Turkey Meatloaf

The local grocery store had ground turkey on sale so I grabbed two packages in order to make turkey meatloaf so we'd have pre-made but homemade food in our freezer. We have no pre-made convenience food in the freezer except peas and corn. And none in the cupboard except canned beans, chilis, and tomatoes. I prefer to cook our food from scratch in order to get the healthiest version possible. I like to know what's going into my food. It's also cheaper.

This might look like alot of ground turkey but it really isn't if your plan is like mine - to cook ahead. I divided the meat into two loaf pans. Neither loaf was huge. You could also make one larger loaf and with the remaining meat make burgers or meatballs, etc.

I used what I had on hand. These are pretty close amounts for each ingredient. Trouble with cooking meat is that you can't taste as you go. So what I did was made up the batch, formed a small meatball and cooked it in a small frying pan. I tasted it then adjusted things as I saw fit.

• 40 oz. ground turkey
• 1 1/2 cup homemade, whole wheat breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 1/2 of one large roasted red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 of one large roasted yellow bell pepper, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 very heavy tbsp chopped sage
• 1 very heavy tbsp chooped rosemary
• 1 very heavy tbsp dried savory
• 1 very heavy tbsp dried tarragon
• several shakes Tabasco brand spicy Worcestershire sauce
• several shakes regular Worcestershire sauce
• 1 long squirt ketchup
• ground black pepper
• coarse salt

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl goes everything except onion, garlic, carrot, and celery. Mix well. I then sauteed the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery in olive oil until just soft. Combine this with the meat mix. Line two bread pans with parchment paper and divide the mix between them.

Cook about an hour. Use a meat thermometer and get a reading of 170 degrees to know you are done. Eat hot or cold. I ate mine with two of my favorite condiments, Sriracha hot sauce and Mo Hotta Mo Betta's Spicy Tamarind Sauce.