Turkey Meatloaf Recipe: Use up your leftovers

As you all know by now, I am constantly in search of ways to make my teaching life easier AND my nutrition and lifestyle full of decisions that are good for my body.  Teaching is so demanding and it is so easy for me to focus ONLY on my classroom and neglect my health.  This is my go-to recipe that I love - TURKEY MEATLOAF!  I always keep ground turkey in the freezer so that when I want this meal, I'm ready to go.  The only other ingredients that you might need to plan for (if you don't keep them in your pantry regularly) are breadcrumbs (or crackers).  The rest of what you include can be any of the veggies and goodies leftover in the fridge that you need to use up.  This meal can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you're ready to heat it up, too.  So many benefits to this delish meal!

Let's get started!

You'll need:

• A mixing bowl
• Cutting board and sharp knife
• A safe place for your rings!  You're gonna be mixing this raw meat with your hands, so prepare for that!

Begin by placing all of your ingredients in the mixing bowl.  The core of this recipe requires ground turkey, one egg, one half cub breadcrumbs, and salt & pepper to taste.  That's the baseline.  The rest?  Mix, match, and play!  Pictured below is what I made most recently:  a handful of cheese, chopped spinach, vidalia onion, scallions, mushrooms, and a package of the dry french onion seasoning mix.  Smoosh everythign together by hand...

Then form a log!  I've used the bread loaf pans before, but "loafing" it by hand and placing it in a bitter casserole dish makes it a bit easier to cut and serve.  

Bake the turkey meatloaf in the oven a 375 degrees for 35 minutes.  With about 10 minutes remaining, remove the loaf and spread ketchup on top.  Place the loaf back in the oven to continue cooking.   When it comes out and your house smells amazing, it will look something like this!

Whip up some mashed potatoes (because that's what we had to finish up on this leftover day!) and serve! My honey and I can unapologetically  finish almost this entire loaf ourselves.  If you're cooking for a crowd, consider doubling the recipe and making two meatloaves!

I hope this recipe helps you conquer your nutrition goals and still leave you time to grade papers once it's all done.  After all, that's what I'm here to help you do!