(48.3% Meat)Loaf Stretching Meat Part 3

(I know this is not meatloaf.  This is the sweet and white potato mash with cottage cheese I plopped on Loaf #2)

You know I'm all about the Frugal Eco Farm Fresh Feasting, how I stretch meat by making tacos, and burgers.  I do not hide vegetables in other dishes.  I am completely aboveboard with my family when it comes to adding additional vegetables in traditionally non-additional-vegetable foods (like eggplant in the spaghetti sauce or spinach in the pizza crust).

Ok, I lied, in fact I've totally been known to slip a beet into a blueberry smoothie, though I try to own up to it if I'm asked a direct question involving specific vegetables.

But when I make meatloaf, the family totally knows that there's more than just meat in that loaf. When I saw ground pork marked down at the store, I knew it was time to make up a batch of meatloaf, Farm Fresh Feast style.

Today, we weighed the ingredients (and apparently didn't take photos), did the math, and in fact, this "meat" loaf contains 48.3% meat.  What's the rest?  I'm glad you asked. Meatloaf for me is more of a concept recipe, as Alanna of A Veggie Venture and Kitchen Parade would say.  I use a mix of meats (usually ground beef and pork), a bunch of veggies, something dry, and some sauce.  Sometimes I add an egg or two if it seems too loose.  Sometimes I add salt and pepper or other seasonings. I make this into 2 small loaves and freeze one uncooked for a later meal.  Luckily I took some photos of the second time 'round.

Turkey Pesto Spinach Pizza (Pizza Night!)

Cubed turkey tossed with pesto then used to top pizza with spinach and cheese.

For more recipes using spinach, please see my Spinach Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. Speaking of Visual Recipe Indices, there's also the Visual Pizza Recipe Index. I've got a Greens board on Pinterest where I share likely recipes, follow me there, some behind the scenes stuff on my Instagram feed, and even more recipes and articles on my FB page. Want to know How to Use this Blog? 

new photo from 2015!

This was my second attempt at the 'make a pizza using leftover turkey' concept.  I'm posting it before the first one (which was also quite delicious) primarily because I'm just in a spinach mood.  I'd gotten bunches of spinach from the farm share and it was finding its way into everything.

Since I keep a stash of pesto in the freezer, it's easy to grab a couple of cubes when I want to add a hit of basil flavor to a meal.  This was no exception.  I set the pesto cubes in a bowl to thaw and tossed the cubed turkey on top, so it became marinated in the pesto by the time I was ready to top the pizza.

Spinach (and other greens such as Swiss chard, kohlrabi greens, broccoli rabe, and kale) give up water as they wilt.  (This makes perfect sense since the cell structure of the plant is destroyed with heating, releasing this water.)  Because of this, I usually precook greens before topping my pizzas.  [Good grief, I put a lot of greens on a pizza.]  I was feeling wild 'n crazy, though, and just tore the spinach into small pieces this time.  Worked great.  I had frost-kissed spinach, as the farmers put it.  This spinach is thicker/tougher than a tender Spring spinach.  Even the tiny leaves are tough.  If you've got a bag of baby spinach, skip the 'tear out the rib' step--unless your composting pigs would appreciate it!

Zucchini-Refried Bean-Corn Enchiladas (cooking from the freezer stash)

These vegetarian enchiladas are stuffed with shredded zucchini, refried beans, and sweet corn. This hearty filling can be made with previously frozen squash, helping you to use your August zucchini crop in recipes year round.

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A zucchini recipe this week?  And it's March and there's snow all over?  The blog is about using the farm share all year long, you know.  And where I live (not much grows during the winter) that means getting creative!

Yep, that's over 7 pounds of Squashzilla one week in July.  Volunteer--I didn't plant that.

When your garden gives you this overabundance, you need to be creative.  When your garden is producing this amount and you're getting weekly boxes from the farm share, you need to think outside the box.


Unfortunately for me, when I'm surrounded with farm fresh vegetables at the height of the season, I am not always thinking clearly.  It's so easy to have a salad, or zucchini pancakes, or some simple unadorned veggies in the summertime.


Fortunately for me (and you!) my family gave me a rockin' awesome food processor for Mother's Day. I'd put an affiliate ad link in here to show you, but the only ones coming up are ridiculously expensive.  It's a simple Kitchen Aid, I think it's a 9 cup.  Beats the snot out of the Braun food chopper I was using before. Bed Bath and Beyond coupon-worthy.


Luckily, while my brain was unable to think outside the (farm share) box in the summertime, I grabbed the Fine Shred disc of my food processor and reduced all the Squashzilla to freezer bags of shredded squash.  I've added a few here and there to meals.


Today I had a hankering for enchiladas.  We so enjoyed these enchiladas, but I didn't feel like waiting to roast a squash out of the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve in the corner of the breakfast nook.  I did, however, have a can of refried beans and my put up veggies in the little fruit and veg freezer.

Thinking outside of box?  Got it covered.