Happy Fall everyone. As soon as school starts and the weather cools, I start to crave meatloaf.

This is the southern meatloaf recipe I grew up on, with one twist. When I was in college, a friend named Matt, made meatloaf with me and insisted we use oats instead of bread crumbs, and that’s been my meatloaf secret ever since.

If you want to make this keto friendly, add one cup of almond flour instead of oats.

What Meat Makes a Good Meatloaf

People argue back and forth over what ground meat is appropriate for a meatloaf and it really depends on what you’re looking for. I like flavor, and I’m not opposed to mixing in some ground pork or ground lamb, if I happen to have it. Generally, though I use a mix of lean and fatty beef. If I’m using grass fed beef, (my optimal choice),  I will add in some fat (olive oil) because the meat is so lean.

One of the mistakes people often make with ground beef is packing it too tightly, making it tough. This true for burgers and meatballs too. A gentle touch allows the fat and flavor to move around.

My Key Ingredients for an Authentic Southern Meatloaf Recipe

I like to use vegetables like green bell pepper and onion, but very very finely chopped and most importantly, pre-cooked. The sautè ahead of time busts out the flavor,  and I personally do not like the texture of raw veggies in my meatloaf. You could also finely process zucchini if you needed to add more moisture.

Eggs are a catch 22. You need the egg to hold it together but too many eggs can make it too loose.

Ketchup, Mustard, Worcestershire. These are the flavor boosters. I tend to add a few tablespoons of a ketchup and mustard and a good soak of Worcestershire. I think it’s the anchovies that bring it.  I look for a sugar free ketchup and dijon mustard, but good old yellow mustard is fine too.

We use these gluten free oats which add moisture  and create a wonderful texture.  Oats are also practical. Your mix can be more evenly consistent.

How to Top a Southern Meatloaf

This meatloaf is topped with a can of tomato sauce. This recipe makes two meatloaves that each fit into loaf pans, but I like to make mine free-form.

You will probably see recipes that top meatloaf with barbecue sauce or add maple syrup or brown sugar to ketchup. I don’t care for sweet food, but you can certainly do that. I stick to what I grew up on, and enjoy a more savory take on Southern meatloaf.

Topping: Ketchup or a can of tomato sauce. I like it both ways. I grew up with a tomato sauce topping, but I also like a ketchup topping like this one I made last week. G. Hughes sells a great sugar free ketchup.

Serve Delicious Sides with Southern Meatloaf

Meatloaf simply has to have mashed potatoes (or mashed cauliflower if your watching carbs). Either of these choices makes me feel special, happy, satisfied, and well fed.

• Homemade Mac N Cheese
• No Lumps Mashed Potatoes
• Southern Fried Corn
• Green Beans Almondine
• Easy  Twenty Minute Collard Greens

More Ground Beef Ideas

Ground Beef Recipes for Easy Family Dinners from Spinach Tiger

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Big Fat Healthy Southern Meatloaf, Made with Oats

Southern style meatloaf recipe, moist, and easy simple dinner.

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Total Time 50 minutes minutes

Servings 10 servings

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds ground beef see notes
• 1 cup gluten free oats
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
• 2 tablespoons green bell peppers
• 1 large onion
• 2 tablespoons worcerstershire sauce
• 2 medium sized eggs or 1 extra large egg
• 1 tablespoons chopped parsley
• salt
• black pepper
• 1 small can tomato sauce or 1 cup ketchup

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Keep the ground meat loose. Compacting will make the meatloaf tough.
• Seed and chop bell pepper.
• Dice onion to a fine dice.
• Heat oil in pan. Sautè bell pepper and onion on low for about ten to twenty minutes until very softened.
• You want the vegetables to cook down very fine.
• Once softened, cool.
• Mix all ingredients except the tomato sauce together, keeping the meat loose.
• This recipe will make two meat loafs and will fit into two loaf pans, or you can bake them freehand as I do.
• Form into two loaves. Top with tomato sauce (or ketchup). I like it on the sides also.
• Bake until the temperature reaches 160 degrees inside, about 30 minutes. Allow to sit for ten minutes before cutting, or meatloaf may fall apart. It will continue cooking.
• Meatloaf is extra good, refrigerated and reheated. This is a perfect do ahead meal.

