Mom's Healthy Meatloaf Recipe

We ate my mom's healthy meatloaf recipe when we were children, because it was a vital part of our meat and potatoes diet. On a good day, my mom would make it my father's favorite way, with 1/3 pork, 1/3 lamb, and 1/3 beef. She would mould the meatloaf into mounds on a cookie sheet and sear it in the oven at a high temperature, reducing the oven heat for the rest of the cookie. My dad liked it this way because it made the meatloaf mound crusty.

A few times, the mound was a little too well-cooked. The meatloaf mounds looked (and tasted) more like burnt golf balls with ketchup on top. We ate them anyway. To this day, my sister thinks my mom is the best cook ever.

I adapted mom's recipe with a healthier blend of meat, and I use a conventional meatloaf pan. I take the loaf out of the pan when it has cooled slightly so that the meatloaf does not soak up the surrounding fat from the meat.

Makes 8 servings
1 white onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 egg white
1/4 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1.5 pounds lean ground beef (at least 85% lean) or ground turkey (extra lean ground turkey may be too dry)

1. Mix together all ingredients in large bowl except meat.
2. Add meat and mix together well with hands.
3. Put meatloaf in 8x4 loaf pan, sprayed with cooking spray.
4. Bake in 375 oven for 1 hour, or until a thermometer registers 160 degrees.
5. Cool for 15 minutes and remove loaf from pan. Do not let the loaf stay in pan and soak up the grease.
6. Serve warm, or cool and then refrigerate for meatloaf sandwiches. Meatloaf will be easier to cut when it is cooler.

Serve with oven baked sweet potato fries.

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