Meatloaf by the oven light

I'm a little battered and bruised from this past week (emotionally, not physically :-), so I was sorely in need of some comfort food this evening. But since I also wanted to keep up with the semi-nutritious meals I decided to make a meatloaf rather than lowering myself into a tub of KD.

I have nothing against meatloaf, but I've never come across a recipe that really wowed me. Until tonight... nah, I'm kidding. I made this one up after scanning several online, and working with what I had in the fridge.

Veggie meatloaf

1 medium onion
3 inches leek (green part)
1 carrot
1 parsnip
1 medium beet
4 inches celery heart
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Heinz chili sauce
basil
oregano
handful Italian parsley, chopped
3 Spolumbo hot Italian sausages, casings removed (ugh)
700 g extra lean ground beef (ugh on behalf of M)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 c fresh bread crumbs

Place the first 6 ingredients in a food processor and process until the texture resembles minced veggies. (You could also just mince them, if you want to be all fancy -- but this is meatloaf, people, not haute cuisine :-) Saute the mixture in some olive oil for several minutes (along with the minced garlic), then add the sauces, basil, oregano, and some S&P. Saute for another couple of minutes, then remove from heat and stir in the parsley; set aside to cool. Once it's cooled a bit combine the sauteed vegetables with the sausages, ground beef, eggs and bread crumbs. Place the mixture in the loaf tins (I used four mini ones -- so cute!), spoon some more chili sauce on top, and place in a 350 oven for 1 hour or so.

I served this with a green salad and some potato/celeriac mash. It turned out to be quite tasty, and the vegetables added some welcome texture.