Thursday, February 4. 2010
Meatloaf, retooled
Thursday, February 4. 2010
In the last few months, I've been making dietary changes in an effort to eat more healthily -- more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, less senseless fat and grease.
One of the things that has been problematic for me is my love for meatloaf, hamburgers, and meatballs. All of these things are typically made with cheap (and fatty) meat, and yet, are so comforting. Swapping out the beef for turkey or chicken definitely helps with the caloric issues, but It Just Doesn't Taste The Same, and sometimes, what you really want is that comforting taste from home, the beef. After many experiments, I have finally found something that saves the ground beef! It really was obvious, I don't know why I couldn't think of it on my own, especially given in my days of vegetarianism, I often used mushrooms as a meat substitute.
Swapping out 1/3 of the meat for cooked minced mushrooms, adding more diced vegetables, and swapping out bread crumbs for steel cut oats are all things that go for the good cause: switching to leaner meat (reducing the fat content and calories), increasing the grains (and better-for-you than pulverized white bread), and adding all sorts of vegetables ends up making meatloaf healthier without sacrificing the texture or flavor is great! And I'll be honest: as good as my mom's meatloaf was, this tastes better. (Sorry, mom!)
According to the magazine whose recipe I based this off of, the ground chuck/ground pork/bread version has 440 calories and 30 grams of fat per portion and their version (which has less vegetables - I've marked my additions in the ingredient list) has 268 calories and 12 grams of fat.
Since trying this out, I've tried swapping out 1/3 of the meat for cooked minced mushroom in meatballs and hamburgers, and it's worked out really well. As well, grinding the oats down (to be as fine as the bread was) makes the oats a fairly good substitute for bread crumbs in meatballs, as well.
One of the things that has been problematic for me is my love for meatloaf, hamburgers, and meatballs. All of these things are typically made with cheap (and fatty) meat, and yet, are so comforting. Swapping out the beef for turkey or chicken definitely helps with the caloric issues, but It Just Doesn't Taste The Same, and sometimes, what you really want is that comforting taste from home, the beef. After many experiments, I have finally found something that saves the ground beef! It really was obvious, I don't know why I couldn't think of it on my own, especially given in my days of vegetarianism, I often used mushrooms as a meat substitute.
Swapping out 1/3 of the meat for cooked minced mushrooms, adding more diced vegetables, and swapping out bread crumbs for steel cut oats are all things that go for the good cause: switching to leaner meat (reducing the fat content and calories), increasing the grains (and better-for-you than pulverized white bread), and adding all sorts of vegetables ends up making meatloaf healthier without sacrificing the texture or flavor is great! And I'll be honest: as good as my mom's meatloaf was, this tastes better. (Sorry, mom!)
According to the magazine whose recipe I based this off of, the ground chuck/ground pork/bread version has 440 calories and 30 grams of fat per portion and their version (which has less vegetables - I've marked my additions in the ingredient list) has 268 calories and 12 grams of fat.
Since trying this out, I've tried swapping out 1/3 of the meat for cooked minced mushroom in meatballs and hamburgers, and it's worked out really well. As well, grinding the oats down (to be as fine as the bread was) makes the oats a fairly good substitute for bread crumbs in meatballs, as well.
Meatloaf with sweet and sour ketchup
Based off of Cuisine at Home Lite
Servings: 6 (12 slices)
Total time: 1h, 40 minutes
Ingredients:
8 oz assorted mushrooms
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbs dry sherry (or other dry white wine)
1/2 C minced fresh parsley leaves (or 2 1/2 Tbs dried)
2-3 Roma tomatoes
1/2 small onion
1 small bell pepper*
1 small zucchini (optional)
1 small carrot
8 oz ground sirloin (or 90-93% lean ground beef)
8 oz ground pork (or 88-93% lean ground beef)
2 C steel cut oats
1 egg
1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1/3 C ketchup
1 Tbs yellow mustard
2 tsp brown sugar
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a broiler pan with nonstick spray.
Pulse mushrooms in a food processor until minced. Sauté mushrooms in oil in a nonstick skillet over high heat until moisture evaporates, 5-8 minutes. Stir in thyme and garlic. Purée the tomatoes, carrot, and pepper in the food processor. Add sherry and stir in the veggies and parsley. Grate the onion, and, if desired, a small zucchini. Set the vegetable mixture aside.
Combine the beef, pork, oats, egg, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and vegetable mix in a large bowl. Shape the mixture into a loaf on the prepared broiler pan.
Stir together the ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar in a bowl. Spoon on top of the meatloaf. Bake until it reaches 165°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 hour. Let the meatloaf rest at least 10 minutes before slicing it into 12 slices.
Note: You could probably add some grated zucchini to the mix.
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