I have had an interesting relationship with meatloaf. Allow me to explain. Growing up my dad was obsessed with meatloaf! It was hands down his favorite meal and we had it for dinner pretty much once a week. I did not share the same love of meatloaf that dad or the rest of my family did. In fact, I HATED meatloaf! I would dread meatloaf night.I knew that once my butt landed in my assigned seat at the dining room table I was not getting up until I ate my meatloaf. I went to great lengths to avoud eating meatloaf:

• Eating over a friend’s house
• Pretending I was sick (various methods)
• Scheduling my gymnastics classes during dinner time on meatloaf days
• Straight out refusal
• Threatening to never speak to my parents again if they made me eat it
• The classic feed it to the dog on the sly move (our basset hound, Roxie, loved me in those days)

I’m with you, Randy!

I have avoided meatloaf at all costs for years. Until this past summer. In June I started working at the Navy Yard Bistro. On Sunday’s and Monday’s the Bistro has a Meatloaf special that people absolutely rave about. Despite my hatred for meatloaf and my less than enthusiastic reaction to the thought of red meat in general, I was too intrigued to not take a bite one night when the chef made meatloaf for the staff after a shift. It was delicious. Delicious! I never thought I would use that word to describe meatloaf. I then became kind of obsessed with meatloaf. I totally flipped a switch. Even if I had eaten dinner already before work, if meatloaf appeared in the back once we were closed  for the night, I had to take a bite.

So, with a new found affection for the loaf of meat, I set out to create an “Ali version” of meatloaf. Here is the recipe!

You will need:

• 1 small onion
• 1 pound of ground turkey breast
• 1 egg and 1 egg white
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• fat free, low sodium chicken broth
• reduced sugar ketchup (or regular ketchup- either works just fine)
• worcestershire sauce
• whole wheat bread crumbs

I start by throwing the onion in the food processor and grinding it up really small. You can chop if you like bigger pieces of onion. Adam HATES onions so that is why I grind them up super small. Sauté the onion in 1 tablespoon of EVOO until it is slightly browned. Then addgarlic and about 1/2 a teaspoon of both salt and pepper.

Next add about 1/3 of a cup of chicken broth, 1 and 1/2 tbls. of worcestershire sauce and 2 tbls of ketchup. Mix well.

Pour the mix into a large bowl and let cool. Next add the ground turkey breast, 3/4 of a cup of bread crumbs, 1 egg and 1 egg white to the mixture and mix well. The mix might seem a little more liquidity than you think it should, but it’s fine.

Cover a cookie sheet in tin foil and coat in cooking spray. Form the mixture into a “loaf” and then sprinkle the top with a little but of worcestershire sauce (sometimes I add garlic powder too because Adam and I are garlic freaks) and bake at 400 for about an hour- you want the temperature to register 170 degrees internally.

And ta-da! The recipe makes about 5 servings. It is not as good as the Bistro meatloaf, but it will do

What food did you used to hate but like now? 

Tags: Healthy meatloaf recipe, Navy Yard Bistro, turkey meatloaf recipe