Notes

You can make this recipe keto friendly by replacing the oats with almond flour. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1of 8

The post Big Fat Healthy Southern Meatloaf Recipe, Made with Oats appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

Yesterday I made a  big fat healthy blueberry crisp. Today I made it again. It was that good.

Oats are naturally gluten free, and I used a quinoa flour (the first time ever), but you can use all purpose flour for this too.

Usually a fruit crisp is an apple crisp. I remember long ago working in a restaurant in college that was known for its apple crisp.  We often served it with vanilla ice cream and it was one of the desserts we were allowed to eat. Now here’s a funny side note. We weren’t allowed the cheesecake, but we would just mess a piece up and then be free to eat away. Those days as a server were good memories, because we all had each other’s back (and appetite). Even back then, as I got my degree in psychology, I should have recognized my obsession with food.

I always looked forward to my shift because management was generous with the staff and we didn’t have to pay for our food, like I see restaurants do now.

The Blueberry Crisp Recipe is so Easy

I’m a pie crust and blueberry person, but I have to say, this is good. It’s the kind of recipe I already plan to make all over again today. The house smells so good, like cinnamon oatmeal cookies.

It has chops because of the nutty, crunchy, cinnamon topping. It has many lives. It can be breakfast with yogurt. It can be dessert ala mode. It can travel to a potluck (where this little dish went). It’s super kid friendly (although you might want  to leave out the nuts for kids who are nut finicky. It travels to picnics, and can be the on the run snack or breakfast on the way out the door. It’s super easy with very little prep time.

Have I convinced you yet? I’m not finished.

It transfers well with other fruits. Try peaches, mixed berries, apples, pears, plums, nectarines, or cherries Add a tiny amount of maple to the top during the last few minutes just to give it that extra something something.

Let’s talk substitutes for healthier version of the Blueberry Crisp Recipe

• You can change the flour to gluten free all purpose flour.
• You can change the brown sugar to a sugar substitute (maple syrup) or sugar free (swerve or stevia).
• You can use walnuts, almonds, or pecans, or skip nuts altogether.

Spinach Tiger has many gluten free big fat healthy recipes. The most popular are the gluten free biscuits and the grain free biscuits (almond flour). I always have many blueberry recipes that can be adapted with swerve and this gluten free flour, or make them just as they are.

More Blueberry Recipes

More Gluten Free Baking Recipes

More Grain Free Baking from Spinach Tiger

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Blueberry Crisp, Gluten Free, Sugar Free

Easy gluten free, sugar free blueberry crisp made, great for dessert or breakfast.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 cup Swerve Brown Sugar an erythritol blend
• 1/2 cup gluten free flour (
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup rolled oats I used this which is gluten free
• 1/2 cup nuts chia seeds, etc. (optional)
• 4 tablespoons 1/2 stick unsalted butter at room temperature, cut into pieces

Instructions

• Mix flour and oats, sugar, cinnamon, in one bowl. Add nuts if you are using them.
• Add in chunks of butter. Press some of the butter with your fingers in the mixture to make oats stick together. As this bakes, you get a nice crispy crust.
• Toss blueberries with lemon juice. Put in a baking dish.
• Top blueberries with mixture.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is golden brown and crispy.
• Serve hot or cold.
• Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

The post Gluten Free Blueberry Crisp Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I never thought I would shouting be out ground chicken meatballs, but shouting out I am.

I like beef, veal, pork. I don’t eat turkey or chicken sausage. I almost have an Italian attitude about such things. But then I saw ground chicken that was so healthy looking and more importantly lower in calories, perfect for the days I’m eating light.

You may know by now Spinach Tiger, who loves food all day every day, has integrated the Every Other Day Diet into her life style. It’s alternate day fasting that requires a maximum of 500 calorie days 3 times a week. Not to panic, I’ve earned my kitchen chops and knew I could at least make decent food, so I wouldn’t cry. I’ll talk more on that soon.

It all started when I read this book cover to cover, and knew I found a plan for my foodie life style.

I can do anything for a day, especially knowing that tomorrow I can eat ribeye. It works. I’m trimming down and getting through all these many food events without giving up eating those amazing bites you see on instagram.

