Rio Grande Meat Loaf

So D made this. He cooked it for 35 minutes. If he cooked it any longer it would have been a brick. It was really dry. Not bad but dry. I liked the flavor. It would have been better with cheese. We had it with salsa and sour cream. We also had with Southwest Potatoes.

Rio Grande Meat Loaf

Yield: 8 servings Sandwich suggestion: Serve leftover meat loaf slices i (serving size: 2 slices)

1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons minced seeded jalapeño pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
4 taco shells, finely crushed (about 1 1/2 ounces) - used broiled corn tortillas
2 egg whites
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 pounds ground round
Vegetable cooking spray

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine first 12 ingredients in a large bowl, and stir well. Crumble beef over vegetable mixture, and stir just until blended.

Pack mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 1 hour (maybe 30 minutes but not 60) or until meat loaf registers 160°. Let meat loaf stand in pan 10 minutes.

Remove meat loaf from pan; cut loaf into 16 slices. Serve with commercial salsa, if desired.

CALORIES 234 (29% from fat); FAT 7.5g (sat 2.3g,mono 3.2g,poly 0.9g); IRON 4.1mg; CHOLESTEROL 66mg; CALCIUM 31mg; CARBOHYDRATE 11.6g; SODIUM 483mg; PROTEIN 28.9g; FIBER 1.9g

Cooking Light, MARCH 1996