Vegetable Meatloaf with Roasted Root Vegetables

Vegetable Meatloaf with Roasted Root Vegetables (adapted from LaaLoosh and KraftFoods, Servings: 6-8, Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes)

Vegetable Loaf

Ingredients

·         1 ¼ lb. Morningstar Farms burger crumbles, thawed

·         1 medium yellow onion, diced

·         1 large zucchini, shredded

·         1 large celery stalk, finely chopped

·         3 medium carrots, shredded

·         1 red bell pepper, finely chopped

·         ½ lb. mushrooms, chopped

·         4 garlic cloves, minced

·         ¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats

·         ½ cup unsweetened applesauce

·         2 Tbsp. tomato paste

·         ¼  cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

·         ¼ cup liquid egg substitute

·         ½ tsp. paprika

·         1 tsp. salt

·         1 tsp. black pepper

Instructions

1.)    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a loaf-sized baking pan with foil.

2.)    Spray a nonstick skillet with nonfat cooking spray. Saute the onion until softened – about 3-5 minutes. Add in the carrots, celery, and bell pepper, and cook for another 3-5 minutes to soften the veggies. Add in the zucchini, mushrooms and garlic and sauté about 3 more minutes.

3.)    In a large bowl, combine the burger crumbles, oats, parsley, egg substitute, applesauce, tomato paste, paprika, salt and pepper. Fold in the veggies.

4.)    Empty the mixture into your baking pan, and shape mixture into a loaf form with your hands.

5.)    Bake about 1 hour.

6.)    Remove from oven and let stand about 10-15 minutes. Cut into 6 equally sized slices.

Roasted Root Vegetables

Ingredients (all measurements are approximate because I had a lot of items from a CSA box to use)

·         1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed, cut in half

·         1 lb. turnips, peeled, cut into small pieces

·         ½ lb. new potatoes, cut into quarters

·         ½ lb. red potatoes, cut into quarters

·         ½ lb. purple potatoes, cut into quarters

·         ½ cup  KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing

·         ¼ cup Romano cheese

Directions

1.)    Heat oven to 400ºF.

2.)    Toss vegetables with dressing; spread onto bottom of 15x10x1-inch pan.

3.)    Bake 30 min.

4.)    Mix vegetables.  Sprinkle cheese on top. Bake 5 min. or until potatoes are tender.

I really wanted to make the Meatloaf recipe and had a ton of veggies from a CSA delivery, so decided to make the Root Vegetables to go with it.  I think it all ended up pretty darn delicious, although my husband would disagree.  He was not a fan of the meatloaf (probably too many veggies for him) and he was OK with the root veggies. 

I’ll start with the Meatloaf – the texture is not right for a meatloaf, it actually falls apart on your plate.  I recommend increasing the rolled oats to 1 cup or more and maybe taking out the egg substitute.  Other than that, I liked it!  There is a slight crunch from the onions and celery, but overall a very chewy texture.  The taste is slightly peppery/garlicky.  I definitely plan to make it again.

The Root Vegetables also ended up pretty good.  I’ve had Brussels Sprouts once and hated them, but I didn’t hate them in this dish.  They aren’t my new favorite vegetable, but they’re not bad.  I actually started cooking this at 350 for the first 30 minutes because the meatloaf was in the oven, then added about 10-15 minutes at 400.  The new potatoes were slightly undercooked, but everything else tasted good.  This was also my first time having a purple potato!  The taste wasn’t different from the other potatoes in the dish.  The Italian dressing and Romano cheese worked well with the vegetables.  I think that I’ll be making something similar when my next CSA delivery comes next week!