Made With Lots of Love: Mozzarella Meat Swirl

Welcome back to our comfort food recipe free-for-all! It’s been awhile since we shared one of these on the blog. To be honest, lately it’s been tough to cook my mom’s recipes. With all the fertility struggles we’ve been dealing it, I really miss my mom. We have an amazing support system, but I’m sure everyone can agree there’s just something about a mom’s words that puts you at ease. We were in a funk for a bit, but Deb Szabo was never a person to sit around and feel sorry for herself, so it was time to honor her with another one of her amazing recipes. 

Mozzarella Meat Swirl has to be one of my all time favorite weird mom recipes. I grew up thinking everyone made meatloaf this way. My mom never actually called it meatloaf but we also didn’t have any other type of meatloaf. I believe everyone should experience this at least one time in their life. It really is one of the best comfort foods. I think I made my mom make this for all my friends, boyfriends, basically anyone I brought home.

I should note, this recipe had very liberal instructions with the ingredients (in typical mom fashion). There’s hardly any specific measurements. Just use your judgement. I added what I did, but if you want it with more sauce? Add more sauce. Other spices? Do it. Actual mozzarella? Though not traditional, I guess you could do that too.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground chuck
• 1 bag of shredded cheese, my mom always used Monterey Jack.
• 1 small can of tomato sauce. I used almost a whole 15 oz can, but my mom always used a small can.
• Bread crumbs, preferably the Italian kind. I used about 1/4 to 1/2 cup.
• 2 eggs
• Spices (onion powder, garlic powder, Italian Seasoning)

Instructions

• Put meat in a mixing bowl and mix in your spices.
• Make a well in the middle after it’s thoroughly mixed.
• Put eggs in the well and mix with fork.  Add ¼ of tomato sauce in the well.
• Add small amount of bread crumbs and mix together.
• Add the cheese last. Mix together. Use the whole bag! (I saved about 1/4 for the top).
• Make sure the mix sticks to the fork.
• Add the rest of sauce to top and cheese too if you want.
• Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 ½ hours uncovered.

This is best served with buttered noodles and brussels sprouts.As mentioned above, this recipe hilariously contains no mozzarella cheese and I have no idea why. Ben makes fun of it so much because a) no mozzarella, b) nothing is swirled. It’s a completely made up name that incorrectly describes both the ingredients and process. But he still loves it. We chalk it up to a midwestern mom just trying to think of a catchy thing to name something she’s making with kitchen staples she had on hand. Whatever the reason, it’s delicious and the perfect thing to make during those winter months when you’re hankering for a food coma.