Sneaky Meatloaf with Ground Beef and Lentils

If you have a reluctant eater or just want to get more vegetables into your diet, this sneaky meatloaf is a great start. Kids won't even realize they're eating a heaping serving of veggies.

• Preparation Time: 20 mins
• Cooking Time: 1 hr 50 mins
• Total Time: 2 hr 10 mins
• Calories: 380 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ cups water
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• ½ cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 1 small onion, quartered
• aluminum foil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, or to taste (Optional)
• 1 cup uncooked green lentils
• 1 small red bell pepper, roughly chopped

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Step 2

Combine water and lentils in a heavy pot, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are soft, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes. Remove lid, but do not drain. Set aside.

Step 3

Combine bell pepper, carrot, onion, and celery in a food processor; pulse until veggies are cut into very small pieces. Remove vegetables to a large bowl. Add lentils to the food processor and process until pureed; add to vegetables.

Step 4

Add ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, salt, and pepper to the vegetable-lentil mixture. Mix ingredients together with your hands until well incorporated. Shape meat and vegetable mixture into a loaf and place in the middle of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.

Step 5

Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Remove foil and bake until top is browned, 5 more minutes. Top with tomato sauce and bake 5 minutes more. Garnish with parsley.