Turkey Meatloaf

While watching me chop beef for soup last weekend, my dearly beloved suddenly piped up: "Why don't you have a meat grinder?"

"Why would I have a meat grinder?"

"Because my mother had one when I was a child, and I think you would like it."

So, having started my soup to cooking, I wandered off to order a meat grinder.  I selected the KitchenAid attachment for my stand mixer, and it arrived on Tuesday.  Last night, I mustered up the courage to try it out, making something I'd never had before.  But the red plaid cookbook said it exists, sorta, and so I jumped in with both feet.

TURKEY MEATLOAF

2 pounds ground turkey
1 large onion, minced
1/4 cup parsley, minced
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 cup egg beaters (or 2 eggs, beaten)

I started with turkey cubes, onion cubes and parsley, and fed them all through the meat grinder.  (Note, if you're thinking of getting one, it works terribly at the slowest speeds, and works wonderfully at a speed of 4 to 6.  And adding the spices and so forth to the meat before grinding made it easier to combine them.)  So, mix your ground turkey with everything else.  (You might want to add 1/4 cup bread crumbs to make your turkey meatloaf firmer; mine kind of oozed around and took the shape of the pan.)  Put your loaf into a well greased pan and bake at 350F for about an hour, until it reaches 165 on the meat thermometer.

My boys griped that it looked awfully yellow, but they liked it.  It was moist, and had good flavor.  And by using egg beaters, I made this a pretty low fat meal.

Happy Weekending, everyone!