My Best Meatloaf EVER

I think I've mentioned here before that I love sausage. I mean, seriously. Any kind of sausage you throw at me, I'm going to devour. Unfortunately, a lot of said sausage is high in fat. In flies turkey sausage. Welcome to my Diet Heaven. Turkey sausage was a breakfast MUST when I was completely carb free. Now I can have oatmeal, and when I can, I have an amazing Irishy breakfast by adding some sausages. Sausage makes everything better.

This recipe originally came out of the Bride & Groom: First and Forever Cookbook. Usually, meatloaf is held together with some breadcrumbs. Obviously, that isn't an option here. The taste doesn't suffer at all to leave the crumbs out entirely. However, the loaf doesn't hold together and come out in pretty slices. That is something I'm willing to sacrifice when I'm just cooking for Scott and myself. I will be experimenting in the near future with alternatives to breadcrumbs in holding it all together. Until then, the depth of flavor in this loaf is worth the not-quite-held-togetherness.

In the Gilliland house, meatloaf is traditionally served with green beans and Kraft mac and cheese. I've heard in other families, mashed potatoes and some other green thing is an accompaniment. Since neither of these options are available, you can see in the picture I served with mashed sweet potatoes. Delicious, but not even close to mac and cheese. *sigh* Someday, I will have mac and cheese as my splurge of the week and man will it be good. Anyway, if you can't have sweet potatoes, just some sauteed green beans would be delicious!!

My Best Meatloaf Ever

• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 c milk (omit if not using breadcrumbs)
• 1 c. breadcrumbs (omit if going low-carb)
• 4 tsp. worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 c. canned tomato sauce (ketchup if you aren't watching sugars)
• 1 lbs. lean ground beef
• 8 oz ground turkey breakfast sausage
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp Montreal steak seasoning
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until tender. Transfer to a large bowl.
3. Combine milk & breadcrumbs (if using) in small bowl. Set aside.
4. Combine 1/4 c. tomato sauce (or ketchup) and 2 tsp worcestchershire sauce in another small bowl. Set aside.
5. Add ground beef, sausage, remaining tomato sauce/ketchup, and worcestchershire sauce, egg, seasoning, garlic powder and bread crumbs (if using) into bowl with onions. Mix until just incorporated. (Be sure to evenly mix the sausage and ground beef. Sometimes it is easier to do this before adding the other items).
6. Mound mixture in a 9x5x3 loaf pan. Bake 45 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and pour off some of the fat.
8. Spread tomato mixture from step 4 on top.
9. Bake until internal temperature is 160° (about 30 more minutes)
10. let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Carb options
Pretty obvious here--use breadcrumbs! Also, accompany with your favorite tradition, whether it's mac and cheese (definitely my recommendation!) or mashed potatoes (with cream and chives!), or sweet potatoes! Enjoy!

Herbed Roast Pork and Roasted Asparagus with Gruyere

This Herbed Roast Pork recipe came from Cooking Light Magazine (October 2008). They did a wonderful article and recipe collection on the Shakers, and I have found this to be one of the most simple and delicious ways to make a pork tenderloin. I did make one small change to the recipe. The original Shaker recipe calls for 1 1/2 Tablespoons (Tbsp) of butter for the herb "paste" that is rubbed onto the tenderloin. In order to lower the fat, I have replaced the butter with olive oil. Contrary to popular belief, this roast pork can be a quick dinner! This entire dinner plan can be on your table in about 30 minutes.

The Roasted Asparagus with Gruyere is my own creation. Gruyere is a hard, yellow cow cheese from Switzerland. It has a pretty strong, nutty flavor which I think goes perfectly with crisp roasted asparagus. The asparagus recipe is directly following the pork. Place your jelly pan of asparagus in the oven just after removing the pork and roast while the pork rests.

Herbed Roast Pork

• 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 2 1lbs. pork tenderloins, trimmed (just cut off any excess fat on the outside of the tenderloins if necessary)
• cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 475°. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Rub oil mixture evenly over pork tenderloins. Place pork on a broiler or roasting pan coated with cooking spray.
3. Bake in oven for 17 minutes, or until a thermometer registers 155° (slightly pink).
4. Let stand 5 minutes; thinly slice.
Yields: 8 servings of about 3 oz each.

Roasted Asparagus with Gruyere

• one bunch fresh asparagus, trimmed (bend at the bottom until asparagus "pops". You can do this with each asparagus, or you can pop a few stalks and then cut all others at roughly the same point)
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• gruyere cheese

1. Arrange trimmed asparagus in one layer on a jelly roll or other shallow baking pan.
2. Drizzle with olive oil lightly. Toss with hands to evenly coat all stalks.
3. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Toss with hands again.
4. Place into oven (still heated at 475° from the pork!) and roast about 10 minutes, shaking the pan about halfway through to loosen the asparagus. Asparagus roasting times can vary, so watch carefully. You want the asparagus to maintain a bright green color, and be a little wrinkled.
5. Using a cheese slicer, or vegetable peeler, shave thin slices of gruyere on top of the asparagus.

Carb options for others
Not everyone is on a low-carb diet. My husband enjoys his breads, and does not need to worry about weight loss, so I like to provide him with the well rounded meal including carbs. When I made this meal, I simply made some crescent rolls (from a can, I know... gasp) in the toaster oven for him.

I hope you enjoy this first recipe! Again, if you have any suggestions for recipes or another section to include (like wine pairings or alternative side dishes?) let me know!