Turkey Meatloaf

The hubs isn’t the biggest fan of meatloaf…but I love it. So when he goes away, I sometimes take that opportunity (if I’m not just snacking for meals – hello apples and peanut butter!) to make it! And meatloaf, when you take away some of the things that I can’t eat right now (bread, sugar, dairy, etc.) could end up dry. But not the way *I* cook it!

The secret ingredients? Mushrooms, ground flax seed, bacon grease, and tomato paste. Moist, flavorful, yummy! And totally Whole Life Challenge compliant…should that be your wont.

OH! And a few days ago I made my caramelized onion and mushroom marmalade (again, with no sugar) which makes the PERFECT topping for this meatloaf.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of ground turkey
• Half of a large onion
• 1 cup of large crimini mushrooms
• 2 tablespoons of leftover bacon grease (or butter…or the fat of your choosing)
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax seed
• 2 eggs lightly beaten or 3 tablespoons of egg white (I used egg white because it was what I had on hand today)
• Salt and Pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• Splash of balsamic vinegar

This is soooo easy. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a food processor, pulverize the mushrooms and the onion…but not into a paste. Stop when the are in very small pieces.

On the stovetop, heat the bacon grease until melted and add the mushroom and onion mixture. As it cooks through, add the tomato paste, salt and pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook for about 5 minutes. Just before cooked, mix in the splash of balsamic vinegar.

Once cooked, in a large bowl, by hand gently mix the mushroom and onion mixture, the ground turkey, the flax seed, and the eggs. It will be wet…and this is a very good thing. The wetter the more moist it will be when cooked. Pour the bowl into a coated loaf pan (if you don’t have a loaf pan, you can shape the meatloaf into an oval on a silpat covered cookie sheet).

Cook for 40 minutes or until the internal temp is 160 degrees. While cooking, heat the onion and mushroom marmalade on the stovetop. Pour over the meatloaf slice and serve!