Crockpot Turkey and Fresh Vegetable Meatloaf

Meatloaf made with oatmeal - no brainer. It is great and you can make a million different variations on that recipe. But the 'tweaker' in me just had to try it and see if I could do something different and add.....vegetables.

I decided to replace part of the oatmeal with shredded vegetables so I just started to experiment. I used shredded zucchini and shredded carrot and then added the remainder of the 'balance' that just looked right of oatmeal.

The most important thing - use a meat thermometer and make sure that the internal temperature is 160-165 degrees. You can also make this recipe and cook in a standard oven. Again just make sure the temp is correct!

Serve with a baked potato and a green salad and you have a lovely dinner plus sandwich meatloaf left over.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 small onion diced
• 1 glove of garlic mashed or diced
• 1 teaspoon olive oil or cooking spray
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 zucchini grated
• 1-1/2 carrots peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup oatmeal (substitute bread crumbs if desired)
• 1 egg (or substitute 1/4 cup egg substitute)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Herbs of choice (optional) thyme, sage, rosemary, basil, parsley
• 1/4 chopped mushrooms (optional)

PREPARATION

1. In a large skillet, saute/cook until soft the onion and garlic.
2. Toss into the skillet grated zucchini and carrot.
3. Remove from pan skillet and add to medium sized bowl.
4. Add ground turkey, egg and rest of ingredients. Mix to blend.
5. Tear off several inches of foil and fold in half twice.
6. Form the foil into a cross shape (or do this 2 extra times and make a star shape so there are 4 tabs to lift meatloaf out). Place the foil into the slow cooker/crock pot so that the pieces go up the sides of the pot (to lift out the meatloaf when done).
7. Mold the meatloaf mixture into a loaf shape on the foil in the crock pot.
8. Put extra mushrooms on top for garnish if desired. Insert meat thermometer.
9. Cover (add small amount of water if slow cooker requires that) - cook on low until internal meat temperature registers 160-165 degrees. If you overcook, meatloaf will be drier but still delicious.

SUBSTITUTION SUGGESTIONS

• Ground veal, beef, or chicken or combination of ground meats
• Grind fresh meat using a meat grinder from turkey breast, beef, chicken, etc
• Double vegetables and omit the oatmeal
• Omit the vegetables and simply use 1 cup of oatmeal
• Substitute textured vegetable protein for ground meat
• Substitute 1/4 cup of drained stewed tomatoes for mushrooms and place slices of drained stewed tomatoes on top of meatloaf