Paleo Chicken and Veggie Meatloaf

In our house, this is referred to as "Pumpkin Loaf Chicken".  Since that name needs a lot of explanation (fear not, there is no pumpkin in this), I renamed it for the purposes of this blog.

Back in the days before we switched to eating Paleo, I baked (and cooked) a lot.  One of the things that I made quite often was a truly spectacular, laden with sugar and gluten, pumpkin loaf.  I assumed that because it was home-made, did not have a lot of sugar in it compared to other recipes and had a vegetable in it (pumpkin counts), it was a pretty healthy treat for my munchkins.  Both of my older children enjoyed helping me make these treats and really enjoyed eating them.

Flash-forward a few months and our eating habits had radically changed.  As I have written about before, the transition for my 3 year old was not easy.  When I figured out this recipe, it was a godsend!  He not only ate it, he ate it with gusto.  He loves this for dinner - and when he was being particularly picky with food, he would eat this for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner at times.  It has good protein and a lot of vegetables in it.  If I put a cauliflower in front of him, he would lose his little mind, but in this it because magically palatable to him.  It was he who dubbed this particular dish "pumpkin-loaf chicken", because it is cooked in the same loaf pans that we used to bake with.

Paleo Chicken and Veggie Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground chicken
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp kelp granules (optional)*
• 1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce**
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup finely chopped carrots (or 1/2 cup carrot puree)
• 1 cup pureed or mashed cauliflower

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

I like to beat the eggs at the bottom of a large bowl first.  Then I add all of the remaining ingredients and mix it with my hands.  I coat a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray (I use an olive oil spray) and press the mixture into the loaf pan.  Cook for 50 - 60 minutes.

As with almost everything I cook, I always double this and make two.  I then slice it up into individual portion slices, put the slices into sandwich bags and then the sandwich bags go into a large freezer bag.  This way I can pull out a single serving of "pumpkin loaf chicken" for lunch or dinner for the kids on an as needed basis.  You can also substitute 2 lbs of ground turkey for the chicken, which I do from time to time.  Alternatively, I have been known to use 1 lb of ground turkey and 1 lb of ground chicken mixed together.  Although I have not tried this yet, there is no reason why these wouldn't make for good meatballs, if that form is more likely to make it into your picky eaters!  (Meatballs with a Paleo-friendly marinara sauce would be good...)

* A note on kelp granules: Paleo diets are not particularly high in salt.  When you don't eat any processed foods, you don't eat any table salt, which is the kind that is iodized.  (When I do eat salt, it is either sea salt or kosher salt.)  I also don't eat a tonne of seafood, another good source of iodine, and neither do my sons.  (My husband and daughter eat a lot of sushi, so they're probably good.)  To make up for the possible nutritional gap, I've purchased Maine Coast's  "Organic Kelp Granules" and I shake it into my cooking where appropriate.

** I have yet to find Worchestershire sauce without sugar in it.  Since it is hardly a huge feature in this recipe, I don't fuss over the minute amount of sugar that would make it into any individual serving.  However, if you are eating really strictly Paleo or doing a "Whole 30", you could substitute coconut aminos for the Worchestershire sauce.  It won't have the same flavour profile, but it will still turn out good!


The kids' dinner plates, with a bonus special appearance by Marie.