If you are on the lookout for amazing and tasty new meals to try out, then this cowboy meatloaf and potato casserole recipe is a great option for you. It makes for a superb dish on a weeknight that your entire family will enjoy.
Cowboy meatloaf generally makes for a meal that as expected, has amazing western flavors. The best part is it never gets overpowered by any of the ingredients that are used in the process of making it what it is. Preparing this meal is a fun process that involves some mixing, mashing and baking as can be seen in the recipe below.
Recipe
Ingredients:
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs (use dry bread crumbs)
1/4 cup Jack Daniel’s® Barbecue Sauce, Honey Smokehouse™
1 pound ground lean meat (choose beef or turkey)
3/4 cup onion (finely chopped)
1tablespoon fresh leaf parsley (chopped)
2/3 cup Mexican blend cheese, shredded
3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup evaporated milk (canned)
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup crumbled real bacon (cooked)
1/4 cup crispy fried onions, canned
1 egg (lightly beaten)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 package Ore-Ida® Steam n’ Mash® Cut Russet Potatoes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Directions
Preheat your oven to 375°F
Grab a baking dish (a 9 by 9 is recommended) and spray it with some nonstick cooking spray for coating.
Mix your beef, breadcrumbs, egg, onion, barbecue sauce, the chili powder and salt in a bowl. Make sure you are using a large size bowl and once the ingredients are well mixed, press them gently into the bottom part of the coated baking dish.
Bake it in the oven while uncovered for about 20 to 25 minutes or just until the ingredients are well cooked.
Carefully remove the baked ingredients from the oven. In case there is any excess fat, pour it off. You can then adjust the temperature of your oven to a broil then ensure your oven rack is placed between 6 to 8 inches away from the source of heat.
Meanwhile, you can microwave the potatoes carefully following the instructions found on the package.
Grab a large bowl and in it mix your hot potatoes, parsley, garlic, butter and the milk. Mash the mixture until smooth using a strong potato masher. In order to achieve better consistency, use an electric mixture.
Add the bacon and your fried onions into the mixture and stir properly.
Spread it evenly all over your beef mixture and sprinkle some cheese on it.
Broil it until the cheese turns light brown. This will usually take between 3 to 5 minutes.
Serve hot with some barbecue sauce.
The barbecue sauce added in this recipe definitely adds depth and some tang to the dish. The bacon, fried onions and cheese make your cowboy meatloaf even tastier. Remember, you can make use of the time it takes to broil your mixture to clean up a bit so that you have an easier time afterwards when you are completely done preparing the dish and eating.
Cooking tips that will help in weight loss
In case you are on a weight loss journey, you can observe certain cooking practices that will see to it that you maintain the weight loss while you still get to enjoy such a tasty meal. Some of the cooking tips that will help with weight loss include:
Going for lean meat
For this cowboy meatloaf and potato casserole recipe, you can either go for beef or turkey. Whichever you choose, it is important to look at the labels so as to ensure it is ninety percent lean. You also have the option of asking the butcher to grind up the turkey. This will help cut down the calories.
Using a nonstick spray to coat the pan
While using a nonstick spray for coating your baking dish is highly recommended, how you do it could go a long way in adding on to your calorie intake. Spraying it on your pan for six seconds or more means you are adding 36 calories and about 4 grams of unwanted fat. While it may not sound like something to be alarmed about, it does add up in the long run.
You could solve this by going for nonstick pans instead when you are cooking or opt for either a silicone mat for baking or some parchment paper. As such, you will not need a lot of nonstick spray and can thus cut on your calorie intake.
Rinsing your vegetables properly
While it may sound simple, rinsing your vegetables thoroughly will to a great extent help you cut down on your calorie intake and help you maintain your weight loss. This recipe for example, involves the use of onions and potatoes. These are healthy but the residue of pesticides on them if not properly washed could make it more difficult for you to burn calories.
The pesticides are pollutants that cause slow metabolism. To solve this, scrub your onions as well as other vegetables you will be using for about 30 seconds. This will see to it that any pesticides left on them are eliminated. Another great solution is to buy organic vegetables instead as these do not contain pollutants in high concentration.
Keeping the fat
For a lot of people trying to lose weight, banishing ingredients in the recipe such as the cheese or even butter that have high calorie count or fat might seem like the right thing to do. However, this might not be the case. On the contrary, the fat takes more time to digest meaning you stay fuller for a longer period. These ingredients also add more flavor to the dish, thus promoting your level of satisfaction. You will therefore not experience frequent hunger pangs. So instead of banishing them completely, sprinkling your cheese on the dish and keeping the butter is a better way to go. Aside from helping you maintain your weight loss, it will increase the amount of nutrients you take in.
Having read gone through this recipe and tips to help with weight loss while preparing the dish, you should be well on your way to preparing and enjoying this delicious cowboy meatloaf and potato casserole.
