Try it Tuesday Turkey Meatloaf ala A Christmas Story for Food n Flix

Our Food n Flix feature to watch this month was the very apropos "A Christmas Story".  This is not one of my favorite Christmas movies but I had watched bits and pieces of it and had laughed out loud at it so I was not disappointed with the choice and actually looking forward to watching it in it's entirety.

Our host for this month is Heather of Girlichef.  Heather attended Michigan State which is where our eldest daughter began her college career later switching to Walsh College of Business.  Heather is very passionate about food.  I agree with her that it encompasses all of your senses and fulfills you body, mind and soul.  Thanks, Heather, for hosting this month and picking such a fun movie to share.

This movie was about a family in the 40's  with a Dad who appearred gruff but wanted nothing more than his family's happiness.  A mom who worked hard to keep them all happy and worried continuously about their well being and two kids who as kid's are apt to do....mess up occasionally and want all their Christmas Dreams to come true.

The narrator of the story, 9 year old Ralphie, dreams of getting a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas and his Dad makes sure that dream comes true.  Ralphie runs out to try his new gun and breaks his glasses.  When he comes in with a marvelous story to tell his mother, the back door is left open and dogs come into the kitchen and eat the Turkey that was planned for Christmas dinner.  The family ends up at a Chinese restaurant where they are presented a roasted duck, Chinese style with the head still attached.  When the owner sees that this upsets them, he disposes of the head by cutting it off....right at the dinner table.

There were many family meals in this movie, breakfast featuring oatmeal. Dinner featuring meatloaf, mashed potatoes and red cabbage.  In fact, I think they had meatloaf and red cabbage nearly every night LOL.  Christmas Eve dinner was, of course, suposed to be Turkey but ended up being Chinese dinner in a restaurant.  Life was good though because, after all, Christmas is about love and being with family and that was exactly how it turned out.

I decided to go with the Meatloaf theme because it's December.  Life is busy.  Food is plentiful and fancy.  Not to mention rich and calorie laden.  So the thought of a homey, comfort dinner of meatloaf and mashed potatoes appealed to me.  And we like red cabbage around here so I made that too.  You can find my recipe for Sweet and Sour Cabbage here.

I chose to make a turkey meatloaf to try to make it a little healthier but, hey, it is meatloaf after all, not salad LOL.  But it made a wonderful, cozy meal to relax and enjoy during all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.

The meatloaf recipe is adapted from one by Ina Garten as in the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.  I cut down the ingredients quite a bit because Ina's served 10 people and called for 5 lbs of meat.  I usually allow 1/3 lb of meat per person and we were feeding 6 of us so I used 3 lbs of meat and will have leftovers.  I also did not read the recipe completely before starting it so I did not saute the onions first. I was out of chicken stock so I moistened it with water and instead of topping it with ketchup I used some Cherry Chipotle Not Ketchup that was in my fridge.  It turned out wonderfully.

Turkey Meatloaf
Adapted from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

3 lbs. Ground Turkey
1/2 of a med sweet onion, finely diced
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 t. dried thyme, crushed
2 T. worcestershire sauce
1/4 c. water
1 t. tomato paste
1 c. dry bread crumbs
2 eggs
3/4 c. Cherry Chipotle Not Ketchup (or regular ketchup)

Combine all ingredients except ketchup, mixing thoroughly.  Press into an 8" x 4" cake pan. Spread Not Ketchup or Ketchup on top and bake at 325* for 1 1/2 hrs or until an internal temperature of 160* is reached.  Print Recipe