Microwave Meatloaf

Okay, I know this sounds weird. I thought, "gross!" when I read the title. And Chris looked at me funny when I told him what we were having for dinner last night. But here's the deal. It's HOT in our kitchen, and there's no way I'm going to turn on the oven! So I've been searching for creative meals that are either no-cook, or microwave-cook. And it was actually good!

1 (8oz) can of tomato sauce (but I like to use bbq sauce in mealoaf instead)
1/4 cub brown sugar (I totally skipped this, but, whatever)
1 tsp mustard
2 eggs, lightly beaten (I was lazy and just used egg-white powder w/ a little water)
1 onion, minced (Once again, I was lazy and just sprinkled in a bunch of freeze dried chopped onions)
1/4 minced green bell pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 c saltine cracker crumbs (Once again, I was lazy and just threw in a bunch of already prepared italian-seasoned bread crumbs) (Man, I'm lazy...)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
2 lbs extra lean ground beef (I used 1 lb, and it seemed like enough--and I even forgot to half the seasonings and it tasted fine to us)

mix it all together and put it in a 2-qt microwave-safe baking dish (I patted mine down into a glass casserole dish--not sure if I was supposed to pat it down or leave it in a loaf, but the edges of mine were slightly well-done, so it's probably supposed to be a loaf?). Spread a little extra bbq sauce on top, then cook for 15 minutes, (the recipe didn't say whether or not to cover it, so I left the glass casserole dish slightly open for air) or until thermometer reads 165* F.

It was fast, and tasty.

As a side dish, I mixed some olive oil, dried basil, salt, pepper, and chopped tomatoes together, then spread it on top of some bread chips we had on hand. The kids really liked the meatloaf and bruschetta.