05 October 2010

The Meat Loaf Experiment

I pulled ground turkey out of the freezer a few
days ago.  I figured we would make spaghetting or something with it then
I decided I didn't want spaghetti last night and
I didn't feel like going to the store.  So, I suggested meat loaf.
It sounded good and I was willing to make it. WHOOOAA!
Daughter said she didn't want
meat loaf if it wasn't the one we had before.
(this is the one from Deceptively Delicious - see previous post)
Ahhh ... that's sweet but, um, no we were trying something new.

I quickly jumped online and searched for an easy (you know me)
meat loaf recipe that required ingredients we had on hand and 
wa la! I found this little diddy.
Sooo easy and it required Ritz crackers! (true story)

I gathered the ingredients together then my mind started to
wonder what if? So I got to work.
(keep in mind I am not a chef nor do I claim to be good at this type of
thing but I was feeling very Top Chef like last night for some reason)

See recipe below with my changes in color:

Prep Time: 10 Min ~ Cook Time: 1 Hour ~ 8 Servings

Ingredients
* 1 egg
* 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used ground turkey) 
* 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers (such as RO*TEL®), undrained
   (I used 14 ounces of tomatoe sauce and 6 ounces diced green chilis) 
* 1 sleeve buttery round crackers (such as Ritz®), crushed
* 1 teaspoon onion flakes (optional) (I used minced onion - not measured) 
* 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder, to taste, and/or (I used 3 small cloves of fresh chopped garlic - Yes I did this on my own HA!)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned salt, to taste, and/or
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
* Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
* Beat the egg in a mixing bowl, then add the ground beef, tomatoes, and crushed  crackers. Season with onion flakes, garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper.
* Mix until evenly combined.
* Pack into a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
* Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 1 hour. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 246
Total Fat: 14.9g
Cholesterol: 80mg

Guess what? We all liked it! (another true story)
I feel like I could be on an amateur Top Chef series.
You know, one that I don't need to know all of those fancy names of the
foods and spices? Ya, I think I could rock something like that. HA!