Episode 60: Beyond the Recipe — Veggie-Packed Meatloaf Muffins with Ginny Mahar (Small Bite)

If you’ve ever stood in your kitchen thinking, I know what I should eat, but I just don’t know what to make, this episode is for you.

In this Kitchen Confidence Small Bite episode of the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast, Mickey Trescott kicks off a new mini-series called Behind the Recipe—conversations that go beyond instructions to explore why certain recipes work so well for healing, how to adapt them, and what they teach us about cooking in a sustainable, real-life way.

Mickey is joined by Ginny Mahar, creator of Hypothyroid Chef and author of the newly released Thyroid30 Cookbook, to talk through one of those quietly powerful, repeat-worthy recipes: Veggie-Packed Meatloaf Muffins. Together, they discuss what makes this recipe so supportive for people navigating autoimmune and thyroid conditions—from batch cooking and freezing to substitutions, flavor boosters, and family-friendly design.

This episode is less about perfection and more about practicality: how to build meals that are nourishing, flexible, and realistic on both good days and hard ones.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

1. Why some recipes become long-term staples during healing
2. What makes the Veggie-Packed Meatloaf Muffins so supportive for AIP and thyroid health
3. How veggie-forward, protein-rich meals support energy and consistency
4. Tips for batch cooking, freezing, and reheating with minimal stress
5. Smart substitutions for meat, vegetables, and flavor boosters
6. How to adapt AIP recipes for families and mixed dietary needs
7. Why accessibility and simplicity matter when cooking with chronic illness
8. How flavor, texture, and portioning impact real-life sustainability
9. What inspired the Thyroid30 Cookbook and who it’s designed for

Resources:

Veggie-Packed Meatloaf Muffins Recipe – Full recipe from the Thyroid30 Cookbook

The Thyroid30 Cookbook by Ginny Mahar

Hypothyroid Chef Website

Ginny Mahar on Instagram

Episode Timeline:

00:00 – Why some recipes truly stick

01:18 – Introducing the Behind the Recipe mini-series

01:18 – Guest introduction: Ginny Mahar, Hypothyroid Chef

03:31 – Why this meatloaf muffin recipe works so well

04:04 – Visual description & real-life use

04:52 – Ingredients, binders, and flavor strategy

07:04 – Portioning, batch cooking, and meal pairing

09:05 – Freezing, storage, and reheating tips

10:57 – Substitutions and variations

15:14 – Serving ideas, sauces, and flavor upgrades

17:06 – Veggie-forward cooking and accessibility

19:28 – The Thyroid30 Cookbook overview

21:21 – Wrap-up and where to find the recipe

If you've ever stood in your kitchen thinking, I know what

I should eat, but I just don't know what to make, this episode is for you.

For many of us navigating autoimmune disease, healing doesn't hinge on

a single ingredient or a protocol.

It hinges on whether we can make nourishing food work in real life.

Food that is satisfying, flavorful, flexible, and doesn't

require a full afternoon of energy that we just don't have.

That's why some recipes just stick.

They become the ones that you come back to again and again, not because

they're fancy, but because they quietly support you on your hardest days.

They're reliable, comforting, and realistic.

And today's episode is about one of those recipes.

Welcome back to the Autoimmune Wellness Podcast.

I'm your host, Mickey Trescott, and this is a Small Bites episode.

And today I'm kicking off a brand new mini series that I'm really excited

about, called Behind the Recipe.

In these episodes, I will be cooking a recipe and then

sitting down to talk about it.

Sometimes with the recipe author, sometimes with a friend, and

sometimes highlighting recipes from the broader autoimmune community.

The goal is to go beyond instructions and talk about why a recipe works,

how you might adapt it, and what it teaches us about cooking for healing

in a sustainable and real life way.

Joining me today is Ginny Mahar, and I'm so excited to have her here for the

very first behind the recipe episode.

Ginny is the author of the Thyroid30 Cookbook, which was released

this week and officially out now.

She is a Le Cordon Bleu trained chef and a functional medicine certified

health coach, and her work focuses on creating supportive, nourishing recipes

for people with thyroid conditions, including a number of recipes that

are clearly labeled for Core AIP.

