Meat Loaf: It Can Be Healthy

Tonight's fare: Meat Loaf, boiled potatoes, green salad, cooked green beans

Meat loaf can be a surprisingly lean meal. Dan is a big fan of meat loaf sandwiches so I make a loaf for dinner and then he eats it all week for lunch. Here's a link to my favorite meat loaf recipe. Its easy, tasty, and pretty fast. I usually use lean ground beef for the meat, but have also used ground turkey or elk. If you do use a super lean meat like turkey, I might suggest mixing in a little beef just to make the end result more juicy. Turkey and elk meat can be pretty dry. If you're not a beef eater, add a little extra olive oil to your recipe and watch the oven closely so it doesn't bake too long and come out dry.

If you don't have Lipton onion soup mix on hand for this recipe, here's an alternative. I like the above link better, mostly because its so easy, but the following is pretty doable in a time crunch.

Italian Meat Loaf (from Progresso)

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (you can use bb sauce if you don't have Worcestershire sauce)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon ground mustard (or use actual mustard if you don't have ground)

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 clove garlic (I use 1 tablespoon minced garlic)

1 egg

3/4 cup bread crumbs (I like Italian, but the taste may be a little overwhelming for some)

1 small onion chopped (1/4 cup)

1/4 cup ketchup

1. Heat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients except ketchup.

2. Spread mixture in ungreased 8x4 or 9x5 inch loaf pan. Spread ketchup over top.

3. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours or until beef is no longer pink in the center. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

*Makes 6 servings*