Healthy Turkey Meatloaf

This is a recipe that my mom used to make frequently when my brother and I were younger. It's healthy, quick to come together, and really delicious. Even my meat loving husband loves it. I really have no idea where the original recipe came from, but I've always remembered how to make it from memory. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Ingredients
Source: My Mom

1 package ground turkey (around 1.25 lbs)
1 egg white
1 carrot, shredded
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 - 3/4 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup marinara sauce
shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
salt
pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a loaf pan with non stick spray. In a large bowl, combine turkey, egg white, carrot, celery, onion, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, and bread crumbs. Mix with your hands until well combined and put in loaf pan. Drizzle marinara sauce over loaf and spread using a spoon. Sprinkle as much mozzarella cheese as you want over the whole loaf. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour. Slice and serve!

Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf

Last weekend I was totally uninspired to make anything great for my Sunday Night dinner. I usually try and make something new and exciting on Sunday nights, but really couldn't think of anything. So I looked around at what I had and just decided to make a meatloaf, but I wanted to try a new version. So I went online and found this recipe, had everything, and made it.

All I can say is WOW was this good!!! My husband thinks it's the best meatloaf he's ever had and he's a man who loves his meatloaf! I totally agree, this was a great meatloaf. I like it because it was different in a really good way. It's not the meatloaf your grandmother made! (Well, maybe yours did, but mine didn't)! The only thing I'll change next time is I'll add a 1/2 tsp. of ginger, just because I felt like you couldn't really taste it with just 1/4 tsp and I love ginger!

Ingredients
Adapted from AllRecipes.com

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup ketchup
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (I used ground venison)
3/4 cup milk (I used about 1/2 cup)
2 eggs (I used 1 whole egg and 1 egg white)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs (I used Reduced fat Ritz and also some breadcrumbs because I didn't think there was enough dry ingredients with just the crackers)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (I added this)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a standard loaf pan.

In a large bowl, mix together Beef, milk, eggs, salt, pepper, onion, garlic, ginger and cracker crumbs. Using your hands, mix everything together until thoroughly combined. Press into your loaf pan.

In a small bowl mix together brown sugar and ketchup until thoroughly combined. Drizzle over the top of the meatloaf until the loaf is completely coated with the glaze.

Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour. (after the first 40 minutes of cooking, you can remove the foil and then cook for an additional 20 minutes). Enjoy!

Venison Meatloaf

I feel a little silly posting a recipe for meatloaf because everyone has their "own" recipe for it and it's not exactly rocket science...but maybe you're looking for something a little different and venison just might be the answer!

Ingredients
1 lb. ground venison
1 medium onion, very finely diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
aprox. 1 - 1 1/2 cup of italian breadcrumbs
1 "squirt" of ketchup
1 "squirt" of Ranch dressing
1 egg
salt
pepper
aprox. 1/4 cup marinara sauce
grated cheddar cheese
panko bread crumbs

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine first 9 ingredients in a large mixing bowl by hand until thoroughly combined. In a greased loaf pan, add meatloaf mixture until it is evenly dispersed in the pan. Top with a thin layer of marinara sauce, then add grated cheddar cheese and panko bread crumbs and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour and serve.