Ginny's journey into thyroid health began after being diagnosed with hypothyroidism

and Hashimoto's back in 2011.

Through experimenting with food and lifestyle changes she experienced

firsthand how powerful, simple whole food approaches can be.

She went on to create Hypothyroid Chef and the Thyroid30 program to help others

simplify their approach to healing and feel more like themselves again.

So we're going to get Ginny on the line.

Hey Ginny, I'm so glad to have you here.

Your book just launched.

How are you feeling now that it is officially out in the world?

Hi, Mickey, great to be here.

Thank you so much for having me.

Yeah, it's just surreal, this is my first cookbook and for me, this has been a

lifelong dream since I was nine years old.

I've been cooking since I was tall enough to turn on the stove.

This is like, my passion really.

And as you know, the process of creating a cookbook is, especially if you're

doing the photos too, it's a wild ride.

So it's been a lot, and especially when you're doing that with Hashimoto's.

But beyond that, I'm just absolutely thrilled to be able to finally offer

this to people, not just to hand over the recipe collection, but really

for this like whole food, whole health system, that Thyroid30 offers.

I'm over the moon about it.

Oh, well, I wanted to have you on for this very first behind

the recipe episode because you created a cookbook specifically for people with

thyroid conditions, which is a very big part of the autoimmune community.

But you are also very intentional about including recipes that

meet Core AIP guidelines.

So you'll notice on the cover of the book it says AIP-friendly.

So you guys know that a lot of these recipes are perfect if you're doing AIP.

Today we're gonna talk about a recipe you graciously allowed me

to share with everybody listening.

They are the veggie packed meatloaf muffins from the Thyroid30

Cookbook, you're gonna find the full recipe linked in the show notes.

And when I looked through my advanced copy of the book, this recipe immediately

stood out because it's honestly everything I look for in a healing AIP recipe.

It's a good amount of protein, it's got lots of vegetables, it's really easy to

batch, and it's done in under an hour.

Honestly, a dream.

And then bonus points for the incredible flavor.

So before you and I talk about how to make them, I wanna take a moment to

describe them for anybody listening.

These are individual meatloaf portions baked in a muffin tin.

They're hearty, but they're not heavy.

They're packed with finely chopped vegetables and they

hold together beautifully.

When they come out of the oven, they're lightly browned on top.

They're tender in the middle, and they're incredibly versatile.

You can eat them hot, warm, or even cold.

And honestly, they're the type of recipe that feels equally home on a

dinner plate or pulled straight from the fridge when you need something quick.

I have been eating them this week after my workouts as a little protein snack.

They're so flexible.

And so now that people can picture them, can you walk us through what's

in these meatloaf muffins and the basic idea of how they come together?

Yeah, sure Mickey, and I'm so glad that you picked this recipe

because I think it's something that can really appeal to everyone as well.

These start with grass finished beef as the base, which is just so easy

to work with, it's affordable, it's pretty easy to source these days.

And then we combine that with a mixture of vegetables.

So cauliflower rice, grated carrot, I like minced shallot, garlic, saute

that in a little bit of olive oil to get them nice and tender, flavorful.

Also to cook out just a little bit of the moisture, but you

can mix up the veggies too.

Zucchini would work really well here.

If you don't have shallot, onion works great, so you can get a little bit

creative there with what you put in these.

Now, one thing about AIP meatloaf or meatballs, things like that,

is that it does help it hold together to have a binder.

And of course, we're not using eggs or breadcrumbs or things like that.

So my favorite binder for this purpose is cassava flour, which

is what I use in this recipe.

For flavor, fresh herbs are always just one of my go-tos.

They're so delicious, they're so aromatic.

So there's a tablespoon each of thyme and rosemary in these.

And then the other big flavor booster is my homemade Worcestershire

sauce, and that's gonna add some acidity, some sweetness, some

umami flavors, and some spice.

There's ginger, clove, cinnamon, so lots of nice flavor boosters there.

And once we blend all that together, we just can divide

that mix into our muffin molds.

