Grass-fed Momma's Meatloaf

Ahh, so it's been awhile since my last post. I was back in H-town for a few days before taking off to Austin for the last weekend of SXSW. I'm going to go off on a quick tangent and just say I love the city of Austin so much! Such a great foodie, hippie, anything goes kinda place. Super easy to eat healthy too even if it means only eating out of food trucks (which I did- Chicken Tikka Masala out of the Naan Stop truck- great decision). Got to see some amazing Athens, GA based bands as well! Great Success!

Back to the food- Upon returning, I realized I had frozen my local Texas grass-fed beef I got from the farmers' market so I decided to try out my oh-so-yummy Turkey Meatloaf recipe featured in my book with the beef instead. Grass-fed beef tends to be a tad more gamey than your average beef taste-wise because it is very lean and has some of those awesome Omega-3 fatty acids instead of the usual saturated fats traditional beef is laden with. The result was wonderful! Definitely a different taste, but very acceptable. I paired the already veggie-filled loaf with more veggies- sauteed brussels sprouts, butternut squash, mushrooms, and onion seasoned with garlic and vinegar. Soo good! AND the leftovers fed me for the rest of the week! Which is time saving for when you're too exhausted later in the week to prepare something, but still want something healthy.

Here's the recipe! Enjoy!

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 lb grass-fed ground beef (local beef preferred)
1 cup oats
1 cup finely chopped onion

3 carrots, shredded
½ cup ketchup (no high fructose corn syrup preferred)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons minced garlic
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper

Preparation:

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients in large bowl; mix lightly but thoroughly.

2.     Bake 50-55 minutes or until meatloaf reaches an internal temperature of 170°F. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing.

Optional Sauce:

1.     Combine ½ cup grated onion, 1 cup ketchup, 4 tablespoons distilled vinegar, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce and add to meatloaf 20 minutes before done. Sauce will add 76 calories, 19g carbohydrate, and 564mg sodium per serving. 

Nutrition Information:

216 calories, 7g fat, 3g saturated fat, 1g monounsaturated fat, 1g polyunsaturated fat, 19g carbs, 3g fiber, 19g protein, 437mg sodium.