Yum Yum and then some Brown Sugar Meatloaf...And Cauliflower mashed

Ok, so keeping with the low carb vibe wanted to make a nice good comfort food dinner. So, I had some ground lamb on hand decided to throw it together for some awesome meatloaf. I searched on all recipes.com and found the top rated recipe for meat loaf and used this as a base and added a few other things and changed it a bit. This recipe called Brown Sugar meat loaf had 4.5 stars and some 2,800 reviews/ratings ...hmm all those cooks cant be wrong? Right?

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground lamb (you can use lean ground beef or ground turkey)
  
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup finely crushed Ritz buttery crackers
• 1/2 green pepper diced
• 1 large garlic clove minced
  
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic power
• 1.tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  

Directions: Mix brown sugar and ketchup in bowl and set aside. Ok so here is what I did differently than the recipe on allrecipes.com. Ok , so in a non-stick frying pan add 1 tablespoon olive oil, then add the garlic , onion , and green pepper saute till done. About 8 mins. In a separate larger bowl mix all the other spices, crackers, milk , with the ground meat. (everything but brown sugar mix) .Then add the onion and green pepper mix to the meat. Toss together and add to baking loaf pan. Top with the brown sugar mix. Also if you add 2 pieces of plain bread doesn't matter what kind to the bottom of the loaf pan before you add the meat it will soak up the oil from the meat and make the meatloaf a little healthier. Then discard the bread after cooking.

I served this with Cauliflower mashed (yum taste just like mashed potatoes ) low-fat crescent rolls and zucchini squash. Delicious !

Ok so I do not have a separate pic of the cauliflower mashed so I will combining this post. So last week I was watching FitTV and saw Blaine's low Carb Kitchen. And he made what looked like some yummy cauliflower mashed. Basically for those that do not know its an alternative for mashed potatoes made with cauliflower and taste just like mashed potatoes. Great for low carb dieters. So , anyways was watching fit tv and became instantly inspired to try it. Little did I know this would be so easy and so tasty. I didn't use his exact recipe I kinda just made up my own as I went along and it turned out great.

3 cups cauliflower (approx. 1 head)
2/3 cup. light fat free sour cream
3 tablespoons low-fat butter spread
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup low fat cheddar cheese
1 tsp. paprika
1 small garlic clove .
Directions
Trim hard stems and leaves from cauliflower. Cut florets from stem (discard stem) and place in steamer . Steam until tender about 15mins.

Place hot cauliflower and garlic in food processor with large blade. Pulse while adding butter and sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spoon mash into 1-quart oven-proof casserole dish and add in Parmesan cheese and mix. Then add cheddar cheese to top. Add a dash of paprika. Bake in oven for about 7mins. until cheese is bubbly.

This meal was soooooooo good .