Oh, For The Love Of Cooking!: NOT your Grandma's: Turkey Meatloaf

Yes, like I said above..this is NOT your Grandma's meatloaf! Now, if you like the way your Grandma makes her meatloaf, then please, ignore this post. I, on the other hand, can't stand that dried out piece of meat smothered in ketchup that so many serve and proudly declare, "I made meatloaf!"

Nope. Sorry, Grandma.

This yummy, healthy turkey meatloaf is moist and loaded with veggies! Yep, and it still tastes amazing.

Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees!

Next, we're chopping our "secret" ingredients.

(they are secret in our house because my son is DEATHLY allergic to anything green or good for you)

Secret Ingredients:

4 Cloves of Garlic

1 Onion

20 Mushrooms (yes, I counted instead of measuring)

2 Cups Spinach

2 Cups Canned Crushed Tomato

Chop up your onion and garlic and throw them into a heated skillet with a teaspoon or so of salt and about 2 Tablespoons of butter. (if you want a healthier alternative use coconut oil! I just ran out and forgot to buy more...so good old butter it is!)

I don't know about you, but I think veggies are pretty!

Cook the onions and garlic on medium until the onion begins to look translucent. (not white anymore) This took me about 10 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth. Then chop up your mushrooms (all 20 of them) and throw them in with the onion, garlic and broth.

MMMMM

Let it all cook for another 10 minutes or so and it should look like this:

Then throw in your 2 cups of spinach! (De-stemmed but not chopped)

I know it looks like a ton, but spinach cooks down A LOT and fairly quickly too.

See? This was only after 3-5 minutes.

Add another pinch of salt and 2 teaspoons of pepper. Then dump the 2 cups of tomatoes in and cook until everything gets thick. It'll be thicker than pasta sauce.

While this is cooking down. Combine:

3lb. Ground Turkey

1 Egg

2 Cups Panko Bread Crumbs

salt and pepper to taste

Use your hands to mush every up!

(seriously though, it's the best way and it's a lot of fun)

Turn off the skillet with your veggies and let it cool for 15 minutes. You want it cool enough that it won't cook the meat or egg when you add it into the turkey. Once it;s cooled, dump that pretty mixture into a food processor and pulse for 30-45 seconds. You don't want it completely pureed, just finely chopped.

Take about 3/4 (make sure to leave about 1/4 for the sauce on top of the meatloaf) of the finely chopped veggie sauce and dump it into the turkey. Combine well...again, use your hands! Place the Turkey into a greased baking dish and form it. Now, it's really up to you what shape you want you meatloaf to be. You could press it flat, but that would just be weird. I mounded mine so it almost looked like a hill.

Ok. Almost done. Add 2 more cups of canned crushed tomatoes to the rest of the veggies. Puree this until it is veeery well combined. For about a minute. The sauce will be redish brown (not a very pretty color, but it WILL taste awesome, I promise) Pour the sauce on top of your formed meatloaf and use a spatula to evenly coat the entire top with the sauce.