Meatloaf and smashed potatoes



I had developed a collection of odds and ends in the fridge which needed to be used up, and lent themselves to a meatloaf. The recipe follows, and — due to the fact that it's made up of odds and ends — almost all quantities are approximate:

• 2 pounds regular ground beef
  which I bought so I could use everything else up


• 1/3 cup of salsa
  the rest of the jar went into my stuffed bell peppers


• 1 tbsp. of ketchup
  this was the last of the bottle


• 1/2 jar of shitake mushroom tapenade
  which I opened for use as a sandwich spread


• 1 cup kamut bread crumbs
  the majority of these went into the potato stuffing I made for the Christmas turkey


• 2 eggs


• 7 cloves of fresh, organic minced garlic
  I'm going to have to use the rest of the jar of cloves up by mid-February


• 1 tbsp. of granulated, roasted garlic seasoning


• sea salt

The smashed potatoes are made with baby yellow potatoes, vegan margarine and sea salt.

I've also made up a batch of brownies, tweaking the recipe this time by using twice as much vanilla, adding about 1-1/2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and replacing the confectioner's sugar with Coco Natura's coconut sweetener.