I never had meatloaf as a kid. It wasn’t something my parents’ made. My first vague memory of meatloaf was from the TV sitcom, Full House, and Stephanie Tanner has a pretend wedding to her friend, but he goes home shortly afterwards because his mom was making meatloaf, and Stephanie says something along the lines of, “I want to marry a guy who won’t leave me for his mom’s meatloaf.” So with that, I felt meatloaf must not be very appetizing. I mean…it IS called meatloaf and it is literally a loaf of meat.

I don’t even know or remember what made me want to try to make meatloaf, but one day I did, and after I took my first bite, I had a moment of introspection. Why did it have such a bad rap? It is pretty darn tasty and with a side of veggies and potatoes it was down right comforting! Over the years I’ve gone from ground beef to ground turkey meatloaf and I haven’t gone back to using beef since (at least for meatloaf). I’m actually not sure how mine would compare to others since I don’t order it out and never had it from anywhere, but I know I really like the one I make and my husband likes it also. So I will share my recipe with you and if you ever want to give turkey meatloaf a try…why don’t you give this recipe a chance? =)

Turkey Meatloaf
1.5 Lbs. ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tbs garlic
1 cup diced red bell pepper
¼ cup chopped mushrooms
1 celery chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs ketchup
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp paprika
Fresh chopped parsley

Tomato Sauce
8 ounce tomato sauce
1 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 Tbs Siracha sauce (or to taste)
Combine all ingredients

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In a skillet over medium heat sauté onion, garlic, celery, carrots, bell pepper, and mushrooms until soft.
3. Add salt, pepper, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, and about 1 Tbs of ketchup.
4. In large bowl bowl combine turkey 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, egg, breadcrumbs, spices, vegetables.
5. Add to loaf pan and spread top with some of the tomato sauce (save some for extra sauce on the side).
6. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour 15 min
7. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.