Crouton Blog

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. I love preparing a great feast and entertaining friends and family. The flavors of Thanksgiving create the ultimate comfort foods for me. To rekindle this sentiment at other times of the year I have created an easy anytime meal that embodies the taste of this special holiday. Paired with some pan roasted red potatoes and a salad, last night we treated ourselves to this tasty, blissful meal. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have — if you decide to make it, I’d love to hear how it turned out; let me know!

Can’t wait for Thanksgiving, Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

2 c coarsely crushed Olivia’s Traditional Stuffing

2 c chicken broth (reserve 1 cup for gravy)

1 ½ c chopped onion, ½ large, (reserve ½ cup for gravy)

1 c chopped celery, 2 stalks

1 lb lean ground turkey

1 lb lean pork breakfast sausage* (reserve ¼ lb for gravy)

1 t poultry seasoning

2 eggs

2 T flour for gravy

Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl mix stuffing and 1 c chicken broth. While stuffing is soaking, prepare onion, celery and add to stuffing mix along with ground turkey and ¾ lb lean pork sausage, eggs, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper. Combine ingredients, but do not over-mix. Place meatloaf mixture into a large loaf pan or hand form into a loaf shape on a cookie sheet. Bake for a total of 60 minutes, or until center of meatloaf reaches a temperature of 155 degrees.

Prepare gravy in a 12” fry pan over medium heat. Sauté remaining ¼ lb of sausage and ½ cup of onion until tender. If your sausage is very lean you will need to add 1 T butter. Add 2 T flour and stir until combined. Add 1 cup of chicken broth and simmer stirring frequently until gravy has thickened. Adjust thickness by adding sifted flour or chicken broth if necessary. Salt and pepper to taste. When meatloaf has baked for about 40 minutes, add gravy to the top and finish baking, approximately 20 minutes.

This is a yummy, moist meatloaf that reminds me of the flavors of Thanksgiving, a combination of turkey and stuffing wrapped into one. Enjoy!

*If you can’t find lean pork sausage (the commercially prepared varieties can sometimes have too much fat) you can make your own by mixing 1 lb lean ground pork, 2 t brown sugar and 2 t poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.