Meatloaf full of chopped vegetables page 2

[Rasputina]

I like to use some almond flour/almond meal in my sauerkraut meatloaf.

[JoanieL]

Adding some mashed potato or cooked white rice might also help with the binding without imparting liquid to your loaf.

[Rosemary 231]

I put a small onion, a carrot and 1/2 a bell pepper, maybe some broccoli, in the food processor and pulse to bread crumb consistency. Then I gently sautee in butter to soften which releases some of the liquid. I grate/pulse a small sweet potato and add it to the cooked veggies and cool it to room temp, then add it into 3 or 4 lb of meat and a couple of eggs and seasonings. Makes 2 meatloaves.

I sort of wondered if I needed to saute the vegetables a bit before adding to the mix. It would guarantee everything is cooked when it's finished. I'll have to use my Ninja my food processor is still in storage. Hope it will work as well. Thanks

[Rosemary 231]

Mashed potatoes is a new thought. The egg will do the binding but the potatoes might give it the texture I want.

[Rosemary 231]

I like to use some almond flour/almond meal in my sauerkraut meatloaf.

Actually, sauerkraut meatloaf doesn't sound so bad. I was thinking about adding some sauteed cabbage as one of the vegetables anyway.

[Rosemary 231]

Could anyone suggest what an internal temp. and oven temp. should be for a 1 1/2 meatloaf? I keep thinking 1/2 a chub of pork sausage is in it.

[Rosemary 231]

I am a meatloaf purist - no veggies in there. Here are my ratios:
2 parts of ground beef
1 part pork sausage of your choice, I use plain salt/pepper
1 egg for every pound of meat you have

Season thoroughly with stuff of your choice. House favorite here is Spike classic, the stuff in the red box.
Smash until thoroughly combined - it will be a little loose.

Add around 1 really heaping Tbsp of coconut flour for each pound of meat mash and thoroughly recombine.

Form into loaf/loaves. Wrap thoroughly with bacon, tucking the ends of the strips under the loaf. Then paint the bacon liberally with your fave clean ketchup or cocktail sauce. Bake at 350 on a roasting pan, not in a loaf pan, until you see fat runoff, then go a little more. Let rest after removing from the oven. Slice and eat.

We only slice the slices off the loaf as we need them, otherwise too much moisture is lost. If you have leftovers you can fry the slices in tallow or bacon grease to rewarm - they are even better next day that way.

I like my meatloaf "just meatloaf" too but I'm trying to put together something I can warm up at work quickly.

[meeshar]

A trick I learned from a gyro meatloaf recipe is to puree onions in a food processor and then squeeze out the excess moisture with paper towels. That would probably work with the rest of your veggies if you wanted to go that route. Also, to make the dense gyro texture (if that's what you want--you can shave it thinly and then fry crispy in a pan, mmm) run the meat/onion mixture through the food processor until it's tacky, and then press it into a loaf pan as tightly as you can.

[Rosemary 231]

A trick I learned from a gyro meatloaf recipe is to puree onions in a food processor and then squeeze out the excess moisture with paper towels.

I have noticed with my food processor that onions give off a lot of moisture and can get mushy, squeezing out the excess moisture with paper towels would help the wetness problem.

[Sandra in BC]

I sort of wondered if I needed to saute the vegetables a bit before adding to the mix. It would guarantee everything is cooked when it's finished. I'll have to use my Ninja my food processor is still in storage. Hope it will work as well. Thanks

Mainly I do it to cook the onions. I cant eat them raw, and sometimes in meatloaf they end up undercooked.