Wing it Meatloaf
Source of Recipe
Karen Tressler
Recipe Introduction
Origins Unknown
List of Ingredients
No real recipe. I start with whatever ground meat I have available. I usually use beef because I have friends who get it by the quarter and they give some to me. I also get buffalo from some friends. If it is on sale, I'll mix in a little ground turkey or chicken but no more than a third of the meat because I like my meatloaf to taste like red meat (odd because I'm not a big fan of red meat).
As a guess, I would say:
1 1/2 lb ground meat (some combination of beef, buffalo, venison, turkey, chicken)
1 onion
1 tomato
1 carrot
1/2 small zucchini and/or 1/2 cup brocolli or cauliflower
Whatever vegetables you have that need used (pumpkin is good just don't over do it).
(more or less - aim for enough vegetable slurry to equal 1/3 of the meat)
1/2 cup or so of crumbs (cracker, chips, Tings, nutritional yeast, quinoa flakes, etc)
2 TBSP or so Italian seasonings
4 cloves minced garlic
1/3 cup ketchup
1/8 cup French's mustard
1 egg
Salt and pepper
If you want a sauce on top:
4 TBSP apple cider vinegar (what else?)
3 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
Recipe
Mix thoroughly and pour over the top before cooking.
I eyeball the amount of meat and then peel and toss an onion into the food processor. Then I add a carrot and a tomoto and whatever other vegetables I have that need using. I puree them raw. They turn into a strange colored slurry... Yes, I have used up leftover cooked veggies and they work fine. I try to end up with the meatloaf having about 1/3 the amount of meat as vegetable slurry. I also add minced garlic.
I dump the vegetable slurry and garlic into a bowl with the meat. Add some crumbs. I collect the dregs of everything safe to make crumbs. I don't eat a lot of bread but the kids love Tings and plain potato chips from the local chippery. It seems there are always dregs in the bottom so I just toss them in the freezer. You can also dump some oats into your food processor and grind them down to crumbs but I'm too cheap to do that with gluten free oats. Anyway, take your crumbs (Tings, chips, Mary's Gone Crackers, gf pretzels, nutritional yeast, quinoa flakes, etc. A hodge podge works well.) and add them into the vegetable/meat mix. I don't overdo the crumbs. Add an egg. Not sure why, I just do. LOL... a binder but with all the veggies, I suspect it is unneccessary.
Add a bit of mustard, a bit of ketchup, some Italian seasonings. More minced garlic if you can't smell it (:^), salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Really really thoroughly. I split it up and run it through the food processor again to blend it. I have a small food processor so it can't handle it all at once.
Shape it into a pan. I usually use my cast iron # 10 frying pan, but have used others. NOTE: This will be very moist to work with. Much moreso than you are used to. Do not panic and do not add too many crumbs.
Shape into a mound in the pan, place in preheated oven at 350 degrees. Cook about an hour and fifteen minutes. It will smell really good and you'll hear the juices bubbling.
When done, remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes so juices can settle.
Slice and serve. NOTE: The more veggies you use, the less cohesive it will be. I tried 1/2 and 1/2 and it was delicious but it fell apart before I could get it to a plate. It's easier to cut and serve if it has been sitting for 10 to fifteen minutes. As it cools, it holds together better.
Use leftovers in sandwiches or add to spagetti sauce. It's delicious added to the sauce!
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