I use left over, cooked and drained rice. I will try your method. Actually, I never make meatloaf, but was reading this recipe in a newspaper cookbook and it looked interesting enough for me to try and we liked it. It was submitted by an 11 year old boy and won 1st place in his division. I changed his recipe by carmelizing the onions and cooking the peppers, plus adding the mushrooms. He added those items chopped raw to the meat mixture. I think next time I will add strips of thinly sliced, blanched carrots, just for added color and maybe some taste.