Ground Chicken Meatballs are Low Calorie, High on Taste

Seven small meatballs are only 240 calories. You could leave out the oats to bring the calories down, or go completely low carb,  but they don’t attribute that much.

Ground chicken meatballs are just delicious for any day and fit almost any diet. I used gluten free dry oats as a bit of filler, eggs, parsley, parmesan cheese, and rosemary.

Here’s more good news. You can make ground chicken meatballs, freeze them raw and bake frozen. They are done in about 10 minutes.  I’m going to have these in my freezer at all times.

Chicken Meatballs with Blackberry Barbecue Sauce, a Great Appetizer

The first time I made these, I served them with a blackberry preserve. Simple and fantastic. You can also mix some blackberry preserves with barbecue sauce, and make a great appetizer.

The second time I made ground chicken meatballs, I served them on a bed of sautéed brussels sprouts and red quinoa. This picture was loved on instagram which tells me many of you appreciate healthy food, especially when it’s this appealing.

You could also make chicken meatballs Italian style, using my grandmother’s tomato sauce.

The next time, I’m thinking of making an Italian wedding soup with them. I’ll come back and give you the recipe.

More Meatball Recipes

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Ground Chicken Meatballs Recipe

Low Carb, Wheat Free, Gluten Free Chicken Meatballs with Italian Flavors

Course Entree

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 24

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup dried gluten fee oats order here leave out for Paleo
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese (or Pecorino)

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients. Sometimes ground chicken is very wet. If this is case, use a paper towel to absorb moisture.
• Roll into 12 large or 24 small meatballs.
• I use a cookie scoop.
• You can bake from this point or freeze. Freezing makes meatballs easier to handle.
• I scoop into a cleaned egg carton. Once frozen, place in freezer bag or bake.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes (for small) 20 minutes for large.

The post Ground Chicken Meatballs, Gluten Free, Paleo appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

I’m happy to say that this gluten free oatmeal cookies recipe is just as good as any oatmeal cookie recipe I’ve baked. I’ve made a few different oatmeal cookies recipe here at Spinach Tiger, but only today it occurred to me to ice them the old fashioned way. This means that the cookie dough recipe does not have a lot of sugar, because the glaze is plenty sweet.

Then I made them again and browned the oats which took them yet to another level. Both ways are good. Toasting the oats give them more interest, more nutty flavor.

Use heavy cream to make an authentic oatmeal icing.

Options for Old Fashioned Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies Recipe with Icing

• Make them with browned butter or toast oats in butter.
• Add dried fruit, raisins.
• Add nuts, almond butter or peanut butter.
• Add chocolate chips.

Unlike some of my gluten free baking, I got lucky and this recipe worked for me the very first time.

The texture is more cake than crisp, but that’s what I wanted. I remembered an oatmeal cookie that I would purchase one at a time at a little grocery store called Ma n Pa’s in Long Beach California which sells prepared food. I looked them up and they are still there, but I don’t know if they still make their legendary oatmeal cookie. Sometimes I would stop in there just to get that cookie.

I like these because you can freeze the dough, freeze the cookies and keep on hand for snacks.

Let’s connect. I would love for you to come back for more gluten free baked goods and so many healthy choices. You’ll find such a variety of delicious food here. Please subscribe and never miss a recipe.

More Gluten Free Baking

Gluten Free Strawberry Scones

Gluten Free Blueberry Mascarpone Tart

Gluten Free Cherry Dutch Baby

Gluten Free Almond Tart

More Gluten Free Recipes from Spinach Tiger (Go Here) 

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Gluten Free Iced Oatmeal Cookies

Gluten Free Iced Oatmeal Cookies

Course Gluten Free Cookies

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 35 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups gluten free flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups gluten free oats made in gluten free factory
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg1/2 teaspoon vanillaorder here

Icing

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons heavy cream.

Instructions

• Mix flour, salt, baking soda, set aside.
• Melt butter in large frying pan.
• Add oats, cinnamon. Cook on low for five minutes stirring frequently.
• Add in brown sugar. Mix well.
• Turn off heat.
• Add egg to milk.
• Add vanilla.
• Stir in flour.
• Add this matter to the oats.
• Mix well. Cool enough to form cookies. At this point, you could chill batter or bake cookies.

