While scrolling through the internet one night, I came across El Sol Foods Recipe Contest. The closing date was not far off. I looked over the details and decided I want to get to work. The big draw to this contest for me was the prizes…gift cards to Walmart. Since I was preparing to head to the World Food Championship Final Table in Bentonville to cook-off for $100,000.00, I knew this would help with costs. When you compete at the WFC, it is the competitors responsibility to bring their ingredients.
The WFC Final Table was also hosting 250 VIPs to be apart of the weekend. WFC asked all ten of us competitors if we would provide samples to the VIPs, if possible. Since I had made our Crawfish Thai Bowl dish for over 250 people after getting home from the main cook-off, I knew we could make the dish for the crowd but that meant more ingredients. Winning a gift card would be very helpful for my pocket.
So off to the store I went and came home to make dinner! The meatloaf turned out great. I typed up the recipe and got it entered. Not to long after, I received an email that I was a finalist. Woohoo!! Now the tough part, an online voting determination for the winners. I am not the biggest fan of voting contest. Having to ask my Facebook family and friends for votes seems like the contest will be based on my contacts rather than the actual recipe. I went with it and asked away.
The voting went on for days and I stayed in the lead for a while but came in third place in the end. I won a $50.00 Walmart gift card. Not bad for a quick decision to participate and a tasty dinner.
Mexican Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 1 pound hamburger
- 1 pound ground pork
- ½ cup plus 3 tablespoons El Sol Homestyle Salsa, divided
- 2 tablespoons masa corn flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 ounces Mexican shredded cheese
- 1 tablespoons minced cilantro
- 1 chopped green onion
- Optional: lime wedges, sour cream, more El Sol Homestyle Salsa and cilantro leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, gently blend together the hamburger, ground pork, ½ cup El Sol Homestyle Salsa, masa corn flour, eggs, cumin, chili powder and smoked paprika.
- Form into a loaf and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Top the loaf with 3 tablespoons of El Sol Homestyle Salsa and bake for 60 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
- Turn the oven to broil. Top the meatloaf with the shredded Mexican cheese and return to the oven under the broiler. Watch carefully as the cheese melts and slightly bubbles and browns. This may take only a couple of minutes but depends upon your oven.
- Top the cheese with the minced cilantro and chopped green onion.
- Slice and serve with optional ingredients as desired.
