Meatloaf with Carrots and Brussels Sprouts, and leftovers!

As far as I’m concerned, Meatloaf is the perfect comfort food. Not only is it delicious on the first night, but the next day its fabulous crumbled into an omelette with some spinach.  For this meatloaf, I mixed ground beef with two of Copari Meat’s delicious mild pork sausages.

1 medium onion, chopped small

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lb ground beef (I used 0.686 kg)

2 pork sausages (remove the casing)

2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 eggs

2 Tbsp butter (or coconut oil)

1 zucchini, grated

1 carrot, grated

1 stalk celery, chopped small

1 tsp each oregano, basil, parsley, salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook onion, garlic, zucchini, carrot, celery in butter in a large heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, herbs.

In a separate bowl, combine the beef, sausages, eggs with hands. Add in the cooked vegetables and mix together well (use a spoon as it’s hot and I burned my hands!).

Pack mixture into a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees F until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center of meatloaf registers 155 degrees F. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. (I found that there was a lot of fat in my meatloaf, so rather than adding any oil to my Carrots and Brussels Sprouts, I used this tasty fat – and it was good).

Carrots and Brussels Sprouts

Carrots and Brussels Sprouts

The combination of flavours and textures of these two vegetables work really well together.

3 Tbsps unsalted butter (or use the fat from the Meatloaf – I drained half-way through cooking time)

3 lg carrots, cut into ½ inch thick slices on the diagonal

1 lb Brussels Sprouts, washed and halved lengthwise

Pinch salt and pepper

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup water (not necessary if you use the fat from the Meatloaf as it has enough water in it)

In 2 Tbsp of butter, in a heavy skillet over medium heat cook the carrots and Brussels Sprouts with salt and pepper, stirring occasionally until vegetables begin to brown (3 to 4 minutes). Add water and cover skillet and steam vegetables until vegetables are tender (5 minutes). Stir in vinegar and remaining tbsp of butter.

Leftover mashed cauliflower, mashed with roasted squash.

Leftover Medley

I’ll be honest, I find the most delicious combinations when combining my leftovers! The night before we had the Meatloaf we had mashed cauliflower, and for lunch today I roasted some carrots and squash to have with my sprout and green salad. Neither was enough on its own, but mashed together the two were delicious! If I didn’t have leftovers, I probably would have added either some squash or turnip to round out the flavours of this meal – or if you wanted to have a rice-like texture, chop up steamed cauliflower and broccoli into small rice-sized pieces, and they would be perfect!

Dinner last night was so tasty that I have to share it with you!

Yesterday, I visited a new butcher (Copari Meats) in Newmarket with whom I had a great discussion about the difference in taste between grass-fed animals and those produced on large scale Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO).  For more information, I encourage you to watch the video American Meat available free online at http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/23/american-meat.aspx.

After our discussion, I picked up four of his mild pork sausages (as well as some venison dog food), and this is how I put dinner together.

Simmer gently to combine flavours for about 10 minutes.

Sausage Meatballs with Onions and Peppers

4 Mild Sausages, cut up into 1 inch slices

1 Onion, diced

1 Bell Pepper, chopped in chunks (I actually used 2 half peppers for colour – orange and red)

1 can (398ml) Eden Organic Diced Tomatoes with Roasted Onion

Pinch salt, basil, oregano, parsley, chevril – I’m not exact, but about ½ tsp of each

Over medium heat, gently brown the sausages. Add in the onions and cook in the oil from the sausages. Once the onions are softened and fragrant, add in the peppers and stir into the onions and sausage. Sauté for 3 to 5 minutes. Add in the tomatoes and spices and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Steam the cauliflower until fork tender

Mashed Cauliflower

½ cauliflower, cut into florets

2 Tbsp butter

Pinch salt, parsley

Steam the cauliflower until fork tender – about 10 minutes. Transfer the cauliflower into a food processor with butter and spices and puree until the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Wash, then cut off stems and chop into 1.5″ chunks.

Cover and steam for 5 minutes – should be bright green colour.

Rapini

1 bunch of rapini, stems cut off and chopped into 1.5 inch sections

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil

¼ cup water or vegetable stock

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) to drizzle over the top

Over medium heat, warm a cast-iron pan until the butter melts. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant but not brown – 2 – 3 minutes. Toss in the rapini, and the stock or water and allow to come to boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Drizzle with 2 Tbsp of EVOO and serve while still bright green in colour.

Sausage Meatballs with Mashed Cauliflower and Rapini

Serving this on a plate, I put the mashed cauliflower down first, topped with the sausage meatballs. Then the other 1/2 of the plate I filled with the rapini. If you are not a fan of rapini, you could replace it with collard greens, kale, spinach, swiss chard – all cooked the same way. Or if you prefer, a salad would be a great accompaniment too!

Comments from my teenage son – best dinner ever Mom! He ate 4 helpings.