Gluten-Free Grassfed Beef Meatloaf

Directions

1. Precook mushrooms, onions, and red and green bell pepper by coarsely chopping and putting in a big rectangular Pyrex baking dish and drizzling olive oil or melted coconut oil (or a mix of both) over to coat. Toss, and put a tight lid of foil on top of baking dish. Bake veg until softened, about 40 minutes or so in a 375F oven. Let cool, and then process in food processor until a fine-grained sloppy mix, not quite a gruel. Freeze for later when doing meatloaf, thawing beforehand, or if doing veg fresh that day, set aside mix in fridge until needed.
2. When ready to make meatloaf: Put 5 slices Udi's gluten-free white sandwich bread into a 350F oven and toast until lightly toasted and drier. Put cooled slices into food processor and grind until fine crumbs (mine don't get uniform in size but that's ok, just make sure most of them are small crumbs). Add in the small can of evaporated milk, tomato paste, worchestershire sauce, 4 eggs (which were lightly beaten with a wisk first), season salt, mixed dried italian herbs, salt and very finely ground black pepper. MIx well and set aside to let bread crumbs soften in liquid mix.
3. Open can of coconut milk. Put into small glass bowl, and stir well until fat and liquid parts are reincorporated. Set aside.
4. Cut meat into 1 lb sections, then each section into 2, for 8 pieces total. In other words, only grind a little meat at a time in food processor. For each food processor small section of meat processed, add a couple of Tab of coconut milk and a big ladle full of minced veg/oil mixture. Pulse all three together on and off until meat is finer and coconut milk and veg mix are incorporated evenly, but no more. Meat should be smoother and less grainy, and lighter in color due to coconut milk. Put each batch of meat mixture into a single big mixing bowl each time a batch is finished, until all 4 lb of ground meat is processed and coconut milk is gone. If there's any minced veg mix left, and it seems right to you, add as much more as you think appropriate. Preheat oven to 350F while finishing loaf.
5. Add breadcrumb/tomato paste/evaporated milk/seasoning mixture into bowl with meat mixture. Can add any remaining veg mix left over from processing meat. Mix all gently but well. Place meatloaf mixture into a very large rectangular 10" X 15" (4 qt) Pyrex dish which has been lighted greased with coconut oil. Shape with hands into one large loaf, while forming a 1" trough around all edges of meat, more or less. Put Pyrex baking dish onto a large jellyroll pan just in case there's any liquid that comes out. Put on a tent of foil attached only on two short handle ends of glass Pyrex dish (ie leaving the two long sides down but unattached).
6. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove carefully, and using a small spoon (I use a metal coffee measuring spoon as it has a narrow but deep well), dip out liquid that has gathered around edges of dish. (not saving this grease, but very hot so take care!). Cover with foil again and put dish back in oven for 20 minutes. Peek after 20 minutes to see if need to drain again. I didn't. Cook covered in foil for another 20 minutes approximately--until internal temperature reaches 170F on an instant-read thermometer. Note that the meat may still look pink because of the tomato paste in the mixture, so go by temperature and not time or appearance. When done, dip off any final liquid exuded and let loaf cool in its dish awhile. Then put in refrigerator to chill overnight, tightly covered. Next day, cut into 8 dinner-sized pieces (or 12-16 lunch-sized pieces) and freeze individually.
7. When serving, reheat thawed portions in a covered casserole dish on 325F with a couple of spoonfuls of water added and dish covered tightly in foil for awhile, until almost hot. Then can finish under broiler with your favorite gluten-free, ketchup/mustard type glaze if desired, or just serve as is with a little ketchup on the side.