Meat"loaf"

Maybe meatloaf isn't a cool recipe to post, but I especially like this recipe. It reminds me of my friend Kristine that I worked with when I went to BYU. We were both strangely craving meatloaf and so I made this recipe for a little get-together. I ran into one small problem, though: I did not own a loaf pan. I improvised by patting the mixture into a rectangular glass casserole dish and I have made meatloaf that way ever since. So this is more of a meat patty recipe and although it may look ugly, one advantage is it takes less time to cook.

1-1/2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 C. soda cracker crumbs
1 C. milk
1/4 C. chopped onions
1-1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
dash of thyme
dash of marjoram

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together and put into a baking pan. Bake uncovered for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Drain off fat. Cover with topping and bake for 10 more minutes.

Meatloaf Topping:
1/4 C. ketchup
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. dry mustard

Mix well.

Note: My sister does the most fabulous thing. She keeps a box of nitrile exam gloves (aka those disposable rubber gloves doctors use) in her kitchen. She uses these when she has to mix things with her hands (like hamburgers for grilling). I used the gloves the last time I made this recipe and they worked great! I was worried about the hamburger tasting like rubber gloves, but they do not alter the flavor. She gets the gloves from Costco.