Turkey Two-fers: Meatloaf and Meatballs

Suzanne betrays her love of carbs with the world's largest scoop of smashed potatoes

We've been cooking with 'lighter' meats as part of our plan to help Mom drop her cholesterol and me to lose weight.

We've also discovered that instead of making one large dish, we can get creative and create two different dishes and freeze one. 

Which is exactly what we did here. We made a small turkey, sausage meatloaf that the two of us could share with a little bit leftover for lunch the following day.

And then, using the other half of the same mixture, we made 24 meatballs that we baked and then froze in bags of six apiece for quick spaghetti and meatball dinners at some time in the future.

Best of all, we incorporated diced, sautéed vegetables into the turkey/sausage mix to make both dishes extra healthy.

Turkey Two-fer: Meatballs and Meatloaf

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground turkey

1 lb of ground italian style pork sausage

1/2 cup oatmeal or breadcrumbs

1 egg

1/2 - 1 bell pepper (red, green, or orange) diced

1/2 medium onion diced

1 cup frozen chopped broccoli  thawed and diced

1 cup diced carrots

Season to taste with: garlic powder, salt, pepper, italian seasoning

Assembly:

Sauté the vegetables lightly until just softened. Then let cool.

Combine turkey, sausage, oatmeal, and egg. Mix together gently.

Fold in the sautéed vegetables.

For the meatloaf:

Form a small loaf with 1/2 the meat mixture. Place in baking dish. Drape a couple pieces of bacon over the top of the bacon. 

Bake at 375 for 1 hour.

For the meatballs:

Form the remaining meat mixture into meatballs (size of your choosing).

Place on parchment lined baking pan.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

Freeze after cooling.