Italian Meatloaf

 

This is a great comfort food and it made a great meal with the zucchini noodles or zoodles as we call them, (low carb version). I used Dave's gluten free butternut squash pasta sauce which we really like better than regular pasta sauce, (picture of the jar below).  You can pick a jar up at many grocery stores here in Utah, so check out you local store and you might be surprised that they have it.  It's a little pricey but we think it's worth it. I'm betting you would like a hefty meatloaf sandwich with any leftovers.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 of small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 lbs. ground beef
• 3/4 cup Italian style breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (not the canned stuff)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• dry Italian seasoning
• 4-5 slices very thin pre- packaged ham
• 15 or so spinach leaves
• 1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• Dave's butternut squash pasta sauce or Prego traditional pasta sauce
• cooked pasta or Zoodles 

In this second picture as you can see I didn't seal the ends good enough and cheese oozed out, so make sure you seal the ends good after you roll it up.

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat olive olive oil and saute onion and peppers for about 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl , add ground beef, bread crumbs, parmesan, eggs, tomato paste, salt, pepper parsley and onion pepper mixture.

Using your hands blend everything until well combined.

Take a large piece of parchment paper and lay it out on the counter.

Place your meat mixture in the center.

Pat mixture out to form a rectangle about 8" x 15".

Very lightly sprinkle dry Italian seasoning over meat.

Top rectangle with a layer of ham, tear it into pieces, a layer of spinach leaves and then a layer of mozzarella cheese, leaving a one inch border all around .

Starting at the 8 inch end, roll the meatloaf up, jelly roll style, using the parchment paper to help guide you.

Press down on top seam to seal and place seam on bottom, press the ends together very well to seal. The ends are important or you will have melted cheese leak out like I did.

Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes in preheated oven.

Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Serve topped with pasta or zoodles and pasta sauce.