On Fri, 19 Dec 2003 17:33:41 -0600, jmcquown wrote:

> My mom always used crushed saltines or Ritz crackers as part of the filler
> for her meatloaf. I don't.
>
> Also, I was not raised with the tomato sauce topped meatloaf and really
> don't care for it, but many recipes call for it. So here are the questions:
>
> 1. What dry 'filler' (if any) do you use in your meatloaf?
>
> 2. Topped with tomato sauce or not?
>

Surprised no one has mentioned instant rice as a filler. My mom used to
use a couple pounds of ground beef, a cup or so of instant rice, couple
large eggs, lots of green pepper and onion, always topped with tomato
sauce. It's pretty good. I still make it that way on occasion
but I usually use bread crumbs now days, occasionally with sauce.

Last time for something different I added some whole green olives (the
cheap salty kind) tasted pretty good, there weren't any leftovers.