I don’t eat a lot of meat.  I like meat, it’s just that my body is not a big fan of it.  Maybe I’m missing some important enzyme or something that helps me break it down.  That would be my luck.  Anyhow, I tend to eat very little meat to keep from having a crazy, messed up gut all the time.  Well, except for bacon.  Because it’s bacon, duh.

So since I don’t eat a lot of meat, I get my protein from other places.  Like chickpeas!  Of course, I don’t just eat them plain (boring!), I like to mix them in with different dishes.  I threw this particular salad together the other morning to have for lunch, and ended up eating it for 3 days!  It makes a lot more than you would think. 🙂

Marinated Zucchini and Chickpea Salad

1 medium zucchini, halved and sliced
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion
2 cups chickpeas (if canned, rinse well first)
2 roma tomatoes, sliced into strips
1/4 cup chopped roasted red pepper
2 Tbs olive oil
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper

Mix all ingredients together and marinate for at least six hours in the refrigerator before serving.  Don’t forget, the longer it sits, the more delicious it tastes!

That’s it!  Short, sweet and to the point.  Unless of course, you want me to ramble on and on about chickpeas.  Which I can totally do, by the way.  No?  Fine.  Jeez.

Here’s a video about chick peas instead, just because I find it hilarious.

Look –> Dancing and informative cartoon chick peas!

Meatloaf has always been one of my favorite dishes, but it can be pretty, well, meaty.  Several years ago I started adding lots of veggies into my meatloaf recipe and my family loves it!  Red Gold Tomatoes sent me a variety of their canned tomatoes to try out earlier this month, and I just knew their Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano would be the perfect complement to my vegetable meatloaf recipe.  This week, I picked up all the ingredients I needed for meatloaf from Aldi and with the added touch of the tomatoes, and our grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers were delicious!

Grilled Vegetable Meatloaf Burgers

Ingredients:

1 zucchini, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1 cup finely chopped carrots (I use my 3 cup food processor)

1/2 cup minced onion (Yep, food processor again!)

1 can Red Gold Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano
(drained and chopped, save liquid for sauce)

2 eggs

2 cups dry oatmeal

1 lb pork sausage

1 lb ground beef

Directions:

1.  Mix all ingredients (except liquid from tomatoes) in a large bowl.

2.  Measure out 1/2 cup of meatloaf mixture for each burger patty.

3.  Brush each patty with oil.

4.  Place patties in a grill pan on medium high heat for 5-7 minutes.

5.  Brush tops of patties with oil and flip.

6.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes or until meat is cooked throughout.

Grilled Onion Buns

Ingredients:

Onion buns

Vegetable oil

Directions:

1.  Brush the inside of the onion roll buns with oil.

2.  Place face down on the grill pan at medium high heat.

3.  Grill for about a minute until they are toasted.

4.  Remove from pan and serve with grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers.

Jalapeno Tomato Spread

Ingredients:

Reserved liquid from Red Gold Diced Tomatoes with Basil, Garlic & Oregano

1/2 cup jalapeno ketchup (I used Mama Selita’s Jalapeno Ketchup)

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions:

1.  Pour all ingredients into a small saucepan.

2.  Bring to a boil on high, reduce to medium-low.

3.  Simmer for 5 minutes.

4.  Serve as a spread with grilled vegetable meatloaf burgers.

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This vegetable meatloaf recipe is really simple,  you basically just dump everything in a bowl, mix it up, and slap these puppies on the grill!  Because the weather has been so crazy here lately, I cooked them inside instead on my non-stick grill pan.  It is an awesome way to get those seared grill marks without the hassle of firing up a grill.  And it’s so easy to clean!  I definitely recommend picking one up for your kitchen!

I couldn’t resist sharing this picture of my sweet 5 year old helping me cook.  She’s learning to crack eggs without completely shattering the shell, and she’s getting pretty good at it!

This recipe is one of our favorites, and the pre-seasoned diced tomatoes Red Gold sent me added the perfect mix of herbs and spices!  You can find more tasty recipes like Caribbean Chicken Burgers and Summer Tomato Burgers on the Red Gold website.

Red Gold provided the tomatoes for this dish, but the recipe and opinions are all my own.  This post contains affiliate links.