Feeding the Active Writer

This time, a basic meatloaf recipe that I call "Meat and Fiber Meatloaf".

I've posted meatloaf recipes before.  Those recipes, while perfectly serviceable and quite tasty, have to basic problems:  They shrink in cooking leaving a freestanding "cake" of meatloaf surrounded and half soaked in standing liquid, and (probably related) they tend to fall apart in taking them out of the pan and portioning them.

Traditional meatloaf recipes call for bread crumbs, crushed cereal, oatmeal, or some other grain as one of the ingredients.  But, low carb, so that's not an option for me.

Regular readers of Feeding the Active Writer will note, however that I've previously given a recipe for a no-carb flax meal bread (or muffins).  And, so, the thought occurred to me that I could use these as the bread in a meatloaf.  The problem was that making up the flax bread, then crumbling it to add to the meatloaf, would be a tedious, time-consuming process and fails the "active writer" part.  I don't have a lot of spare time so quick and easy has to be the watchword.

But, I thought, did I need to actually make it into bread?  Could I just add the flax meal to the meatloaf and cook it all together.

Why yes; yes I could.

So, here we are

Meat and Fiber Meatloaf.

Ingredients:
3 lb ground chuck (leaner cuts also work).
1 cup ground flax meal.
1 cup chopped onions
1 12 oz. can tomato paste.

In the past I'd mix the ingredients in a bowl then dump them into the slow cooker, but, you know, why?
Put a slow cooker liner in a 4 or 5 quart slow cooker. (Optional, but it makes cleanup a breeze.)
Dump the ingredients into the lined slow cooker.
Thoroughly mix the ingredients together.
Cook on low for about 10 hours.
Eight servings.

This is a very basic, and quite plain, meatloaf.  But you can use it as a springboard for other things.  Add seasonings, use salsa instead of tomato paste, top with cheese, whatever you like to do to kick your meatloaf up a notch.

Enjoy.