Turkey-With-All-The-Trimmings Thanksgiving Meatloaf

Here it is for all of you who don't want to deal with the fuss and drudgery of making a great big, slippery, intimidating turkey, but still want to make a somewhat traditional holiday dinner. Traditional turkey,  tart cranberries, rich sweet potatoes and our favorite stuffing go-togethers...apples, sage sausage (turkey sausage to keep with the theme), celery, onion and lots of poultry seasoning truly makes this meatloaf a Turkey Day - or ANY day - treat!

Kimber and I started talking about making a turkey Thanksgiving meatloaf just a few days ago...today we mixed and tested, mixed some more...and tested some more, finally coming up with what we both think is the perfect combination of salty, sweet, tart and savory. Really, I don't want to over-hype it, but this is one of the best meatloaves I have ever posted to Dinner Plan-it. 

If you're looking for the tastes of a time-honored Thanksgiving dinner without spending hours and hours roasting, basting and carving, this might be just the thing. Add a nice bowl of fluffy mashed potatoes, a good green veggie or two, buy a pumpkin pie and a can of whipping cream and you've got a simple, delicious and relatively easy Thanksgiving dinner!

Now, gather those you love most, friends and family who mean the world to you...sit, talk, eat, laugh, treasure every moment. Enjoy the day without the big fuss and focus on what is most important...each other. Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings from us to every single one of you!

Turkey-With-With-All-The-Trimmings 

Thanksgiving Meatloaf

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, WITH lots of leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6 ounces turkey breakfast sausage, got mine at Whole Foods...LOVE this stuff!

• 3 pounds ground turkey (white meat)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and shredded (about 1 cup)
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, small dice - I used a Granny Smith
• 1 cup fresh cranberries, chopped coarsely
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more if you wish...I like MORE
• 5 tablespoons poultry seasoning
• 3 slices white bread, crumbled coarsely - a good firm white bread like Pepperidge Farm - to make this gluten free, I used Whole Foods Light White bread that has a similar texture and firmness to Pepperidge Farm - LOVE this GF bread!

In a skillet, melt the butter and add celery and onion. Saute until they start to soften. Add the sausage, crumbling well as it cooks. When it is cooked through, add salt, pepper and poultry seasoning, mixing well. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
 
In a BIG bowl, mix the ground turkey, eggs, cranberries, sweet potatoes, apple, salt, pepper and crumbled bread. Add the cooled (not cold) onion/celery mixture and mix thoroughly with your hands until the meatloaf mixture is evenly mixed.
 
If you wish, mound mixture into individual large foil muffin cups. If you do this, bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I made 6 muffin cups and made 2 loaves out of the remaining mixture. I baked the meatloaves for 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.
 
Let sit for about 5 minutes after removing from oven before slicing the meatloaves.
 
Just like a complete Thanksgiving dinner in a meatloaf - turkey, stuffing, cranberries and sweet potatoes...YUM!