Brush the top with a one-to-one blend of coconut aminos and balsamic vinegar,

and that's gonna help give the tops just that like glistening glaze effect,

and also add like a final bright pop of flavor that just put these over the top.

I think it's a perfect recipe.

10 out of 10.

When I made these, I have been turning them into a complete meal by just throwing

a pan of sweet potatoes and broccolini in the oven at the same time, they

cook at the same temperature and you've got a whole batch cook right there,

and it feels incredibly satisfying.

One thing that I really love is just how practical the portion sizes are.

So two muffins, which you make 12 in the batch.

And so two of them gives you about a four ounce serving of meat, which is a

really easy building block for a meal.

That's kind of where I like to base my protein portions.

If you're somebody who just needs a quick breakfast, maybe even

freezing them and reheating them, depending on what works for you.

And I'd love to know, was batch cooking part of your intention

when you designed this recipe?

Oh yeah.

I mean, absolutely.

I'm all for batch cooking whenever possible, right?

And I've done a lot of different, like breakfast sausage recipes and things that

I also will pre-cook and then reheat.

So I knew that this was similar and that it would probably also store and

freeze really well, which it does.

But also I was thinking about my son who loves mini meat loaves, and I mean,

it could really be the same recipe and like a full-size loaf and it just

wouldn't be as appealing for him.

So I think that was part of my thinking too, like miniaturizing things can go a

long way toward making things a little bit more family friendly, and that can be

really helpful when we're on elimination phase AIP if we are cooking for a family.

If we are cooking for kids.

And you know, I love to cook but even I don't wanna make

two dinners for my family.

So I know when I can come up with something like this, especially recipes

that are AIP compliant, that are batch cook friendly, and family friendly.

That's like a win win win in my book.

Yeah.

And I love how you mentioned just the portions appealing to certain people.

I know that whenever I buy two pounds of meat, I'm just dividing it up

and how many meals that's gonna be, because meat is the most expensive

thing in our grocery budgets, also.

So I think having them portioned up really tells me like, okay, I'm gonna have two.

Which if you're cooking a big skillet or a soup or something, it's just

really hard to tell, know how much you are intending to eat of that,

and so it makes it really easy there.

Another big win for these is just how beautifully they freeze.

Do you have any tips for freezing and making them ahead

for when they're ready to go?

Yes I do.

So there's a couple different ways you can freeze this, and one thing you can do is

you can make a double batch of the meat mixture and then you could bake half and

also freeze the other half just as is.

So that then all you have to do is thaw that, pop it into your muffin,

molds, brush the tops and bake, so you could enjoy them fresh that way.

The other way is you can bake 'em all ahead of time and if you wanna

squirrel some away, they, they'll keep for about four or five days in the

fridge and you know, as you mentioned, they can be good cold, reheated.

To freeze, I really like to freeze them on a sheet pan on some parchment first

so that they don't stick together.

And then pop those off of the sheet pan, put 'em into maybe a silicone freezer

bag or another container so that then you can just grab as many as you want

for a meal and reheat them that way.

And what I do when I'm reheating things like this or like my homemade breakfast

sausage and things like that, we gotta think about keeping them moist.

So I find that the best way to do that is, well, ideally if you have time and

like the forethought and planning to thaw them in the fridge first, that's

always gonna be the best way to do it.

But, you know, being realistic, a lot of times we're like, oh, I need

something to eat right now, what's in the freezer so you can grab them

frozen, and I'll typically use the microwave at like 50% power and start

with a couple minutes so that they're just more gently thawed and and heated

through instead of like petrified on the outside and still frozen in the middle.

Which can happen like sometimes if you're using high power.

So let's talk about substitutions because that's always

something that people ask about and we're big on substitutions in the AIP community.

So first let's talk about that Worcestershire Sauce.

I made your AIP version from the book.

It is so flavorful.

I was really surprised by it.

I loved it.

If somebody did not have time to make that.

Which,

yeah.

I will say, start to finish, making the sauce and

making these muffins took me an hour.

So it wasn't even that much time investment, but if somebody just

doesn't wanna make it, could something like some coconut aminos

and fish sauce work in a pinch?

'Cause really it's the umami that

Hmm.

going for there, right?

