Meatloaf

Let's face it, meatloaf is not exactly the sexiest of meals.  It seems to be the food item that ends up as the butt of every "bad meal" joke on television.  Dry. No flavor. Lots of filler. Gross. The fruit cake of dinner foods. Well, I'm hear to kill that myth and give you a meatloaf recipe that will make meatloaf a welcome addition to your monthly dinner rotation.

Preheat oven to 350

1.5 lbs ground beef (80/20)
1.5 lbs ground turkey (usually 93/7)
1 medium green bell pepper
1 small sweet onion
4-5 crimini mushrooms
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs (from scratch if you can, it's just toasted bread and some spices)
1 egg
1 3oz jar Hormel Real Bacon Pieces
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Finely chop the pepper, onion and mushrooms and saute them with 1 tbsp of margarine. Once the onions are translucent, add the entire jar of bacon pieces to the mix.  Stir this mixture around a few times, pull it off the heat and set it aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.  Add the cooled bacon and vegetable mix and stir it in.  Be careful not to over mix. 

Place the mixture in a glass 13x9 baking dish and form the mixture into a loaf shape (should look like an elongated football) and bake, uncovered at 350 for 35-40 minutes.

Let the meatloaf sit for 5 minutes once it comes out of the oven.  I prefer a brown beef gravy with mine. I'm not a huge fan of slathering my meatloaf in ketchup, but that's just me.  Feel free to make your own gravy, but any of the "add water" gravy packets will do the trick.