The Meatloaf Mystery...And A Recipe Too

A couple of days ago I made the most amazing meatloaf for dinner. It was delicious! What made it even better was that it was a HEALTHY recipe. I was surprised how much my family loved this recipe. It is definitely a keeper. In addition to being quite tasty, I also have a funny story that goes along with it.

The day after we had this for dinner, Jenni came home from work for lunch. She started looking in the fridge for the leftover meatloaf. She could not find it and then called me into the kitchen to see if I could locate it. No luck. I finally decided that Greg must have packed it for his lunch when he woke up early in the morning. We did not really think about it again until later that evening.

Greg came home from work and asks me where the leftover meatloaf is. I said "I thought you took it to work." No, he didn't. He could not find it anywhere either. We were stumped.

Later that night Greg was in the kitchen and announced that he had finally found the missing meatloaf....in the kitchen cupboard. Evidently, he had taken it out of the fridge to pack some for his lunch. He then for some strange reason put it in the cupboard and forgot about it. Nice. That man cracks me up! I keep teasing him by telling him that now I have proof that he is old AND crazy :)

Since the meatloaf was such an incredible hit with our family, I thought I would share the recipe. It is really very, very good. I don't usually care for meatloaf, but this one was a winner. I also love that it has a serving of vegies in it as well as being only 250 calories per serving. Not too shabby.

Meatloaf

• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced (1 cup)
• 8 ounces white button mushrooms, finely diced
• 1 small carrot, finely grated
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 pounds extra-lean ground beef (90% lean or higher)
• 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 8-ounce can no-salt added tomato sauce
• 1 Tablespoon prepared mustard
• 1 tablespoon unsulphered molasses

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the onion and mushrooms and cook until the liquid is evaporated and the mushrooms begin to brown about 8 minutes. Stir in the carrots, tomato paste, thyme and garlic and cook, stirring, 2 minutes more. Allow to cool completely.

In a large bowl combine the beef, oats, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, mushroom mixture, salt and pepper. Mix until just well combined. Transfer the mixture to a 9x13 inch baking dish and shape into a loaf about 5 inches wide and 2 inches high.

In a small bowl whisk the tomato sauce, molasses and mustard and pour over the meatloaf.

Cook the meatloaf until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees, about 55-60 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest 15 minutes before slicing.

Serving Size: one 1-inch thick slice

Per Serving:

Calories 250; Total Fat 12 g; (Sat Fat 4 g, Mono Fat 5.5 g, Poly Fat 1 g) ; Protein 21 g; Carb 14 g; Fiber 2 g; Cholesterol 110 mg; Sodium 370 mg