MMMEATLOAF

I grew up eating meatloaf.  Something that my mom used to do that I loved so much was put those skinny string beans, the French cut ones, in there. I didn’t do that for this recipe, but it is one way to get vegetables in a kid without them much noticing or caring because they just take on the taste of the meatloaf. Also they make the meatloaf moist and you’ll never get a meatloaf that is like a solid brick when you put them in there. It will always be moist and juicy.

Here I’m trying something new and it turned out great. So I’m sharing it with you. One of the ideas in the recipe came from Emilybites.com where she puts the onions, carrots and celery through a processor and then sautes them on the stove before putting them in the meatloaf. I tried her recipe and it’s really good. So I stole that part from her - she gets all the credit for that part!!  Anyway her recipe is a bit healthier because she uses turkey while I use beef plus sausage. And mine’s got a couple surprises in it. (shhh I think mine is better.)   So give this a try if you’d like something different from the meatloaf you always make (that is if you’re a meatloaf lover). If you’ve never made meatloaf, it is traditionally made with 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground veal and 1/3 ground pork plus milk, bread crumbs, eggs and some herbs and spices. But we’re not going traditional here. So let’s go!

MMMeatloaf

1 ¼ lb 90% fat free ground beef
2 hot Italian sausage links (remove casing)
2 carrots
2 celery sticks
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp olive oil
1 egg
¼ cup 1% milk (or nonfat)
¼ cup plus 3 Tbls Homemade Chili Sauce (that’s the actual name - there’ll be a picture - it's sweeter than ketchup and has no chilis in it oddly)
45 Kellog’s Special K Crackers Savory Herb
Cooking oil spray

 

 

Take out the meat and put on the counter with the sausage on top to take the chill off. Cut the carrots and celery and onions the size that will fit into your food processor. Process. You want to end up with little tiny pieces. Mince the garlic separately (to ensure it’s all in very small pieces). Put oil in a small frying pan (like you’d use to make an egg or two). 

Add the vegetables and bring up to medium heat and sauté. Let it go stirring now and then until all the juices are gone. Turn off the burner and set pan on a cool burner and let it sit for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle with your hands. Put the crackers in a bag, leaving the end open but holding it by the open side keep the crackers towards the bottom. Use a mallot to break the crackers up into bitty pieces.

Now put the beef, the sausage that you took out of the casings (by squeezing the middle and pushing meat out the sides), crackers, vegetables, milk, ¼ cup Homemade Chili Sauce and egg in a big bowl and using your hands mix very well but don’t over mix. By this I mean bring it all together so that everything is well distributed but then don’t keep mixing - the more you mix the harder the meat will get after cooked (unless you like very dense meatloaf in which case mix a lot, skip the milk and add an extra egg). Now if you don’t have these special crackers (which are GREAT whether you’re on a diet or not and worth the money to use for dips or just snacking) and decide to use regular saltines instead you’ll use only about 20 crackers and you’ll have to add some dried Italian herbs and salt and pepper to the mix. Or finally you can use regular bread crumbs - homemade - ½ cup or store bought ¼ cup and add the herbs (abut 1 tsp) and salt (½ tsp) and pepper (½ tsp). I hope I made it clear just how special these Special K crackers are, especially in meatloaf!!

Spray a standard loaf mold and dump in the meat and flatten (you want it flat so you can make sandwiches!!). And take the 3 Tbls of Homemade Chili Sauce and cover the entire thing using the back of a spoon or a spatula. Put in the oven for 1 ½ hrs. or until your thermometer reads 165.

Makes 8 servings cals 285 fat 18 carb 12 fiber 1 protein 21 (Pts+ 8)