Sun-Dried Tomato Meatloaf

I'm sure you could probably use more ground turkey in this, but I pretty much stuck to the recipe (except adding ground turkey sausage instead). Oh, and I cut back on the liquid just a touch as I thought it would be too wet. Although, I was surprised when I started mixing it that it really wasn't. So you could probably double the milk and get away with it. The only thing I might have added was a little chopped garlic. For the version in the picture I cooked two servings in a meatloaf pan (two piece that allows you to drain the fat easily). That's why it's so flat as the pan would likely have taken 6 servings easily.

3 pounds lean ground beef (85% used)
1 pound hot italian turkey sausage (500g package)
2 small onions chopped (8oz used)
2 cups instant potato flakes (150g)
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup milk (could probably use the full cup)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp italian seasonings
6 Tb chopped sun-dried tomatoes, not oil packed (used 50g)

Mix the beef and sausage together. Add in the rest of the ingredients, mixing well. Divide into portions and freeze (I use plastic sandwich bags). I basically weighed the ingredients as I went and totaled them up, dividing it into 12 servings. For me this was 260g per serving.

To cook, thaw overnight in fridge, press into an appropriate pan and bake uncovered at 350F for an hour. If possible, drain the fat off after about 45 minutes. I usually brush a little ketchup over the top as a glaze.

Calories (per 1/12th): 410 cals (24g fat, 34g protein, 14g carbs)

Eye of Round Roast

The original recipe for this was for a 3-lb roast. You were to do 7 mins/pound for the first stage, and then turn the oven off. I read some of the comments on the site it came from, and made some adjustments to the seasonings. I would think that with a smaller roast you would have to go back closer to the original recipe. I didn't trim the small amount of fat until the meat was cooked (as the entry I used from my calorie counting program didn't have a 0 fat entry anyway).

1 eye of round roast (7-lbs used)
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder

Preheat oven to 500F. Season the roast on all sides with the salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Place on a rack in a roasting pan, with a little liquid beneath it. Do not cover. Put roast in oven and reduce temperature to 475F. Cook at this temperature for 5-mins per pound (7 if a smaller roast). Reduce temperature to 200F and continue cooking for approximately 3 hours. Check internal temperature of the roast, cooking until 145F (this is medium rare).

Trim any remaining fat and wrap roast in aluminum foil and let cool. Putting it in the fridge overnight will make it easier to slice. Slice as thinly as possible, as thick pieces will be tougher. A 7 pound roast yielded just over 5 pounds of cooked beef. The pictured roast was about 143F when I took it out of the oven. The second time I went to 146F, which sliced up slightly better.

Cals: 1oz cooked - 53cals (19 fat, 34 protein)

Eye of Round Roast

This is a crock pot recipe which is going to vary depending on how big a roast you use. This was made from almost exactly 6lbs (2 roasts), divided into 20 portions of ~2.7oz of meat with 3Tb of reduced gravy. I'll give nutrition information at the end. It really is a two day recipe, as the roast is too soft to slice well when removing from the crock pot.

6 lbs eye of the round (2 roasts), well trimmed
1 Tb oil
12 oz onions, sliced
15 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 Tb chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp pepper
4 cups beef broth/stock
1 cup dry red wine

Using the 1Tb of oil, soften the onions and mushrooms in a pot. Place in the bottom of the crock pot and place the roasts on top. Don't worry if there's almost no room left, the roasts will get smaller as they cook. Add the beef stock and red wine to the pot used for the vegetables along with the garlic, bay leaves, and pepper. Boil the liquid until reduced by half. (Careful, this can boil over easily.) Pour liquid over the roasts and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours. Lift roasts out, wrap in foil and cool in fridge overnight.

In batches, using a blender, puree the liquid left in the crock pot until relatively smooth. Put into a pot and cook down until volume is reduced to approximately 4 cups. (This amount will give you 3Tb x 20 portions with a little room for error.) Cool overnight with the roasts. The next day measure out portions desired and place in baggies with 3Tb of gravy. Tie baggies closed and freeze until needed.

The above made 20 servings (this will depend on size of roasts and portions).

