Veggie Meatloaf, Rock Asparagus and Rosemary Sweet Potatoes

For dinner last night we had Vegetable Meatloaf with Balsamic Glaze, Rock Asparagus, Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes and for dessert...grapes!  It was all very good, but my favorite dish was the sweet potatoes.  I just love sweet potatoes and it's an added bonus that they are a super food (excellent source of Vitamin C!).  As for asparagus, they are not only yummy and good for you, but they are a very low calorie vegetable!   The meatloaf was tasty too and I love that it was full of colorful veggies.  Hope you and your family enjoy this meal as much as we did!
~Davis



click here for the original VEGETABLE MEATLOAF WITH BALSAMIC GLAZE recipe
(from: Food Network)

I made quite a few changes to this meatloaf recipe, so here's my "cleaned up" version:

Ingredients:

• -2 tablespoons olive oil
• -1 small zucchini, diced
• -1 red bell pepper, diced
• -1 yellow bell pepper,  diced
• -5 cloves garlic, minced
• -1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional-I omitted this ingredient)
• -Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• -1 large egg, lightly beaten
• -1 tsp. dried thyme
• -4 tsp. dried parsley
• -1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (90 percent lean)
• -1 1/2 cups whole wheat breadcrumbs (I used slices of my homemade bread and pulsed it in the food processor-this replaced the 1 cup Panko from the original recipe)
• -6 oz. organic tomato paste (divided)
• -2 tsp. honey
• -1/2 tsp. onion powder
• -1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• -8 slices of cheese (we used provolone)

Directions:

-Preheat the oven to 425.  Heat oil in pan and saute the zucchini, bell peppers, garlic and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper.  Set vegetables aside to cool.

-Whisk the egg and herbs in a bowl. Add to the egg mixture the turkey, breadcrumbs, 4 oz. of the tomato paste, 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar and the vegetables.  Mix together all ingredients.

-Put the mixture into a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Stir together the remaining tomato paste, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, honey, onion powder, salt and pepper (to taste - I used 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper), and 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes in a small bowl.  Pour the mixture over the entire loaf. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

-Slice meatloaf and top each serving with  cheese.  

click here for ROCK ASPARAGUS recipe
(from: Dr. Oz)

Ingredients:
-fresh asparagus
-olive oil
-kosher salt
-dried thyme
-dried oregano
-dried bail
-black pepper
-tomatoes (optional)

click here for ROSEMARY ROASTED SWEET POTATOES recipe
(from: Ezra Pound Cake)

Ingredients:
-sweet potatoes
-olive oil
-Rosemary (I used 1 tsp. dried rosemary)
-fresh garlic
-pepper
-kosher salt
-nonstick cooking spray
-chopped walnuts