Hamburger Meat in the Crockpot

I happen to be a ground meat lover. While today I use mostly ground turkey, I still love my ground meat recipes. I own a cookbook called 365 Ways to Cook Hamburger. I love that cookbook. When I began using my crockpot more often, I began to look for ways I could convert many of my favorite recipes to crockpot recipes.

Since I began using ground turkey, one of my favorite dishes is meatloaf. I rotate making it in the oven and making it in the crockpot.

I use between two and two and a half pounds of ground turkey. Many people mix ground meats. I just use the turkey. Your consistency will be different if you use ground lamb, ground pork or ground beef. All are fine to use, you'll just taste the difference. The ground turkey doesn't always hold together from the crockpot, but the taste is wonderful.

In a large bowl, mix the ground meat with all of the following:

1 egg
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon Worchester sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup breadcrumbs
Diced onion to taste - My daughter does not like real onion so I use a few spoons of onion flakes.

After mixing together, shape into a ball that will fit into your crockpot. As I mentioned above, this does tend to fall apart a bit, so line your crockpot with foil. Fit the ball into the foil and cover. Cook on low about eight hours.

We will often add a quarter cup to a half cup of Parmesan cheese to the mixture. We love the taste of the cheese in the meatloaf.

When I was a child growing up, my mom used to make sweet and sour meatballs that we all begged her to make often. It was the simplest of recipes. She combined grape jelly and chili sauce to make the sauce. Then she'd boil it down twice before serving. I found a way to convert this recipe to my crockpot.

Since I start with ground turkey, I add breadcrumbs to the meat to help hold it together. I use between one and two pounds of meat, usually closer to the two pound mark. In a bowl, I mix a sixteen ounce jar of grape jelly and a twelve ounce bottle of chili sauce. I form the meat balls and roll them in the mixture. Then I place the meatballs in to the crockpot. Once I've coated the last meatball, I pour the sauce into the crockpot, over the meatballs. Cover and cook on low six to eight hours. These are wonderful over brown rice. The sauce soaks in the rice and it's just delicious.

Audrey's mom always entertained when she was growing up. Audrey learned to prepare for large groups and has often entertained 15-30 people in her home at a time. You can find more great recipes at http://www.recipe-barn.com

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