I got my acceptance letter from Old Dominion University today. Which — let me be clear — is not a surprise. ODU accepts basically everyone with a pulse and a high school diploma, and my GPA is a 3.1, which is respectable if not spectacular. But I held that letter in my hands and felt something I didn't expect: relief. Not excitement, not pride — relief. Because at least there's a next step. At least I'm not standing at the edge of graduation looking into a void.\n\nMegan went to Virginia Tech. Megan had a plan at fourteen. Megan knew she wanted to study business management and she applied early decision and she got a scholarship and she is the kind of person who color-codes her planner. I am the kind of person who loses her planner in the first week of school and then uses the Notes app on my phone, which I also lose.\n\nODU is twenty minutes from the house. I'll commute, because dorm life costs money we don't have — Dad's defense contractor salary is decent but not Virginia Tech scholarship decent, and his GI Bill benefits went to Megan because she applied first and nobody thought to ask if maybe the other daughter might also want to go to college. I'm not bitter about this. I'm a little bitter about this.\n\nI think I'll study communications. I don't know what communications IS, exactly, but it sounds like the kind of major that leads to a job where you talk to people, and talking to people is the one skill I have that military life actually gave me. Seven schools before high school means you learn how to walk into a room full of strangers and make them like you in under five minutes. It's a survival skill. Maybe I can turn it into a career skill.\n\nMom made meatloaf tonight. The Donna Abernathy Meatloaf is a production: ground beef mixed with breadcrumbs, egg, Worcestershire sauce, and a packet of onion soup mix (she will deny the onion soup mix to her grave, but I have seen it with my own eyes). She tops it with ketchup mixed with brown sugar and lets it caramelize in the oven until the whole house smells like something from a 1950s cookbook. Dad had two slices. I had one and a half. We watched Jeopardy together and Dad got three questions right and celebrated like he'd won the actual money.\n\nThis is my family. We are not fancy. We eat meatloaf and watch Jeopardy and my father celebrates correctly answering trivia questions and my mother pretends she doesn't use onion soup mix. We have moved more times than I can count and my dad has scars from a war he barely talks about and my mom held this family together with dinner at 1800 and sheer, terrifying competence.\n\nI got into ODU. It's not Virginia Tech. It's not a plan. But it's a door, and right now that's all I need.\n\nNine weeks. The whiteboard is getting smaller. I'm starting to think that might be a good thing.
Meatloaf isn’t a fancy meal, and that night I didn’t need fancy—I needed the smell of my mom’s kitchen and my dad celebrating Jeopardy like it was the Super Bowl. So this week’s recipe is hers, onion soup mix and all (sorry, Mom). Here’s how we make it.
Classic Family Meatloaf
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr | Total Time: 1 hr 15 min | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
- 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 packet (1 oz) onion soup mix
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- For the glaze: 1/3 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet or 9x5 loaf pan with foil and lightly grease it.
- Mix the loaf. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, onion soup mix, Worcestershire sauce, milk, and pepper. Mix with your hands until just combined — don’t overwork it or the texture gets dense.
- Shape. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and shape into a tight loaf roughly 9 inches long and 4 inches wide. A loaf pan works fine; a free-form loaf on a baking sheet gets crispier edges.
- Make the glaze. Stir together ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves.
- Glaze and bake. Spread half the glaze over the top of the loaf. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Spread the remaining glaze over the top and bake another 15 minutes, until the glaze is caramelized and the internal temperature reaches 160°F.
- Rest before slicing. Let the meatloaf rest 10 minutes before cutting. This keeps it from falling apart and lets the juices redistribute.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 320 | Protein: 24g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 0g | Sodium: 680mg
About the cook who shared this
Rachel Abernathy
Week 3 of Rachel’s 30-year story
· San Diego, California
Rachel is a twenty-eight-year-old Marine wife and mom of two who has moved five times in six years and learned to cook a Thanksgiving dinner with half her cookware still in boxes. She married young, survived postpartum depression, and feeds her family of four on a junior Marine's salary with a freezer full of pre-made meals and a crockpot that has never let her down. She writes for the military spouses who are cooking dinner alone in base housing and wondering if they're enough. You are.
