Meatloaf in a slow cooker? Who knew? I never would have thought to try to make a meatloaf in a slow cooker had it not been for Martha’s Slow Cooker Ecookbook. You learn something new everyday, and today I learned the trick to making meatloaf in a slow cooker. Aluminum foil strips! Scroll down for some pics of how to use aluminum foil to lift your meatloaf out of a slow cooker after it is done cooking.

If you would like some more Weight Watcher friendly slow cooker recipes, you’ll probably want to enter our giveaway for Martha McKinnon’s “50 Favorite Slow Cooker Recipes eCookbook for Weight Watchers: SmartPoints Edition”. Go here to enter into the giveaway to win your free copy of Martha’s ecookbook.

Now how about some meatloaf?

Here is what you need:

1 c. finely chopped onion
½ c. finely chopped celery
¼ c. shredded carrot
1 large egg
1-1/2 lb. extra-lean ground beef
½ c. quick cooking oats
½ c. ketchup or chili sauce
1 T. garlic powder
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. salt
½ t. freshly ground black pepper

Here is what you do:

1. Cut a 2-foot length of foil in half lengthwise. Fold each strip in half lengthwise to form two long strips.
   Place the foil strips in the bottom of the slow cooker in a cross pattern. I put it like this in the slow cooker….
   but I think that might have been wrong because when I tried to lift the meatloaf out of the slow cooker it did this:
   
   … so I think next time I will try to do the aluminum foil strips like this:
   Are you gettin’ me? And are you diggin’ my high tech artwork? (wink, wink)Next, trim the foil to be even with the rim, so they don’t get in the way of the crock pot cover.(meanwhile my husband was kind of enough to help chop up the veges. Love my husband… and my food chopper!)
2. Spray the crock pot and foil with nonstick spray.
3. In a large bowl, combine the onion, celery, carrot, egg, beef, oats, ketchup, garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Use your hands to blend everything together well.
   Place the mixture in the foil-line crock pot and form it into an even shaped loaf as best you can.
4. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 7 hours, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the meatloaf reads 170°.
5. Turn off the slow cooker and carefully grasp the ends of the foil strips to lift out the meatloaf.
   Let the meatloaf rest for about 15-20 minutes to let it firm up before trying to slice it.
   Mine cooked a little longer than it needed to so it was dark, but it still tasted good that way. I think I used a bigger slow cooker than Martha did too, but that also didn’t seem to be a problem as far as taste goes. (Martha used a 6-quart slow cooker.)

Makes 6 servings.
1/6th of the meatloaf is just 6 WW FreeStyle SP.