Icing

• Add a tablespoon of cream at a time to confectioner's sugar and mix well to get the consistency you want.
• Spoon icing on cookies while they are still hot.
• Cool before serving.

The post Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies Recipe appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

What if I told you that I took a Channel design and reworked it just a little bit to fit my shoulders and my smaller waist. Instead of a white belt, I added in a red belt, and suddenly people that like the original design took a second and third look.

That will never happen because I flunked sewing in high school. I got a 67 for a very awful dress using a Sear’s pattern. It was a white, sleeveless shift that burns in my memory because I am the only person in the classroom who was so sewing challenged that I kept ripping out stay stitching. You sewers just laughed out loud didn’t you. Stay stitching is just stitching around the cut pattern, so that threads do not pull. It gets cut off in the end and does not matter. I actually got a zipper in the dress and even wore it out in public once just to salute my own effort. Years later, I purchased a fairly decent sewing machine and had such a hard time threading it, I gave it away unused!

In my own defense I custom made all the draperies in my home, even the ten feet tall ones with lining. No one knows I glued everything together and used that stitching magic. I found a way to get what I want in spite of deficiencies.

The moral of my story is that there is no Channel dress, but there is a designer cookie from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery cookbook, sitting in a pretty dish with just a small enough adjustment to make it my own. I’ve been lucky enough to eat  at the Bouchon bakery  and the Bouchon Restaurant in Napa, so this book is most assuredly on my Christmas wish list. I’ve read nothing but rave reviews of this cookbook and I’m ordering one today. One thing I already know is that Thomas Keller says to throw your measuring cups away and use a food scale, which is more accurate and takes one of the many finicky variables out of baking.

The recipe is fabulous. It’s the right texture, with a crispy outside and a chewy inside. Instead of a mixture of two kind of raisins, I used golden raisins and the most wonderful dried bing cherries I’ve ever tasted, purchased at Costco.  They are so large, they have to be chopped up. They are so sweet, you can cut back on the sugar in the cookies, something I tend to do anyway.

These are my go to oatmeal cookie forever. I saw it the recipe at Eva Bakes. I’m going to tell you right now, go ahead and make a double batch. You can freeze the dough or freeze the cookies, but it probably won’t come to that. You can do what my husband likes to do and add chocolate chips or do what I love to do and add a little bacon.

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Crispy, Chewy Perfection

The best oatmeal cookie adapted from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery Cookbook, using golden raisins and dried cranberries.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes minutes

Total Time 38 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour / 144 grams
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon / 7 grams
• 1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup + 3 1/2 tablespoons lightly packed light brown sugar / 140 grams for original recipe
• 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar / 69 grams
• 11 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature / 155 grams
• 1 egg / 62 grams
• 1-1/4 tsp vanilla paste you can use pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats do not use instant / 155 grams
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped cherries or cranberries mix the fruit to your preference to add up to 156 grams

Instructions

Dry Ingredients

• Whisk together cinnamon, baking soda, salt flour in a bowl. Set aside.

Wet Ingredients

• Cream butter at medium speed.
• Add in both sugars and mix on medium for 3-4 minutes. See notes.
• Add egg.
• Add vanilla paste or extract.
• Add dry ingredients a little at a time.
• Add in raisins and dried cherries.
• Roll into even sized cookies (about 31 grams).
• Cook for 15 to 18 minutes (check at 15) in oven of 325 degrees. Cool completely.
• You can freeze these cookies. Let them defrost In one layer at room temperature.

The post Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This past week we traveled to the Smoky Mountains. We stayed at Blue Mountain Mist Bed and Breakfast in Sevierville, a place of charm and scenery. This picture is the view from the breakfast room, and what a way to start the day.

Expecting long hikes in the mountains and a long drive, I made granola bars that would sustain two four-year olds and the big people too.

This recipe is unusual in two distinct ways. It’s made partially on top of the stove the same way I made these brown butter granola bars, but this time I used spelt flour.  I have been wanting to be more responsible in my baking and use alternative flours when I know it won’t affect the integrity of the recipe. Most of what holds this bar together are oats so one cup of spelt flour worked out just fine and gives me hope for future baking.

