OH HOLY COW Tuscan Meatloaf!

Hi Friends!
How has everyone been this last month?  I know I haven't posted in awhile, life, as always has been really busy in the Porter household.  I went back to work in August. Just part time but still, it's teaching, so it has been keeping me busy!  In addition, Daniel has decided he doesn't need a nap anymore so that is driving me nuts too!  He won't even go into his room for a little quiet time!  One day he was napping, the next he was up and all over the place!  This is not good news for me, I am one worn out Mommy by the end of the day!  Oh well, back to business...This meatloaf recipe is one that I adapted from Pampered Chef.  I call it "OH HOLY COW Tuscan Meatloaf" because it was so good that I yelled out "OH HOLY COW!" when I tasted it!  I served this yumminess with mashed potatoes and cauliflower, and broccoli.  I hope you enjoy!


OH HOLY COW Tuscan Meatloaf (adapted from Pampered Chef's Italian Market Meat Loaf)

• 1 jar (about 1 cup) sun dried tomato pesto or julienned cut sun dried tomatoes in olive oil (chopped- I use my manual food processor or my food chopper to do this because you want them to be in really little pieces)
• 2 lbs ground turkey (I use turkey instead of ground beef because I do not like ground beef.  I suppose you could use ground beef but I am not sure if you will have the same result)
• 1/2 cup dried minced onion (I use dried minced onion in this recipe because I find it doesn't break the meat apart as much while baking)
• 1 tbsp. granulated garlic (I like granulated garlic for this recipe for the same reason as I like the dried onion - I find that chunks of garlic and onion tend to make the meatloaf fall apart after baking)
• 1 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp. dried italian herbs
• 2 eggs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 jar (about a cup) of red currant jelly

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Place the breadcrumbs in a small bowl and mix in the buttermilk.  Set aside to allow the bread crumbs to soak in the buttermilk.  In another bowl , gently mix together the ground turkey with the onion, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, the cheeses, the Italian herbs and the bread crumbs with buttermilk.  Form into a loaf and place in a well greased baking dish (I use my Pampered Chef deep covered baker for this, but can use any large baking dish you have).  Bake uncovered about 1 hour and 10 minutes.  In the microwave, heat the jelly until melted.  Mix the tomato sauce into the jelly.  Spoon over the meatloaf and spread evenly.  Cook an additional 15-20 minutes or until the internal temp of the meatloaf reaches 160 degrees.  Remove the oven and cover, allow to set for 10 minutes before cutting.  It's SO yummy!  Enjoy!

Until next time, Happy and HEALTHY cooking and EATING!