“I could eat this whole pan of meatloaf tonight!” my husband exclaimed.
Now if you have the pleasure of knowing my husband in person, he is not exactly the complimenting type. Especially as it pertains to food. I’ve been subjecting them to all kinds of new and delightful recipes on this food journey, most of them unappreciated. But this new meatloaf… SCORE.
I didn’t do anything revolutionary. I was just trying to find a way to “hide” veggies to get another serving or two in their food. And I also wanted to make it with ground turkey, but that can be very dry and lack in the flavor department.
The red pepper and parmesan cheese give it a really nice flavor boost and the zucchini keeps it really moist. The kids scarfed it down, and I watched with joy as they ate these veggies and didn’t even know it.
It may look like it has a lot of ingredients, but it really doesn’t take that long to make. If you have a food chopper, you can have these veggies chopped up in a very short time. You can always prep the stuff the night before so that all you have to do is dump items and blend.
The Best Darn Meatloaf (Gluten Free)
- 1lb ground meat (I used turkey)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs (gluten free)
- 1/4 c. chopped red pepper
- 1/4 c. chopped zucchini
- 1/4 c. grated parmesan
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp sweet basil (dried)
- Sauce:
- 1/2 c. ketchup
- 1/8 c. brown sugar
- 2 tsp dried mustard (or regular mustard)
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Grease a bread loaf pan.
- Chop up your veggies.
- Throw all ingredients into a large mixing bowl.
- Using your hands, blend it all together and shape into a big ball.
- Mold it into the bread loaf pan and pop into the oven.
- Cook 30 minutes.
- Prepare the sauce by combining ketchup, brown sugar, and dried mustard into a small bowl and blending well.
- Spread over the top and bake another ten minutes.
Of course, I did not take a picture of the meatloaf, but I made some hamburgers with the same recipe (minus the egg and bread crumbs) and this is what they looked like:
The nice thing about making the meatloaf is that you put the sauce over the top and it hides the red and green chunks – if your children are suspicious. I made regular beef meatloaf with no crazy surprises several times before this, so my children already loved meatloaf, and they scarfed this version down with no questions asked! 🙂 It’s all in the Jedi mind tricks people!
Do you have a favorite “hide-the-veggies” recipe?
Please share!
Janine Huldie says
July 8, 2014 at 9:22 amLove that you hid these veggies in there and totally need to try this one now. Thanks for sharing and oh and my husband is the same with food compliments here, too 😉
Katie @ Pick Any Two says
July 8, 2014 at 9:29 amLooks delicious! I generally don’t hide the veggies…more like drown them in cheese, haha. This trick might work even better!
another jennifer says
July 8, 2014 at 10:38 amI’m so going to try this one. We love meatloaf and I’m always trying to figure out new ways to incorporate veggies. Pinning now!
Michelle says
July 8, 2014 at 12:43 pmI don’t have to hide veggies but I have picky nephews so I can appreciate what you are going through! Your meatloaf sounds good though. You should link up with us at Foodie Fridays this week!