I do warn you, though, I use lot of butter  and that what makes it taste so  good.

The oats are toasted on top of the stove in the butter, followed by carrots,  nuts, raisins and honey.  You could stop  there and have yourself a topping for some yogurt or ice cream and call it a day. But, pushing further, a batter made from spelt flour and eggs  is added in to this mixture and baked to a crunchy, buttery, chewy bite that is “crack” addictive. I rarely eats more than a bite or two of baked goods, but I  had to take drastic measures to stop.  I quickly took my photos and wrapped these up for the trip because one bite just leads to the next.

By the end of the trip, the container was emptied quickly and eagerly. These are great cookies for everyone. High in fiber, high in energy and they travel well on planes, trains and automobiles.

Tell me, do you have any special snack food you must travel with?

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Butter Pecan Oatmeal Spelt Granola Bars

Granola Bars, made with spelt flour, toasted oats, and pecans. A great treat for traveling or breakfast.

Servings 8

Ingredients

• 1 cup spelt flour can use all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup carrots grated
• 1/3 cup raisins can use dried cranberries or other dried fruit
• 1/2 cup pecans chopped
• 1/3 cup raw sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

• Combine flour, baking soda, salt in mixing bowl. Set aside.
• Melt butter in large frying pan. Add in oats for about five minutes, or until they are nutty and toasted. Add in nuts and toast for a minute and add carrots and raisins. Add white and brown sugar. Cool.
• Beat eggs and add in flour mixture, honey and vanilla.
• Add flour batter to oats mixture.
• Bake in a sheet pan for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees. This time will vary. I bake in a convection oven, using a stone baking pan.

Notes

These are not super sweet and if you like sweet add in another third cup of one of the listed sweeteners.

The post Butter Pecan Oatmeal Spelt Granola Bars appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

This is not a Christmas cookie. These are an “anytime” cookie, but especially suited for travel, whether by car, plane or train, and that is why I’m giving you these for Christmas. I made these in the summer, and I’ve been holding back just waiting for the right time.

Substantially packed with nutrition, taste, and satisfaction, these are the perfect snack to hold you or your family over until you land, or arrive at your destination. And, if you know of a friend that is traveling for the holidays, why not make up a batch and deliver them the day before their trip.

I created this cookie as a protest against all the trickster breakfast bars and toaster tarts that companies want you to think are good for you and your family. I wanted taste and texture to be outstanding. I wanted an oatmeal cookie that went beyond and above the norm.

I ended up with a brown butter oatmeal cookie made with carrots, raisins, and whole wheat flour that will be the best oatmeal cookie you have ever eaten.

These are seriously addicting the way that kennel corn is addicting. The flavor and texture grab your taste buds and urge you to feast.

The fun begins as all the ingredients are toasted in butter before baking.

This almost looks like a granola, but there are no nuts and it’s chewy. You can try other dried fruits such as dried cranberries or blueberries, but in our taste tests, the raisins win out, even with people who are not raisin lovers.

The mixture can be put in bar pan, or formed into cookies. I did both.

I need to warn you that these are extremely addicting. They are no ordinary cookie. I could tell you that the when cut into bars and put into Tupperware, they last as long as two weeks, but I doubt you will need to know that.

Recipe for Brown Butter Oatmeal Travel Cookies
Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup finely grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour or all purpose
• 1 teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs at room temperature

Instructions

1. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda,salt,sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg.
2. Melt butter in large frying pan. Add oats, and continue to stir until oats appear toasted.
3. Add carrots, stir for about a minute. Add Raisins and honey.
4. Allow mixture to cool.
5. Add vanilla to eggs, beat just to mix.
6. Add flour mixture to eggs to make a batter.
7. Add batter to oats mixture.
8. This is when you want to get your hands into this and make sure everything is mixed well.
9. Form into cookies or put in bar pan. If you do use a bar pan, pack lightly.

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes at 375
Bake in bar pan 25-35 minutes at 375

The post Brown Butter Raisin Oatmeal Travel Cookies appeared first on Spinach Tiger.