Yeah, umami is part of it.

And yes, I think fish sauce and coconut aminos could definitely

work and is a great idea.

You might wanna cut down a little bit on the amount, like it wouldn't necessarily

be a one-to-one substitution because both of those things are salty, the

fish sauce and the coconut aminos, you might wanna just dial it down

so it doesn't get overly seasoned.

But one of the other key ingredients in that Worcestershire sauce is

apple cider vinegar, and that just adds a lot of brightness.

It really helps with things like meatloaf for like those homemade sausage blends.

And also anchovy adds a lot of umami flavor.

So if I were to substitute, if I was just like, I don't have the ingredients

or the time, or , I don't feel like making a batch of of the W sauce, I

would probably do apple cider vinegar, coconut aminos and then either fish

sauce or some minced anchovy even.

And that would kind of help you get those basic flavor elements that the

homemade Worcestershire sauce provides.

I will echo that the W sauce is really easy.

To make it super simple, it takes less than 20 minutes.

You can freeze it for up to three months.

So if you have most of the ingredients on hand, it's also probably

worth it to just whip up a batch.

You can use it for marinades, burgers and just, you know, the acidity and

brightness goes a long way, flavor wise.

I really tried to integrate that into the Thyroid30 cookbook, like this

system where people could make some of these simple staple condiments

and have them on hand, use them in several different recipes to boost

flavor to make them more interesting.

Yeah.

I love that you mentioned that because whenever we do these protocols, the

thing that people complain about is just that it lacks flavor and excitement.

You're kind of eating the same foods over and over, which is so nice for

convenience, because we've batch cooked and we've planned ahead.

But just having something that is adding flavor is really transformative.

So I'm going to encourage you guys to pick up Ginny's book and check out

that sauce because it is really nice.

What about switching up the protein?

So instead of beef, could we try lamb pork, turkey?

Do you have any thoughts on, how to make those modifications if people wanted to?

Yeah, I say feel free.

I think some of the best options here would be wild game, bison, lamb

would be absolutely perfect here.

I really love ground turkey.

I always look for a blend of light and dark meat with poultry so that it stays

a little bit more moist and flavorful.

I'd probably also add like a tablespoon of olive oil or some,

a little bit of additional fat, just to keep that mixture moist.

Same goes for ground chicken.

Again, I feel like more often I'll see like a hundred percent ground chicken

breast, sometimes with no dark meat.

That's gonna be very, very lean, quite a bit more prone to dryness.

So sometimes what I'll do if I'm using that is maybe I'll do one pound of that

and one pound of something a little bit fattier, like even a pound of

ground pork you could combine a pound of chicken and a pound of pork here.

So that would work really well.

You do have to think about dryness with those super lean meats,

you know, especially poultry.

Even some ground beef blends that have like less than 10% fat.

But I think that's part of what works with these, is that the veggies do

sort of help to keep the meat moist.

Yeah, I love that.

A ground pork and turkey is actually one of my favorite combos to kind

of combat how lean the poultry is.

Another thing I kept thinking while having these was just how well they would pair

with a sauce, like a barbecue sauce and just kind of switch up the flavor profile.

I've got a couple on my website.

I've got a cherry barbecue sauce and an apricot one.

I love the idea of serving these with something like that on the side.

Do you have any favorite ways to serve these or a different way to add flavor

without complicating the recipe?

Oh my gosh, yes.

Well, first, your cherry barbecue sauce would be amazing on these,

or the apricot, either of those.

I think those sweet and savory combinations are always so good, and

definitely some of my favorites, and that's why I have your books up on the

shelf, right in my kitchen next to my own.

I think those would be wonderful options.

Really anything that would work well on regular meatloaf would work well here.

So again, those sweet and sour flavors, even like a no tomato

ketchup might be a good AIP option.

I also really like these with that sort of classic mashed potato pairing.

So I have a recipe in the book for velvety truffle mashed cauliflower

and white sweet potatoes and that looks like and, and tastes similar

to like a traditional mashed potato.

Now, if you were gonna do something like that, you could also go with something

really savory like an AIP-friendly gravy.

