ground thyme
2 tsp. paprika
2 extra large eggs
1/2 cup flavored bread crumbs
1/2 cup ketchup
pepper


Glaze
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tsp. soy sauce
1.5 tbsp. brown sugar
 tsp. sriracha sauce (less if you like it less spicy)
salt
pepper

Gravy
olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1/2 container mushrooms, sliced
2 tbsp. flour
Vegetable broth – about 1-2 cups or to desired consistency
salt
pepper
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix everything together except for half of the chopped onions and the sliced mushrooms.

Smush half of the meat mixture in to a loaf pan.

Sprinkle the remaining chopped onions and sliced mushrooms over the mixture. Top with the rest of the meat mixture.

In a small bowl, mix up the glaze ingredients. Spread over the meatloaf mixture.

Baked for around 45 minutes.

While the meatloaf is baking, work on the gravy.

In a deep saute pan, saute the chopped onions, garlic, shallots and mushrooms in olive oil.
Sprinkle in some garlic powder, salt and pepper

Stir in the flour to make a roux.

Whisk in the vegetable broth until you reach desired consistency. Taste. Add more salt and pepper if necessary.

When the meatloaf has cooled down a little, slice and serve with the gravy.

Enjoy!