Halloween Halfling Meatloaf

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 70 min
Servings: 12
Yield: 12 servings

Description

A Halloween meatloaf is decorated like a spooky Halfling -- a mysterious humanoid creature with yellow corn teeth, green pepper ears, black olive eyeballs, and a background of scary "blood" ketchup.

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef chuck
1 pound bulk pork sausage
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup crushed saltine crackers
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons Cajun seasoning
1 tablespoon corn kernels
2 pickle slices
3 black olives, halved
2 small slices of green bell pepper
2 cups ketchup

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2 Mix together the ground beef, sausage, onion, saltine cracker crumbs, beaten eggs, and cajun seasoning in a bowl until well combined. In a large baking dish, form the meat loaf mixture into a Halfling shape, with a large head, 2 stubby legs, and 2 upraised arms.
3 Bake in the preheated oven until the meatloaf is no longer pink inside and just starting to turn brown, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (70 degrees C).
4 To decorate the meatloaf's head, pick out about 14 corn kernels, and arrange them into teeth. Place 1 small green pepper slice on each side of the creature's head for ears; place two pickle slices on the face for eyes, then place 2 black olive halves, cut sides down, in the pickle slices to finish the eyes. One more olive half forms the nose. Surround the monster with a background of ketchup "blood," and bake until browned, about 10 more minutes.
5 Let the meatloaf rest for 10 minutes before serving. Just before serving, stick a paring knife in the meatloaf's body, and decorate it with a little ketchup blood.