Meatloaf?

All of last week Sakief couldn't stop raving about the incredible meatloaf and mashed potatoes that he bought at Sam's Club.  Yes, Sam's Club.  And he assured me it was the best meatloaf that he had ever had.

To me, being the best meatloaf I've ever had doesn't mean too much to me, because I didn't eat much meatloaf growing up.  It just wasn't on our usual rotation of meals.  But, after spending days hearing about this meatloaf, I decided that I really wanted some dang meatloaf!

Meatloaf poses two problems to my particular diet plan. 
1) It typically is made from high fat meats (pork and beef)
2) Because of the fat content recipes call for bread crumbs as a binder (nothing worse than a crumbly meatloaf!)

The fix is simple... if you use a lean meat, you don't need the bread to bind it.  But that is where the other issues start.  Meatloaf (to me at least) is meant to be a very flavorful, fatty tasting food.  How does one accomplish that with a lean meat?  Well, you don't.  But you try your best.

I scoured the internet for different meatloaf recipes to come up with a new recipe that seemed tasty to me (Googled it and looked at a few, very difficult you know). 

Here is what I came up with....

20 oz Super Lean Ground Turkey (99% fat free)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 large egg
Thyme, Rosemary, Chili Powder, Garlic and Black Pepper to your liking

1/3 cup tomato ketchup
1 TBS dijon mustard
2 TBS brown sugar
Worcestershire sauce (a few dashes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray loaf pan with cooking spray.  Combine turkey, onion, egg and spices and press into loaf pan.  Combine ketchup, mustard, brown sugar and worcestershire sauce and pour over turkey mixture as glaze.  Bake uncovered for 45 mins.  Yield 5 servings (they seem small, but very filling with all the protein).

Nutrition:
Calories - 188
Fat - 2.4 g
Carbs - 12.2 g
Protein -  27.6 g

I was definitely nervous about using such a low fat meat (I'm often disappointed by taste when I use the super lean ground turkey), but I think the end result was delicious!  Perhaps drier than I would have liked, but between the onion and glaze, the meat was kept from drying out too much in the oven.  The different flavors from the spices was also incredible.  I'm really looking forward to my leftovers!

Over the past few days while I was dreaming of meatloaf, I was also lamenting the fact that potatoes are NEVER on my diet (and to be honest, I don't miss them all that much).  But who doesn't love potatoes with their meatloaf?  If I were still in Pensacola (or if life would just fast forward a few more months and Sakief had already moved here) I would have asked him to make mashed cauliflower for me.  I'm still having difficulty with it, while he is the master, hands down.  It's also super time consuming, and I didn't have the patience.

Pinterest to the rescue!  I saw a pin yesterday that gave me the idea for "Loaded Cauliflower".  Basically just load all of your favorite baked potato toppings onto steamed cauliflower, and voila!  Substitute!  I used fat free cheddar, turkey bacon and Greek yogurt (with a dash of ranch seasoning, yum!)

There is more meatloaf than it appears... I went a little cauliflower crazy.  Also, I suck at serving, and most of the meatloaf glaze ended up on the cauliflower... whoops!  Hope you love it as much as I do!