Balsamic Meatloaf

BEEF, KID FRIENDLY, WEEKNIGHT MEAL

Balsamic Meatloaf with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans

by Tiffany March 15, 2019

Have you ever heard of Hello Fresh? I’m sure you have by this point, meal delivery services are pretty mainstream now-a-days. And for good reason. There is something about getting a nice little package delivered right to your door that has everything you need to successfully make dinner for several nights. To top it all off, everything is portioned just perfectly so you don’t have to measure or worry about buying the right amount, you just dump and go for the most part. We are pretty big eaters and still feel satisfied with the portions for the most part. Every once in a while we have had a meal that we felt lacked in protein or bulk, but that is definitely the exception.

Even better, I save the recipes when I’m done – because they are made on nice, full page sized cards with step by step instructions. I’ve got my self a nice little Hello Fresh cookbook going at this point. If I’m being honest, many of our favorite meals can be found in that little book. The best part here is that I can customize them to really fit what we like. If I felt that we had too much of the grain or not enough protein, I can adjust those numbers to fit us. Odds are good that I have a coupon code if you, dear reader, are interested in getting some money off of your first box just leave a comment or shoot me an email and I’ll hook you up!

Anyway, enough raving about Hello Fresh and onto the recipe! Individual sized meatloafs are genius. They remove all the parts of making meatloaf that I don’t like. No big, crumbly hunk of meat that takes an hour to cook here. No, you get nice, personal size, firm meatloafs that cut the way they should but are still juicy and delicious. I will likely never make a full size meatloaf again. And obviously, balsamic vinegar makes everything better so it’s only natural that it is included here.

The sides here are delicious too. Give me all the roasted veggies! While roasted green beans don’t have the same life-changing effect that roasted broccoli does, they are still delicious and I serve them this way often. The sweet potatoes are put together with butter, honey, and salt which are a few of almost everyone’s favorite things. They add a nice sweetness that really completes the meal.

We have much love for Hello Fresh and much love for this recipe – though I did add my own touch and portioning to the recipe listed below.

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Balsamic Meatloaf with Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans

Tasty single serve meatloafs that cook quickly and are served with honey butter sweet potatoes and roasted green beans.

• Author: Tiffany
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 Servings

Ingredients

For the Meatloaf:

• 1 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1 yellow onion
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup panko
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pepper
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

For the Sweet Potatoes:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup honey
• Salt to taste

For the Green Beans:

• 12 oz green beans, ends trimmed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.
• Skin and dice the sweet potatoes and trim the ends of the green beans.
• Put diced sweet potatoes in a large pot, cover with water 2 inches above the top of the potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook until fork tender, about 15 minutes.
• Using a cheese grater, grate the onion into a medium bowl. Add in the ground beef, parsley, panko, garlic, salt and pepper. Using your hands, mix well and divide into 4-6 portions. Shape each portion into a log shape on the prepared baking sheet.
• Mix together the ketchup and balsamic vinegar. Brush mixture over the mini meatloafs using a pastry brush or spatula.
• Bake for 25 minutes.
• In a bowl or a gallon sized bag, mix the green beans, olive oil, salt and pepper until all of the green beans are coated. After the meatloaf has cooked for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and add the green beans to the same pan and cook it all together for the remaining 15 minutes.
• Once the sweet potatoes are fork tender, drain the water. Add in honey, butter, and salt and mash together.

Notes

• I like to use ground chuck whenever I can find it.
• I don’t always peel potatoes when I intend to mash them because I’m lazy. And Fiber! But I do peel them here. Something about a slightly desert-ish potato makes me want to give it a little more finesse.
• Feel free to cook the green beans on their own pan. Just line it with aluminum foil or parchment paper the same you did your meatloaf pan. Remember my last point – I’m lazy, ha! Less dishes is a win in my book, but it’s just as easy and if you line the pan you cook the green beans on then you don’t have to wash it nearly as intensely. Or at all.