Back when my son was a toddler he was veggie-phobic, which admittedly broke my heart bit-by-bit on a daily basis. To bypass his bias, I would sneak veggies wherever I could, hiding them in smoothies and in this meatloaf, which became a family favorite, making its debut during the inaugural Glorious Greens Challenge in 2015.
I’m happy to report by age 4 his tastes broadened and now he’s open to almost anything (except seafood, so I still have some work to do)!
Give this recipe a try to get in a little extra veg for yourself or a reluctant family member and let me know how it goes!
Ingredients
• 2 lbs of ground bison (beef, turkey, or pork can be used if bison is unavailable)
• 3 eggs, whisked
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 of a red bell pepper, chopped small
• 2 tbs of olive oil (to sauté vegetables)
• 2 cups of vegetable pulp or mixed vegetables, blended until chopped fine (broccoli, chard, carrots, peppers, zucchini, whatever is in the fridge!)
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
• 1 tsp of oregano
• 1 tsp of thyme
• 1/2 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce, or ketchup
Directions
Preheat oven to 350º F. Sauté onions and peppers over medium heat in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil until just tender. Add vegetable pulp, garlic, and spices to the sautéed vegetables in the pan, stir gently. Remove saucepan with vegetables from heat, set aside.
Put uncooked ground bison in a large bowl and pour the whisked eggs in and mix into the ground meat with your hands until just mixed in, then add the veggies from the saucepan and pour into bowl, mixing into the meat until it is well incorporated. Now form the mixture into a loaf shape and center in a loaf pan or meatloaf pan – it should be a little smaller than the size of the pan. You may need two loaf pans for this! Finally, pour over the BBQ sauce or ketchup to cover top and sides of the meatloaf.
Cook for 60-75 minutes. If you use a meat thermometer, the internal temperature of the meatloaf should reach 155º F. Avoid overcooking! Remove from oven and allow to set for about 10 minutes before slicing. This allows the egg to firm up a bit and prevents the meatloaf from crumbling. Add extra BBQ or your own sauce as desired and serve.