Calories: 214 (31g protein, 8g fat, 3g carbs, 1g fiber)

Notes: Recipe made with roast weighing 2.71kg (5.96lbs). I always measure vegetables, so you need not use the exact oz from the recipe. This was just what I used. Obviously you will need to recalculate the nutrition information based on changes. Although the vegetables and wine are not needed, they add a richness to the gravy, which I like. I reheat on the lowest setting on the microwave until hot.

Spicy Meatloaf

This is meant to be a cajun meatloaf, but finding andouille sausage here is tough, so it's become a spicy meatloaf using Italian sausage. I think it was a combination of meatloaf recipes that I adjusted to suit me. I always divide and freeze this before baking, so I'm not sure how it would work as a full loaf. For a dinner for 2 - when reheating, I chop potatoes and onions and put them in a 9x13 glass dish and dust them with a little salt, pepper, and non-stick spray. I'll cook these for about 30 minutes at 400F, stir the veg, then add two meatloaves (in pyrex custard cups) upside down - so the loaves are still covered, but the onions and potatoes aren't. Turn the heat back to 350, cook for 30 minutes. Carefully lift the custard cups off and return to the oven for 15 minutes. You can brush the loaves with a touch of ketchup to glaze if you want. I serve this with a big pile of broccoli.


1 1/2 cups chopped onion
3/4 cups chopped green pepper
3/4 cups chicken broth

Drop the onion, green pepper, and chicken broth into a large pot and bring to a boil. Simmer until mixture is quite dry. Cool completely before finishing the recipe.

1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1/2 pound hot italian sausage
100 ml egg substitute (2 eggs)
1 cup oat flakes
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 Tbsp hot pepper sauce
1 Tbsp worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tsp roasted red pepper mix (we buy it dry, you could probably skip this)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp dried cumin
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix beef and sausage together first, then add the rest of the ingredients, including the pepper and onion mixture. Divide into 8 portions and freeze (I use sandwich bags). Using a scale, the last day, this was just over 7 ounces each, although depending on how dry you've made the onions/peppers this will vary.

Lift out of the freezer the morning you're going to cook them and leave in the fridge. Form into loaves (well, round mounds) and bake at 350F, covered for 30 minutes, uncovered for 15. This is really quite a hot recipe, you may want to adjust. If you cook the onions and potatoes around it they will also pick up the heat from the juices.

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1 (of 8) servings: 369 calories, 23g fat, 16g carbs, 24g protein
Note: this does not include onions and potatoes.

Basic Meat Sauce

This worked out to approximately 18 cups. It was divided into 9 double portions. I cook it in two large non-stick pots and then combine it at the end. It works out to 336 calories per serving. I've used it for baked pasta dishes (it can be stretched out this way), over spaghetti (a higher cal meal for most), or over spaghetti squash (actually very good). It can be made in smaller portions, just watch the oil. When making smaller batches you might be better off dumping the onions in with the beef when browning.

4 lbs lean ground beef
8 cans (28oz) diced tomatoes
6 medium onions
1 1/2 lbs mushrooms, sliced/chopped
8 Tbsp tomato ketchup
16 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp oil
Italian seasonings (4 Tbsp to start, then to taste)
salt
pepper

Put 1 Tbsp oil in each of two large non-stick pots. Divide onions and mushrooms between pots, add a small amount of salt and pepper, then brown over medium heat. (In fact, from this point, just assume that you're dividing every ingredient.) Turn up heat and add garlic and ground beef, stirring until beef is cooked. Put in canned tomatoes, ketchup, and a couple of Tbsp of italian seasonings and bring to a boil. Lower heat so you get a low simmer. (If I'm around and able to stir frequently I'll use maybe 4, but if I'm doing other things I'll pick Low and stir ever half hour.) When you're getting close to the consistency you want taste seasonings and add more italian seasonings if desired.

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This is something I probably simmer for 6 or 8 hours, on low, only stirring every hour to start with, and every 30 minutes towards the end. Let them cool down, combine the pots and divide up. If you want a more precise calorie count, the entire dish has 6040 calories (using lean ground beef with 15% fat). You could then measure how many cups you end up with and go from there. Note: I made a half recipe of this after writing it out, and it ended up with 13 cups, so you can see it really does depend how long you cook it.

Sometimes I add hot pepper flakes, although you lose a lot of the heat when freezing, so it's better to add it in when reheating. Seasonings can be refreshed when reheating from frozen as well.

1 (of 18) servings: 336 calories, 17g fat, 24g carbs, 23g protein