Mini Turkey Meatloaf...and a Giveaway Winner!

It feels like forever since I last wrote about something that was actually food-related on this blog!  I've been too busy sharing exciting news on here from asking my best friend to be my maid of honor to announcing the launch of a revamped design of Fun and Fearless in Beantown.  But now that things are settling down, I'm excited to get back into my kitchen and get cooking!

With the freezing temperatures outside, I wanted to make one of my favorite comfort foods for dinner on Tuesday night and finally settled on turkey meatloaf.  I did a quick search online and found this recipe for Gluten Free Meatloaf.  I followed it but replaced the beef and pork for two pounds of ground turkey and also made some other small modifications as indicate below:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground turkey (original recipe calls for 1 lb each of ground beef and pork)
• 1 1/2 tsps of salt
• 1 tsp sage (original recipe calls for dried thyme but I was out of it)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground cracked pepper
• 1 egg
• 1 small white onion, minced
• 2 cups of white mushrooms, finely chopped
• A pat of butter
• 1 tsp crushed red chili pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/2 cup of ketchup (I omitted this)
• 4 tblsp sugar-free maple syrup (the original recipe called for 1 tbsp honey)
• 6 dashes of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce (the original recipe called for a dash each)

First, I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees.  I warmed a skillet on the stove with a pat of butter and sauteed the chopped mushrooms.  Once the mushrooms were softened, I set them aside to cool.

In a bowl, I mixed together all but the last three ingredients.  I was careful not to overwork the meat to avoid having a dry meatloaf.

Instead of packing all of the ingredients into one large loaf pan, I chose to use a mini loaf pan.  I took a quarter of the meat mixture into one mini loaf pan to mold the shape of a loaf and then turned it onto a parchment lined baking sheet until I had four perfect little mini meatloaves.

I put the meatloaf in the oven for about ten minutes while I whisked together the maple syrup, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauces to make a glaze for the meatloaf.  I multiplied the measurements needed for the glaze by four since I omitted the ketchup and there was a lot more surface area to brush onto.

After ten minutes, I took the tray out and brushed the glaze onto the top and sides of the meatloaves.  I put the meatloaves back in the oven for about another twenty minutes (you will need to probably double the cook time if you make one large traditional meatloaf).  While the meatloaf was in the oven, Bret whipped together a mixture of leftover chopped onion, mushrooms and beef broth to top the meatloaf with. 

Meanwhile, I grilled up some romaine hearts for a side salad (blog post to follow).  When the meatloaf had reached 165 degrees in temperature, they were ready to serve!

The meatloaf was so tender and had so many great flavors from the mushrooms, onions and seasoning.  The sweet and spicy glaze added some nice contrasting sweetness and heat but it wasn't too heavy like a traditional ketchup glaze.  The photo above does not do this meatloaf justice!

Bret and I split a mini meatloaf and we were absolutely stuffed.  Meatloaf is one of my favorite comfort foods but I actually rarely eat it.  I think I've only made meatloaf once before and can't remember the last time I ordered it in a restaurant!  But with an easy recipe like this, I'll have to remember to make it more often!

Also, I'd like to announce the winner of my Aquitaine Bar a Vin Bistrot gift certificate.  It is #37 - Christina from A Little Sumpin' Sumpin'.  Congratulations Christina - please email me your full name and mailing address.  And thank you to everyone else who entered and left such kind comments yesterday!