My Favorite Halloween Food Ideas — Mama’s Meatloaf Is the Real Treat

Halloween week. Aiden wore the pumpkin costume to daycare and Mrs. Henderson sent a photo that Brianna immediately made her phone wallpaper. He looked like an orange bowling ball with legs, and his face through the circular opening was pure bafflement — the look of a one-and-a-half-year-old who does not understand why he is dressed as a vegetable but is willing to go along with it because there is candy involved. We took him trick-or-treating on our block on Saturday. This was ambitious — he can barely walk in regular clothes, and the pumpkin costume added structural challenges — but Brianna was determined. We hit six houses. At each one, Aiden held out his bag (a plastic grocery bag, because we are not the type of people who buy themed trick-or-treat buckets), someone dropped candy in it, and Aiden said "ta" which was his version of "thank you." He did not eat any of the candy because he does not really eat candy yet, which means Brianna and I split his haul after he went to bed. The Reese's cups were mine. The Skittles were hers. This is the secret economy of parenting: your children's candy is your candy until they are old enough to notice. Crystal's Halloween party was Saturday night. Gloria came to watch Aiden (she was thrilled, because Gloria's love language is babysitting combined with judging our apartment). Brianna dressed as a cat — ears, whiskers, all black. She looked stunning. I put on a flannel shirt and said I was a lumberjack, which is the costume of a man who does not like costumes. The party was at Crystal's house in Roseville — a small ranch with a finished basement where twenty people danced to a playlist that was mostly Beyonce and Drake. I danced. I do not dance often or well, but I danced with Brianna and she laughed, and that laugh — that was worth the embarrassment of whatever my body was doing on that floor. Driving home, slightly buzzed, windows down because the night was warm for October, Brianna said, "I had fun tonight." She said it like she was surprised. Like fun was something she had forgotten was available to her. I reached over and held her hand and we drove through Detroit at midnight with the radio on and the windows down and I thought: this is what we need more of. Not money, not solutions, not arguments about the future. Just this. Just being two people who still like each other in a car at midnight. Sunday dinner was meatloaf. Mama's meatloaf is a Carter staple: two pounds of ground beef mixed with bread crumbs, egg, onion, green pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup. She forms it into a loaf, tops it with more ketchup, and bakes it at 350 for an hour and a half. It is served with mashed potatoes and corn (canned, buttered). It is the most humble meal in her rotation and one of the most satisfying. Comfort food does not need to be complicated. It needs to taste like it was made by someone who loves you.

After a weekend of pumpkin costumes, trick-or-treating, and dancing badly at Crystal’s party, Sunday needed to feel like coming home — and nothing does that like Mama’s meatloaf. It’s the meal she’s made her whole life, the one that shows up whenever the week has been a lot and you just need something that tastes like someone loves you. We pulled it together Sunday afternoon while Aiden napped, and by the time he woke up the whole apartment smelled like everything was going to be fine.

My Favorite Halloween Food Ideas — Mama’s Classic Meatloaf

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min | Total Time: 1 hr 45 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
• 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced
• 1/2 cup green bell pepper, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup ketchup (mixed into the loaf)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 cup ketchup (for topping)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan or line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
2. Mix the loaf. In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, onion, green pepper, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, 1/3 cup ketchup, salt, and pepper. Mix with your hands until just combined — do not overwork the meat or the loaf will be dense.
3. Form and top. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan or shape into a loaf on the baking sheet. Spread the remaining 1/4 cup of ketchup evenly over the top.
4. Bake. Bake uncovered at 350°F for 1 hour 30 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 160°F and the top is caramelized and set. Let rest 10 minutes before slicing.
5. Serve. Slice and serve with buttered mashed potatoes and canned corn — because some things don’t need to be fancier than they already are.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 31g | Fat: 24g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 560mg