Venison meatloaf recipe: one of our favorite (and kid approved) homegrown dinners

Here are the “home-” elements of dinner. Eggs from our chickens, venison from our woods, green beans from our garden, and soft bread crumbs from my homemade bread—I take the loaf heels and any stale pieces, run them through the food processor and freeze the crumbs. Normally our own potatoes would be in this pic too, but we ate them all.

I’m frugal and I track calories. Therefore, I REALLY love cooking dinners that use mainly “home grown/harvested/made” ingredients!

My husband is a long time hunter, and one huge reason he feels so #blessed to live here is that he can hunt right on our own property—such a luxury compared to having to travel to hunt. As a result we ended the 2017 hunting season with plenty of both ground and canned venison.

I never ate venison in my life before I met my husband, but I’m a convert, and simply substitute it in any recipe that calls for ground beef. My kids are growing up on it—and what’s funny is that as a result, they won’t eat ground beef!

Everyone in our family chows down on this venison meatloaf. It has a finer texture than beef and turns out very moist. A bonus is that it’s a snap to assemble, and then you can wash up the prep dishes while it bakes. First, to give credit, the original recipe is from Taste of Home. I’ve doubled it and tweaked it a little to make it kid-friendly; you can definitely play around with onion, peppers, or other spices to jazz it up more.

INGREDIENTS
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2/3 cup soft bread crumbs
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
Dash pepper
1 pound ground venison
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish. In a large bowl, beat the eggs.

Add the milk, bread crumbs, garlic powder, salt, sage, and pepper, and give it a few whisks.

Add meat and thoroughly mix everything together. It will be very wet—that’s ok. Form 4 loaves (blobs really) and place them in the baking dish.

(I just use my hands to do all that, which explains why there’s a photographic gap here. Kind of unsanitary to handle my phone and raw meat simultaneously, and my husband was busy installing closet shelving) ;)

Optional step: I use a fork to gently make indentations in the meat. It helps keep the sauce from sliding off as much.

Mix the ketchup, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce,

Pour it on each loaf and spread evenly.

I actually make only half the amount of sauce since my daughter doesn’t like it. If you make and use the full amount, it covers the meat VERY thickly.

Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until no longer pink in the center.
ENJOY!!