back by popular demand!! the dail--i mean weekly recipe!

kick ass turkey meatloaf

• 1 1/2c. finely chopped onion
• 1tbsp minced garlic
  
• 1tsp olive oil
  
• 1 medium carrot
  
• 3/4# mushrooms (originally cremini, but i used baby bellas with smashing results)
  
• 3/4 package frozen spinach (okay, i suppose you could use fresh, but this is what i had and used and it was good)
  
• 1tsp kosher salt and 1/2tsp fresh ground pepper
  
• 1 1/2tsp worcertershire sauce
  
• 1/3 c. chopped fresh parsley
  
• 3tbsp + 2tbsp ketchup
  
• 1c. fine bread crumbs (i did these homemade in the food processor with pepperidge farm whole wheat)
  
• 1/3c milk (i used slightly less and mine was still super duper moist)
  
• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• 1 1/3# ground turkey (we used the 7% lean kind, i think it came out better than the 99% fat free would have)

preheat the oven to 400, but you don't have to do this immediately. i should give you the heads up that this assembles pretty fast, but there is some prep involved, especially if you don't have a food chopper/processor. but if you don't, you should really get one. the time you save is unbelievable and it chops very evenly.
so i ran the onions, garlic, carrots, mushrooms, and spinach throught the food processor. if you use frozen spinach, like i did, thaw it out in the microwave and then squeeze it out really thoroughly. the best way is to wrap it up in paper towels and imagine it is your lame ex-boyfriend's balls. you can process the onion and garlic together, the carrot alone, and the mushroom and spinach together. i got it all (except the onions) down to a really fine, almost ground consistency. for the onions i did half of them that way and did half of them at a little bigger chop.
cook the onion and garlic in a 12" skillet over medium to medium/high heat about 2 minutes. add the carrots and cook 3 minutes. add the mushrooms and spinach and cook for about 15 minutes. you have to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn, but this is also where you can make your bread crumbs and maybe clean up a little as you go. it's important to get some of the moisture out of the mix, as the mushies and frozen spinach are really wet and the loaf is moist enough as it is. at some point after adding the last stuff, add the salt and pepper. dump the mix into a big bowl that you will eventually have enough room to squish it up with the meat. add the parsley, worcestershire, and 3tbsp ketchup.
in a different bowl, stir together bread crumbs and milk and let it stand five minutes. stir in hte egg and extra egg white and mix it up good. add that to the veggie mix and stir well. now here's the fun part: add the ground turkey and squish the whole thing around with your hands until it's all mixed up.
the recipe originally said to form it into an oval and put it in brownie pan, but that's ridiculous. just put it in a loaf pan, i used an approx. 9x5" one and it came out beautifully, just lightly grease the bottom. brush the top with the last 2tbsp ketchup and cook 50-55 minutes.
we enjoyed ours with a bottle of ca de solo big house red and mashed potatoes. bon apetit!