Oh yes this was that good. Comforting and warm and ready for winter dishes. This one will get you there. The meatloaf is so moist and flavorful with mushrooms and bacon, but the creamy twice baked mashed potatoes and the melted cheese just put this dish over the top.  Perfect fast dish for the week nights that will make them think it took you forever to make.

You will need:

• 1.5 pounds of hamburger meat
• 1/2 onion chopped
• 3 pats of butter for the top
• 4 tbsp ketchup
• 1 cup of panko bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• hand full of fresh parsley chopped
• 8 oz of fresh mushrooms chopped
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 12oz cooked crumbled bacon
• Velveeta sliced enough to cover your meatloaf
• 4 Cups/ 2lbs of mashed potatoes I used Simply Potatoes mashed garlic

This recipe is so easy! First thing I always do is put the bacon in the oven and crisp it up because that is seriously the most tedious part of this recipe. On a baking sheet, lay out your bacon in strips and place the cold bacon into the oven, Set the oven for 425 degrees F and in about 10-15 minutes, you have crisp bacon!  

While the bacon was cooking, I took this time to chop my onion, parsley and mushrooms.

In a large bowl, add your hamburger meat and all of the listed ingredients except the cheese, butter and potatoes. That’s right, all of them! Your bacon should be cooling at this point and we will get to that in a minute.  Stir all of the ingredients together. Do not over mix as this will make for a dry meatloaf. Mix just so that all the ingredients are incorporated well.

When that is done, take your bacon off the pan and crumble into bite size pieces.

Add that into your mixture and fold in.

In a 9×13 pan, press your meatloaf into the pan and even it out nice and flat with a spoon.

Put your meatloaf into a 375 degree oven and bake.  While this is baking you can add your potatoes to a bowl and heat them up one of three ways. On the stove in a large pot, microwave them so they are nice and hot OR you can do what I did. I sprayed a metal bowl plopped them in and stuck them right in the oven with the meat loaf.

This will take approximately an hour to bake. About half way through, I always drain the meatloaf. This will get the excess fat out of the pan and for me it just makes a nicer meatloaf, especially when you are topping it.

While the meatloaf is cooking, slice the Velveeta cheese. I use the block because I like the texture so much better. Now I know a lot of people do not like processed cheese so in this instance I would go for a creamy cheese like maybe Brie that would be divine with the mushrooms. I was overruled. SO back to slicing the cheese.

When the meatloaf is nice and brown and bubbly, take it out and layer the cheese right on top.

Next layer your hot mashed potatoes right on top of the cheese.

Spread out evenly.

Top with the three pats of butter, lightly salt and pepper the top and slide back into the hot oven. When the top is golden brown and delicious looking it is done!

I served mine with some simple fresh green beans roasted in the oven at the same time tossed with some olive oil, garlic and onion.

And some special requested biscuits.  Tried these yet?

All I can say is I will make this again, maybe next time with the Brie. Yes with the Brie.