Bulgur Mini Meatloaves, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Fresh Green Beans

The recipe for the meatloaves comes from the January 2007 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine.
For side dishes I made mashed potatoes (boiled potatoes with chicken broth rather than milk and butter), packaged mushroom gravy and fresh green beans boiled in salted water and topped with a little butter.

Bulgur Mini Meatloaves, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Fresh Green Beans

Makes 6 servings
9 points per serving
Approximate cost for this meal: $7

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups water
1 cup bulgur
1 pound lean (90% fat free) ground beef
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 jar (14-16 ounces) marinara sauce
salt and ground black pepper
2 pounds potatoes
1 pound fresh green beans
1 package powdered gravy mix

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a large jelly roll pan with foil. Spray foil with non stick cooking spray.

In a non-stick 1 1/2 quart saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion and cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in garlic; cook 30 seconds. Stir in water and bulgur; cover and heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 15 minutes or until bulgur is tender and liquid is absorbed. Transfer bulgur to a large plate and spread out to cool, about 5 minutes.

While the bulgur is cooking get the potatoes peeled and cubed and in a pan, covered with salted water.
Also snap off the stem end of the green beans and get those in a seperate pan with salted water.

In a large bowl combine ground beef, parsley, egg, 3/4 cup marinara sauce, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add bulgur mixture and mix with fingertips just until blended.

Shape meat mixture by scant cupfuls into six 4 1/2 X 3 1/2 inch ovals about 1 inch high in prepared jelly roll pan.

Bake meatloaves 20-25 minutes or until instant read thermometer inserted in center of loaves reaches 160 degrees.

While the meatloaves are baking, simmer the potatoes and green beans until tender. It should time out just right so that you can prepare the packaged gravy mix and heat the remaining marinara sauce during the last 5 minutes of the meat loaf cooking time.

Drain and mash the potatoes, adding chicken broth a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency.

Drain the green beans and top with a couple of teaspoons of butter.

Each serving consists of one mini meatloaf topped with 1/3 cup marinara sauce, 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, 2 Tablespoons gravy, 1/6 of the green beans.

What we thought~
This was nothing fancy. Just a decent, hearty, all American dinner.
Roger and I liked it. It was a nice dinner of comfort food on a chilly evening.
I purposely made this on a night that Kenzie was at her Dad and Christy's because she has that thing about ground meat.
Emily enjoyed the meatloaf without extra marinara. She preferred some sour cream on hers. She ate the potatoes and green beans as well.
Jaxon, who typically doesn't care too much for meat, ate a serving and a half of the meatloaf. He couldn't get enough.
This is the first time I have used bulgur (or any grain for that matter) as a meat extender and I would call it a success. The bulgur has a very nuetral flavor so that the end product really just tasted like meat loaf. The texture was a little more crumbly than regular meatloaf but that wasn't off putting at all.
There were two servings of meatloaf and mashed potatoes left so I packaged them individually and froze them to enjoy for lunch some other time. I think it'll work great for that. If not, I'll come back here and update.
I would definitely make this meal again.