Turkey and Chicken Meatloaf

If you read my blog often, you might be starting to see a trend with traditional ground beef dishes. Every week I purchases 1 1/2 pounds of dark ground turkey and dark ground chicken and out of these I make recipes like tacos, lasagne, hamburgers, meatballs etc... Because my wife cannot eat red meat and we do not introduce red meat to our children until the age of 2 I had to find a good substitute to make some of my favourite recipes. I only use dark meat because it has a lot more flavour and the white meat can dry out very easily. The end result is that most people do not even know it isn't beef. Anyways, this week we were having meatloaf. The key to a good meatloaf is taking some time up front to cook your vegetables to bring out the flavour before you add to the meatloaf!

The Recipe: Turkey and Chicken MeatloafServes 4 with leftovers for lunch, prep time 40 minutes, Cook time 45 minutes.
1 1/2 pounds dark ground turkey
1 1/2 pounds dark ground chicken
1 egg
1 cup of bread crumbs
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
3 ounces of old cheddar cheese cubed 1/4 inch
2 tbsp of tomato paste
1 medium sized onion diced
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 red pepper finely diced
8 medium sized button mushrooms finely chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp paprika
Pinch of cayenne

Heat a skillet over med-high heat. When ready add the olive oil, onion and pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes stirring frequently.

Add the garlic and continue to cook and stir for another 2 minutes.

Add the cayenne, chili powder, paprika and cook for 1 minute stirring consistently to ensure you do not burn the spices.

Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until most of the moisture is out of the mushrooms (about 5 minutes). Set the pan off the heat.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the turkey, chicken, egg, bread crumbs, sea salt, ground pepper, worchestershire sauce, parsley, basil, oregano, old cheddar cheese, tomato paste and mix together with your hands.

Add the mixture from the skillet and mix with a spoon so that you do not burn yourself.

Place the mixture in a large casserole dish and form it into a loaf shape with your hands.

Place in the oven and cook for about 45 minutes. I recommend using a meat thermometer to determine when it is done as the size of the loaf will determine the cooking time. The loaf is ready when it is 177 degrees (if you cook it to the full 180 degrees it will continue cooking once removed and end up little dryer). Enjoy!