Paleo Meatloaf using Pork Skins as your breadcrumbs!

Meatloaf with pork skins as the bread crumbs?!

I was reading in one of my Paleo cookbooks over the weekend and it talked about pork skins being the healthiest thing on the chip aisle.  It said that if you can find a bag with just skins, oil and salt that the skins are full of gelatin which is good for your joints!  Who knew?  She spoke of crushing the pork skins and using them as bread crumbs.  This opened a lot of possibilities....meatloaf, breading pork chops, and even doing Italian bread crumbs.  So I gave it a try and it turned out pretty darn good!

Paleo Meatloaf

You will need:

2 1/4 pounds of lean, ground meat (I wanted plenty of leftovers)

2 cans of tomato sauce (I used one plain and one flavored with garlic and basil)

1 onion

salt

pepper

liquid smoke

1 can of chipotle peppers in adobe sauce

1 egg

1 bag of pork skins

1. Preheat oven to 425 derees.  Cut up and dice your onion.  Cook in a skillet until done.

2. While the onions are cooking, empty your bag of pork skins into a ziplock bag and crush them up with your hand.  Make sure you crush them up really good or when you cook your meatloaf, you will have a surprise "piece".  Jesse found one of these and thought it was a big piece of fat.  We couldn't figure it out because the meat I used was so lean.  Then I realized it was a big chuck of pork skins that had absorbed the moisture.  Icky!

3. In a large bowl mix your meat and onions together.  Pour in the crushed pork skins, egg, 1 can of plain tomato sauce, 1 can of tomato sauce with garlic and basil and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.  Dig your hands in and mix together.  The picture of sauces shows 3 cans of tomato sauce.  I ended up only using 2 and that was plenty!  I might even try 1 1/2 cans next time to reduce some of the moisture.

4. I decided at the last minute to pour in a couple of squirts of liquid smoke just for flavor.  This is totally optional.

5.  This was a lot of meat.  I broke mine into 2 loaves and cooked it on a pan where the grease could drain off.  Of course I added a can of chipotle peppers on top.  We removed the peppers before we dug in but it left a great flavor!

6. Bake for 45 minutes or until cooked through.  I checked mine at 30 minutes and it wasn't done yet in middle.  I sliced the loaves and put it back in the oven to cook quicker.  It was done in 15 minutes later.

This was a great warm and cozy meal!  Hope you enjoy!