Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Making meat loaf is pretty simple, everything goes in the bowl and you mix it up. Use half the pesto and half the Parmesan in the loaf the rest is going on top. Some people like the veggies diced really small and will use the food processor; I just give a good chop with the knife. Don’t over work the meat when you are mixing.

Next get your baking sheet ready by lining it with parchment paper, be sure to us a pan with an edge all the way around like a jelly roll pan so you don’t have any liquid dripping into your oven. Using the pesto in this recipe will result in quite a bit of olive oil rendering out of the loaf as it bakes, so an edge on the pan is important. Form the meat into a loaf either with your hands or using a loaf pan as a mold.

Place the meat on the baking sheet and into the oven for 35-40 minutes, then top the loaf with the reaming pesto and Parmesan. Then return to the oven for about 20 minutes or until internal temperature is a least 155 degrees.

Serve with a spoonful of marinara sauce overreach slice to give that real Italian flavor.