Chili Lover’s Meatloaf

I’ve always dreamed of travelling the globe, living in other places, meeting lots of new faces, feasting all over, and serving food to all my new friends. Wouldn’t that be the life? Well, I’m not going to Bali, or to China or even Mexico or Hawaii, but I am becoming an ambassador. I’m livin’ the dream, baby! Don’t I wish?

But really-I’ve been asked to do some giveaways and write one post a month for Whole Foods and I’m excited. They give me a few suggestions each month and I can write whatever I want. Like they think I wouldn’t? And the good news is that you-yeah, that means YOU-my faithful readers get to have fun, too!

I have the pleasure of giving away three giveaways to anyone in the US. Sorry, that this isn’t a worldwide thing, but I would include you if I could! This is like their Halloween bag, but I think the pretzels and the bunny grahams would be great in someone’s lunch box. And my manservant has been eating the little pretzel bags as snacks.

Personally, I’d immediately hide the peanut butter cups somewhere where no one can find them- like in your lingerie drawer- so you can have them all to yourself. Yes, the peanut butter cups are to die for! No, I mean really. I do love Reese’s but these are better. They are richer and more chocolatey with just the right amount of salt. I was going to use them in cookies, but well, I’ll tell ya, they are too good for that. They deserve to be savored…every minute of every day. And they are rain forest alliance certified. We all love the rain forest, right?

Now Zoe, yes the Zoe who doesn’t live here anymore, heard about the sour gummy worms and immediately said they were hers. And she always loved Annie’s products and would have no trouble finishing off the little bags of graham bunnies. (Manservant sees bunnies and just wants to shoot them.) I guess that leaves the water bottle and Gianna for Alex. Now, I’m not sure how they will send this out, but that isn’t my problemo. I just get to write and eat! And drink. That apple juice hit the spot. I’m not sure I’ve had tangy, sweet, apple juice since the kids were young.

So how do we get to chili lover’s meatloaf? Ya got me. Sometimes I get tired of cooking the same thing and my brain goes a bit haywire. Like when I clean house, manservant tells me it goes totally out of control. I can imagine everything under the sun and I have a pretty deep, sometimes dark, imagination. But one day I thought of this. And I thought I don’t need to make a pot of chili. I’m going to make a chili meat loaf. Life changing, right? Well, not really. But I googled and I really couldn’t find too many recipes that looked  good, so I made up my own. Now I need to find something else to imagine because this came out really good.

This meat loaf came out so good that I crumbled it up and put it on nachos. I put it in scrambled eggs. I put it between two slices of bread. I wrapped some in a tortilla with some beans and called it a burrito. Now, I know you could do all of that with a bowl of chili, but sometimes we all need a change. I know I’m ready and I’m not just talking meatloaf. Whole Foods does have a turkey chili on their blog (And it is a really nice blog, with tons of info) but I’ll be honest here, folks. Their chili ain’t for people from Tayxas. I mean it has mushrooms in it.  It looks like a really bean filled, easy chili to please a lot of people, but when I make my chili I like to up the ante, so to speak. In other words, feel free to dial the spices whatever direction you want.

This is another fun meatloaf. Compare it if you want to my Cap’n Crunch meat loaf. I like that a lot, too. One of my favorite things about making meatloaf is having leftovers. Now that the kids have moved on (sob, sob) we get a lot more leftovers. They were never a dirty word in our house. Don’t forget all the things you can do with those leftovers. And when you are finished eating this spicy, delectable meatloaf, I hope you know where to head. Yeah, it’s the lingerie drawer, fo’ sho’!

All opinions expressed are mine, baby. All mine. This giveaway is easy to enter as long as you live in the US. Giveaway closes on October 30th.  Subscribe if you don’t want to miss the announcement of the winner or tune in on October 31st-Halloween to see if you won! (And please, if you have a common name, you need to give me a hint like Sue from Sioux City or something like that.) All three winners will be chosen by a Random Number Generator! So now, to enter, (dahdah, dah, dah, de DAH!) just leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite way to make meatloaf is – or isn’t!

Chili Lover’s Meatloaf (Serves 8)
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey (or meat of your choice)
2 minced garlic cloves
1 seeded, finely chopped jalapeno
1 chopped chipotle
2 T ancho chile powder
2 t smoked paprika
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t salt
1/2 c chopped onions
2 T ketchup
1 egg
1 c crushed tortilla chips

1 c shredded cheese (I used a combo of cheddar and jalapeno)
1/3 c ketchup
1 can green chilies, drained or Hatch chilies

Sauce
1/3 c ketchup
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t chipotle tabasco or another chopped chipotle

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine turkey and other ingredients through tortilla chips. Mix well. I use my hands. They work really well! Then take half the mixture and shape it in a long flat loaf in a rectangular pan. (I like to bake my meat loaf in a baking dish, not a loaf pan.)

Spread 1/2 of the 1/3 c of ketchup on the loaf. Top that with 1 c of shredded cheese. Top that with the can of drained green chilies. Now spread the rest of your ketchup over that. Or something like that! This green chile cheese ribbon is not too spicy, but makes your loaf tasty and pretty. (We all need pretty, right?)

Ready? Now you can take the other half of the meat mixture and spread it on top of your filling. Make sure your filling is sealed in well so it doesn’t leak out the sides.

OK, mix up the ketchup with the garlic powder and chipotle tabasco. Spread that on all sides of your loaf.

Bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Sometimes with turkey there is a lot of liquid that makes its way into the pan. Feel free to drain this or pour it onto your dog’s food. They will love it!

Serve this with beans or potatoes. Manservant voted beans.

Other Game Day Winners:
Onion Dip
3 Ingredient Artichoke Dip and a Sandwich
Smoked Trout Pate
Sloppy Jose
Dan Dan Sliders
Boboli Pizza