Meatloaf Recipe: MMM....Bacon

After I was diagnosed I felt like my world came crumbling down. I cook. I cook for love, for comfort, for stress, for my family and for nourishment. Telling someone, who spends more time in the kitchen than any other place in the house, that they cannot eat the food they have been preparing for 15 years felt like a big ol' kick in the gut!

It took about 6 months for my food anxiety to settle down. I instantly felt like everything was being taken from me. I could no longer run (adrenal fatigue) and I was too scared to cook or eat foods that other people prepared for me. Every place I went I felt like someone was going to poison me. Mostly because I had spent the better part of 10 years saying that gluten intolerance, sensitivity, allergy, and celiacs were all made up as a hoax to help people chose a new trend. Clearly, I believed that the karmic world would come back to me for belittling an entire culture of people trying to heal their digestive tract and hence the rest of their lives. 

After the initial 6 months of being terrified of food and basically living on smoothies and gluten free garbage from the grocery store. I slowly began to get my confidence back in the kitchen again. I started by trying all new recipes (short story, I'll save you the reading, I failed...miserably). It was a waste of my time and a waste of money. Then I realized that about 70% of the meals I had so much practice making were safe for me minus one or two substitutions. Then and only then did Sharissa get her groove back (see what I did there). With taking my already honed skills in the kitchen and making only minor tweaks, I was back. Finally I could feed my family again. So from now on I plan to share with all of you every Thursday either one of my own recipes that should look similar to your regular weekly meals or I'll share a fellow bloggers foolproof recipes that I have tried and successfully enjoyed.

Tonight for your viewing pleasure (too bad there is no such thing as smell-a-screen) my "throw all the crap in your fridge into a bowl, mix it together and call it Meatloaf" 

Recipe: Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1. 1 Medium Onion

2. 1 large carrot or two small carrots

3. 2 cloves of garlic

4. 1 cup of mushrooms

5. 2 lbs of ground meat of your choice (I do 1 lbs turkey and 1 lbs ground beef)

6. 1 egg

7. 2 tbsp almond meal

8. 3 slices of bacon (optional)

9. Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Dice ingredients 1-4 and saute until fully cooked and soft

2. Mix 1-7 and S&P  together in a bowl

3. Form into a log on a sheet pan

4. Cover the meatloaf with the 3 strips of bacon

5. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until fully cooked (time may vary depending on how thick the meatloaf is)

6. Serve with some yummy root veggies and prepare to be comforted.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe and it becomes a super quick and simple weeknight meal for you!