Italian Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

Last night was my second attempt at a Deceptively Delicious recipe. I will say it was not as successful as the first, but maybe the kids are hip to me. This one was a meatloaf made with ground turkey instead of ground beef. I have a love/hate relationship with meatloaf. That is to say, I love my mom's meatloaf and I love when she makes it by her recipe. I request it every year for my birthday. I have tried many meatloaf recipes at home, including her recipe, but it never tastes the same. I did have one I liked several months ago, but it was not like my mom's. So I thought I would try this one, since it is a bit different. When Emma heard me tell my sister on the phone that we were having "Italian Meatloaf" she started crying. Not a good sign, but she was tired. And the mashed potatoes are hiding cauliflower. I thought I would try that because the broccoli went so well...

Italian Meatloaf
Nonstick cooking spray
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 pound lean ground turkey
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup carrot puree (I didn't cook the carrots first, just put them raw into my Tupperware choppy thing and pureed them to smithereens)
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup bottled tomato sauce (I used chili sauce because I had it already and didn't want to buy something else)
4 slices turkey bacon (I used regular bacon because I already had that too)

Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, soak the breadcrumbs in milk.

Coat a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray (why coat it when it's a nonstick pan? I don't know) and set it over medium high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 7-10 minutes. Add the celery and cook 3-4 minutes longer. Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Add the turkey, Parmesan, carrot puree, ketchup, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine.

Turn the mixture into the loaf pan and smooth the top. Spread tomato sauce over the meatloaf and lay the strips of bacon on top. Bake until the center of the meatloaf is no longer pink (hard to tell when it's in a loaf pan...I just used my PC meat thermometer and the guidelines on there said 170 for turkey breast, so I cooked it to that temperature) and the bacon begins to brown, 45-50 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

Mashed Potatoes
1 lb baking potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cauliflower puree (I followed the directions in the book to make the puree, which is steaming the cauliflower, then grinding it up in my Tupperware choppy thing)
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup buttermilk (I just used regular milk...I never have buttermilk just lying around)

Put the potatoes and salt in a large pot and add enough water to cover the potatoes by about 3 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork, 15-20 minutes. Drain well. Add the cauliflower puree, butter, and buttermilk, and mash with a potato masher until the potatoes are smooth and creamy.

Okay. Once both of these things were done, I was pretty skeptical about both of them. But, the meatloaf was actually very good. Everyone ate it and I will keep the recipe to make again. Emma was looking very unsure about the meatloaf, but once I told her the ingredients, she ate it all (I didn't give her or Nathan any of the bacon). You could see little specks of carrot in it, and I didn't chop the onions and celery small enough, but it was still really good. Maybe a bit too salty. Sam said it was one of the best meals ever, because of the bacon and mashed potatoes (he was the only one who liked the potatoes; read on). So the meatloaf recipe is a keeper.

The potatoes, on the other hand...before I had even taken a bite, Steve said to me, under his breath, "I think you got the ratio wrong." Of course I just did what Jerry Seinfeld's wife told me to. I tried them and almost gagged. It had a very strong flavor of cauliflower, which I don't like, and the puree didn't really come out as smooth as you would think a puree should, so there were little tiny hard bits of cauliflower all through the potatoes. I did try a second bite just to be sure. Same result. Samuel, the would-be cruciferous vegetable hater, ate them all and never said a word about them tasting funny. Nathan, who loved the green potatoes, did try a big bite of these, and then told me, nicely, "I don't like the potatoes." I said "that's okay buddy, I don't either. Thank you for trying them." Emma had a few bites before she decided she didn't like them either. So definitely not keeping this recipe. One of my friends said she makes her potatoes with cauliflower in them all the time, even for company, and no one has ever noticed. I don't know how she does this. I did send her a facebook message asking her, but no reply yet. Maybe her ratios are different. Maybe if I had cooked the cauliflower with the potatoes and then mashed them all together (like I did with the broccoli) it would have been better. I don't know and I never will, ha ha. I did steam the whole head of cauliflower, and have enough puree to make two more recipes containing it in the freezer. I'm skeptical though.