Quinoa Turkey Meatloaf
I didn’t grow up eating meatloaf. Honestly the whole title of the meal is not that appealing to someone who is just barely a carnivore. Meat moulded into a loaf? Hmm I will pass…HA! But wait! Then I tried it and it is GooD! Not only is it good, but it is a meal where you can cook once, eat twice, and with my busy family, that makes it the most divine meal I could ever create!
This recipe has so much goodness packed into it; just throwing a salad on the side would make it a complete meal! Though honestly there has been a crazy day or 2 in my life where I just popped a piece out of the freezer, heated it and ate it (by hand in a napkin!) running out the door…but hey it is better than skipping lunch right?
In place of the typical breadcrumbs, I used cooked quinoa; the mighty grain that it is makes this a protein upon protein loaf. Throw in some greens like the kale and chopped tomatoes…and viola!
When I was looking around online at meatloaf recipes, a lot of them sort of glazed the loaf with (what was usually) a soy/ Worcestershire mixture. Since we have a soy allergy in our family I had to come up with something different. So I used a vinegar based sauce (basically like a salad dressing), and it added a really nice flavour.
- ¾ cup of dry quinoa
- 1-1/2 cup of water or broth
- 2 packages of extra lean ground turkey
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1-1/2 cups of diced yellow onion
- 4-6 cloves of garlic pressed/minced
- 2 packed cups of kale chopped
- 1 cups of cherry tomatoes sliced in half
- 1-1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp summer savory herb (or thyme)
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Note: I added 2 tsp of my salted herbs instead of the sea salt.
- Glaze
- 3 tbsp of vinegar (balsamic or red wine) lemon or lime would work too.
- 2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp pure Maple Syrup
- 1-1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp dry summer savory or thyme
- Freshly ground black pepper
- In a small pot bring water to a boil. Rinse the quinoa thoroughly and add to the pot. Reduce heat to minimum and cook for 15-20 minutes. Turn off heat and let stand for 5 minutes. (You could do this the day before)
- Line two loaf pans with parchment paper
- Preheat oven to 350F
- In a large skillet, heat oil and add the onion, Sauté on low heat for 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and sauté another few minutes over low heat to bring out all their flavour. Add the tomatoes, kale and all the seasonings, and sauté for another 5 minutes (add water or broth as needed to keep from sticking instead of more oil) Now add the cooked quinoa and mix well, sautéing for a few minutes to combine all the flavours.
- In a large bowl combine the 2 packages of raw ground turkey meat and the quinoa mixture. Use your hands if you like to be sure everything is mixed well.
- Divide the mixture between two loaf pans pressing down with a spatula.
- Place in oven and cook for about 50-60 minutes.
- While it is cooking, whisk together the glaze. At the 40 minute mark, brush the glaze over the loaves and then pour some of the glaze over each loaf. Continue to cook until thermometer reaches 170F.
- Allow the load to rest 5-10 minutes before slicing.
- Isliced my extra loaf and froze it that way, so it was handy in the freezer and would thaw faster.
