Fun Recipe Friday: Tempting Turkey Meatloaf

Well, I'm a vegetarian.  That being said, I am comfortable fixing my family meat dishes as long as they are healthy and humane.  I'm also a big fan of dishes that sorta of seem like you took a long time to put it together, but in reality are super easy, quick, healthy, nutritious, and, well, fabulous!  

Since my family (except for me) are big turkey fans, I wanted to perfect turkey meatloaf.  I got inspiration from Paula Deen's recipe for meatloaf and loved the idea of using veggies and oats as the binder instead of bread crumbs.  But I tweaked it a little bit and lo and behold, the family pretty much devoured it!  The great part is prep time is only about 10 minutes.  I even sometimes make this earlier in the day if I have a pocket of time and keep it chilled in the fridge until ready to bake.  

Tempting Turkey Meatloaf

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Prepare a 9x13 Pyrex dish and light coat with olive oil.  

What you'll need:

1.5 pounds of ground turkey

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 small sweet onion, chopped

1 zucchini, grated

2 tbl. olive oil

1/2 cup quick cook oats ( I like to use healthier alternatives like spelt or barley oats)

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. parsley

2 cloves fresh garlic

1 tbl worchestire sauce

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese OR feta cheese

Optional:  1 chipotle pepper in adobe sauce

Topping:

1/3 cup ketchup

1 tsp. dijon mustard

In a medium frying pan, add the olive oil, red pepper, onion, zucchini,  and garlic.  Saute over medium heat for 5-6 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor or blender; mix well until mixture is pureed.  If you are adding a chipotle pepper to your recipe, add it here and blend with the veggie mixture.  Let sit and allow to cool as you prep the turkey.

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine turkey, sea salt, chili powder, parsley, and worchestire sauce.  Mash and blend with the turkey meat.  Then add the oats and cheese and blend again.  Finally, transfer the cooled veggie mixture to the bowl and mix well.  Transfer to the Pyrex dish and hand mold into a long, loaf shape.  

Mix the ketchup and mustard and gently coat the top of the loaf with this mixture.  Bake for 45 minutes (exactly!).  

Guaranteed to be a crowd favorite!  Great alone or serve on hamburger buns.  Also works great cold in a "meatloaf sandwich".  

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