And it doesn't have to be complicated.

You don't have to roast a turkey to make gravy.

You, it can be as simple as some cassava flour, make a roux with some kind of

AIP-friendly fat and use some really good beef bone broth or even any kind

of like homemade bone broth I think would work really well to make a quick

gravy, add maybe a touch of that W sauce for a little bit of acidity and zing.

That's another one I find that's really family friendly too.

Put gravy on anything and my kiddo will eat it.

Oh, I love that.

I also wanna call out how much I love that these are so veggie forward, so I know

they look like a meat dish, but there is a lot of carrot and cauliflower in here.

And the fact that the cauliflower is frozen and pre riced, it just

feels like a win for people who are tired or overwhelmed and we're

always looking for cooking hacks to just make things easier for people.

Was that accessibility piece intentional for you in this cookbook?

Yes.

And you know, I think one of the realities that we live with when

we are living with chronic illness, when we're living with autoimmune

illness, is that we need to cook more.

We need to cook more for ourselves.

And so it needs to be accessible, simple, doable.

It needs to be time efficient.

And I also learned really early on when I started blogging thyroid

friendly recipes at Hypothyroid Chef that I had had previous food blogs

where it was more just about like, regular recipes, chefy recipes, right?

Well, all of a sudden now, I'm not catering to people who are foodies.

I was catering to people, including myself, who don't necessarily feel good,

don't necessarily have a lot of energy to cook, who don't necessarily like or want

to cook, but they do want to feel better.

And so that community that I serve, really we need easy, whole food recipes that

taste good, that our families will like, that are quick and easy to make, that

we'd be excited to share with company, with whoever we're sharing meals with.

I really had to shift out of that chef mindset of I need to blow

their minds, I need to impress.

Into more of a mindset of how can I use my time saving and flavor

boosting chef tricks to make this more easy and delicious for people.

It's gotta be low lift and I don't know about you, but I don't wanna get

out my giant food processor to make cauliflower rice if I don't have to.

Things like that are so wonderful, such favorite time savers.

With those frozen veggies, you know, the prep is done, they're

washed, chopped, ready to go.

The quality and nutritional value is typically just as good as fresh.

So that's one of my favorite time saving hacks.

Yeah, I love that and, and I love that some of these

ingredients have become so affordable too.

Before we wrap up, I would love for you to share a bit more about the

Thyroid30 Cookbook, who it's for, what people can expect, and where they can

find it now that it's officially out.

Yeah, the Thyroid30 Cookbook, it has a hundred gluten-free,

dairy-free anti-inflammatory recipes.

There's three different 30 day meal plans that include gluten-free,

dairy-free paleo, and AIP.

I cover and sort of cater to and try to provide modifications for all of

those common dietary templates that people in the thyroid community use.

So I would say over a third of the recipes in the book are elimination

phase AIP-friendly, and the rest of them are modifiable and friendly for

the reintroduction phases of AIP.

And then it also is really a complete guide to my Thyroid30 system, really

designed to help people embark on this journey of not just what should I eat

and what is the lifestyle aspect of this, but how do I do these things consistently

and sustainably so that I can feel better for the long term, not just 30 days.

All of the recipes are really based on the fundamental principles of

functional nutrition, which is geared towards the management and

prevention of chronic illness.

So of course, this is tailored to the thyroid community and addresses a

lot of the unique challenges we face.

The recipes, I think, are really friendly for anyone in the autoimmune community.

Anyone looking for colorful, whole food, anti-inflammatory meals that are just

easy, accessible, and full of flavor.

So yeah, the book is out now.

Pretty much anywhere books are sold.

You can learn more on my site@hypothyroidchef.com slash cookbook.

But yeah, just go to your favorite book seller and you should be able

to find the Thyroid30 Cookbook there.

Awesome.

Thank you so much, Ginny, not just for being here, but for creating

recipes that truly support people in the day to day of healing.

You'll find the full veggie packed meatloaf muffins recipe linked in

the show notes and more information about how you can get your

hands on the Thyroid30 Cookbook.

And I will be seeing you guys next time for another Kitchen Confidence episode.

See you next time.