Picky Eaters

 We LOVE meatloaf in our house, so I made it a new mission to try and 'healthify' this favorite. I have 2 boys that know every excuse in thebook as to why they can't eat their vegetables. I make it a habit to steam/puree vegetables to hide in meals. The other night I made a crockpot full of ribs and added a cup of puree sweet potatoes to the sauce....they were delicious and the ribs were devoured. Ryan, if you are reading my blog here's a little FYI for ya - there was pureed sweet potatoes in your ribs the other night...hehe

This meatloaf contains 1/2 cup cooked quinoa(mixed into hamburger), 3 servings of vegetables(broccolli, carrots and celery), 3 tbsp real bacon bits chopped up fine and 1/2 cup pureed sweet potato(mixed into sauce on top of meatloaf)

                                                     Quinoa Meatloaf
Mix hamburger as usual with desired spices, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup cooked quinoa (1/2 cup uncooked quinoa in 1 cup chicken broth), dash of GF worchestershire sauce (is there anyone that can pronounce this word properly?), salt & pepper and bread crumbs (for those of you gluten ingesting folks(sniff sniff). Once hamburger is mixed well, pat it flat onto wax paper and make it into a rectangularish shape.

 Saute desired vegetables (carrots, broccolli and celery cut up quite fine) and then place on bottom half of hamburger pattie. I add 3 tbsp of real bacon bits on top of the veggies to unhealthify it. If you are like me, I hate touching raw meat so I find the easier, cleaner way to roll it up. Use the wax paper to make your hamburger into a tight log and then pat the ends in so the veggies don't fall out.

For my topping I use 1/2 cup sweet potato puree, 1/4 cup ketchup, big squirt of mustard and 1 heaping tbsp brown sugar (which could really be made into 2 tbsp by the time I'm done with it) and drizzle over meatloaf.

Dinner....is served!