Going Back for Seconds

I love making my husband smile.  We have almost been married one whole year, and I still get so excited when my Heroic Husband smiles.  I especially love when he is studying God's Word, and he breaks out into a huge smile.  It reminds me of the first time I heard him preach.  He was smiling so big from the pulpit as he proclaimed God's Word.

This is the same smile : )

I have always loved cooking for myself - because I know what I like to eat.  But cooking for someone else has been an newlywed adventure.

One of the first things I made for HH was meat loaf.  Now, it was good, but not great.  I had never made meat loaf for anyone before - thus, I was just happy that it was edible.

A few weeks ago, one of our caring church members shared her vegetable garden bounty with us.  I got several HUGE zucchinis - which I made chips out of - yellow squash, onion, tomatoes, and quite a few other veggies.  I had an inspiration.  I wanted to try to make meat loaf - or I should clarify, turkey loaf - for dinner.  The only problem is that turkey loaf takes a while to cook - and when you do not get home from work until late - and when you have workout plans made with your husband - there really isn't time to cook turkey loaf.

I had another inspiration.  I remember seeing several recipes for crock-pot meat loaf on Pinterest.  I decided to give it a try.  I cut up my veggies, got my spices, mixed in the meat, molded my loaf, put it in the crock-pot, set it on low, and went to work.  When I came home... a wonderful aroma met me.  I left the crock-pot on warm while we went to a local high school track to run.

When we came back, I got a knife to cut the meat loaf - but it started to fall apart as I cut it - not because it wasn't cooked - because it was that tender.  I spooned some turkey loaf onto my plate and HH did the same.  It was delicious!  I was so excited.  And then I looked at HH - and he was gone... he had gone back for seconds!

My recipe is a little different from most meat loafs.

Ingredients

• 1 Pound of Ground Beef or Turkey
• 1 Cup Grated Zuchinni
• 1/2 Cup Grated Yellow Squash (or Carrots)
• 1/2 Cup Minced Onion
• 1/2 teaspoon Basil
• 1/2 teaspoon Sage
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Flaxseed
• 1 Tablespoon Brown Rice Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Pumpkin Seeds

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients - and mix them well.  The veggies like to try and escape.
2. Mold into a loaf shape.
3. EITHER
   Bake at 350 F for about 1 hour uncovered (because of the liquid from the zucchini, it make take a little longer)
   OR
   Put in crock-pot on low for 8 hours (I actually put mine in for 10 hours - just to be sure - and it was fine perfectly tender).
4. Spoon out and SMILE!