Ok, I must think of a new title. This is not exciting. but the final product was AMAZING. The consistency was perfect, no crumbles, no falling apart…etc. It was flavorful and I made 1 full meatloaf, 4 minis (and froze), and approx 30 larger meatballs. Dale and I finished those last week. SO GOOD.
I got my inspiration from Nom Nom Paleo – she’s awesome. But I looked through and tried to make it easier and work with what I had on hand. So, here’s the original and my version below. I might actually use some of her recipe name, it’s much more inspiring.
I made this with the intention of making a few freezer meals, so I used large amounts of ingredients. Just cut down to what you want and go to town. AND, I used my food processor to make it really easy on myself. I’m just kind of lazy, so it helped.
Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups chopped fresh spinach (I used baby spinach, it was small so I didn’t chop)
- 4 tablespoon bacon fat or coconut oil
- 2 cups finely chopped yellow onion (I used my food processor and pulsed a few times)
- 1 pound Cremini mushrooms, finely chopped (I used my food processor and pulsed a few times)
- 1 yam, shredded (used my food processor)
- 1-1.5 cups loosely packed chopped fresh Italian parsley (I used my food processor and pulsed a few times)
- 1 cup basil pesto (I get mine from Costco, super versatile, nummy)
- 2lb turkey, 2 lb pork
- 1.5 cup coconut flour (can’t taste anything coconut)
- 1 head of garlic, minced (you can cut this down if you want, you know I love garlic, so used a lot) (I used my mini food processor and pulsed a few times)
- 4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 5 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
- 6 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 3-5 bacon slicesfor the loaf, not the balls (that sounds bad, but it’s used as a meatloaf topper only, I didn’t put any in the balls, but you can if you want)
- Tomato sauce, warmed, for serving (optional)
How to:
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Heat up cooking fat of choice in a pan
- Put garlic in and onion in, let cook till almost soft
- Add shredded yam to pan, cook for a few minutes
- Then add shrooms, mix well
- Add spinach last, cook for a bit ultimately to get the liquid out as much as possible
- Salt and pepper as you go
- Put meat in bowl, mix together well
- Add yam mix to meat, basil pesto, eggs, salt and pepper and coconut flour. Mix well!
- Bacon – I baked my bacon a bit before I put it on the meatloaf, 300 degrees for 45 minutes, then put the slices on the loaf.
- Here’s where you can make what you want: loaf, mini loaves, meatballs, etc. If you are making a meatloaf topped with bacon, then put meat in meatloaf pan, put sliced bacon on top.
- For loaf: cook at 375 for about 45 minutes to an hour. Your bacon will be done perfectly. You’ll have liquid in the pan – and it will be bubbling like mad. When loaf is done, I take mine out, and CAREFULLY dump the liquid in the sink and let sit for 10 minutes before cutting into it. It’s pure beauty when you do.
- For a freezer meal: did the same as above, no bacon, covered and stuck in freezer. take out when ready to cook.
- For Meatballs: Make them as big or as small as you want. Cook them at 375 until done, this will depend on size. Again, mine were 2-4 ‘biters’ depending on how big your bites are. I left mine in for approx 35 + minutes.
OMG ENJOY.
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