Carrying on the homemaker tradition with meatloaf

I made meatloaf the other night and my husband told me, "I was carrying on the homemaker tradition with meatloaf." He continued to tell how he was sure my mom made it (true), her mom made it (I would agree) and how her mom probably made it (I'm glad he didn't continue to previous generations!).

I combined two recipes from http://www.allrecipes.com/. I wanted to try them in muffin tins, which is where one recipe came from; however, my husband had some excellent Cajun Meatloaf while in Iraq so this is what I came up with:

Cajun Style Meatloaf
1 medium onion chopped
1 green pepper chopped
2 Tbsp butter/EVOO

1 1/2 lb meat
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 bay leaves (I only had crushed bay leaves)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4 cloves garlic minced
hot pepper

Sauce
ketchup
brown sugar

Saute the first three ingredients over medium heat. Once done set aside and let cool to room temperature.

In small bowl mix the spices. In large bowl mix together the meat, eggs, bread crumbs, evaporated milk, ketchup and the spices.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For muffin tins, prepare into foil tins and cook for 30 minutes. Put sauce over each individual muffin and cook for another 1 minutes. (The recipe said 50 minutes and then another 10. I checked at about 35 minutes and they were pretty much done so I didn't get a chance to cook more time with the sauce).

For regular meatloaf in a bread pan, pour into prepared pan. Cook at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, raise heat to 400 degrees and cook for another 35 minutes. I would suggest putting the sauce on in the last 15 minutes or so.

*Tip: I was out of evaporated milk and my brother told me to take my milk and heat it over the stove to evaporate it. Sad, my older brother gave me a cooking tip! No, but really, he is a great "chef" as he likes to call himself. To do this, remember to put more than the necessary amount as some of the water will evaporate and leave you with a thicker milk.

*No picture this time... meatloaf just isn't that attractive!