Smoked Gouda Turkey Meatloaf

MOM! Meatloaf!

Sorry, I  couldn’t resist. Hopefully that’s not aging me too much..?

Growing up I never really LOVED meatloaf, I scrapped off the ketchup topping & forced down the meaty part. As I got older, I like it, but its never something I crave or order when we’re out to eat. So the other day when John & I stopped at Mazzaros Italian Market (a MUST if you’re ever in St. Petersburg), it caught me by surprise that I opted to order the sandwich of the day—you guessed it, a meatloaf sandwich.

Look at that thing! Homemade meatloaf, smoked gouda cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato squished between garlic toast. It was ridiculously tasty.

Naturally, I spent the rest of my evening brainstorming my own version of a gouda meatloaf. The next day this masterpiece was created:

Now I know that doesn’t quite look like a “masterpiece”, but it tasted like one! I used super lean turkey & it was still moist! Alright, enough talk, here is the recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 350

For the loaf you will need:

2lbs of lean ground meat (I used 1lb 99% lean turkey & 1 lb 95% lean turkey)

1/2 cup whole milk

2 large eggs

1/4 cup ketchup

3/4 row of ritz type crackers crumbled up (I used Trader Joe’s Golden Rounds–same thing)

3 slices of smoked gouda cheese diced into small pieces (next time I’ll probably use 6 slices:)

Mix everything together in a large bowl–I added the cheese in after I mixed everything else together, so it didn’t break apart. Slap it in the oven for 1.5 hours. Halfway through we’ll smother it with this topping:

Whisk together the following in a bowl:

1 cup ketchup

4 tbsp your favorite BBQ sauce (we had some leftover from our fave BBQ restaurant!)

4tbsp brown sugar

A large splash of apple cider vinegar

ENJOY!

I promise you guys this will not disappoint. The best part is (besides the taste) the macros were relatively good–I used an 8″ square pan & cut it into 4 pieces. Macros per slice= 547cal/24f/24c/60p. That does not include ketchup topping—so it’ll have a bit more carbs. But eat that with a salad or some broccoli & that’s a fantastic, filling meal! Meatloaf just might be added into our weekly dinner rotation!