Soul Food Sunday; Turkey Meatloaf With Veggies.

Sundays have to be one of my favorite days during the week. Imagine Sunday mornings spent sipping coffee, reading a good book, watching Netflix, lighting some candles or cuddled up to your lover; this is what Sundays are made for in my definition. This Sunday was spent with running errands, cleaning out my closet, doing laundry, cleaning the house, getting stuff organized for moving and of course cooking. I decided to name my Sunday cooking/baking "Soul Food Sundays" because mostly everything I have ever made on a Sunday has been food that I would love to sit in my bed and eat. Yes, I am a bed eater and not one bit ashamed! Who needs a kitchen table these days? Today our weather in Vegas was cold, windy, and rainy; perfect weather for cooking with the oven to help heat the house and the soul. I thought what would be healthy, hearty, and considered "soul food". MEATLOAF! Perfect. I didn't really measure everything, I'm learning how to kind of guess measurements with tasting. So apologize if its not perfect, but it did turn out delicious and I was personally impressed with myself cause the last time I made a meatloaf was about 3 years ago!

Items used: Ground turkey, meatloaf seasoning packet, onion, zucchini, yellow squash, red skin potatoes, sweet potato, green bell pepper, artichoke hearts, Italian seasoning, ketchup, parmesan cheese,canola oil, eggs, milk, and panko bread crumbs.

Prep time: 20 Minutes Cook time: 1 hour

Roasted Mixed Veggies: I started with my veggies first since there was so much cutting to be done. I only used the zucchini, yellow squash, sweet potato, and red skin potatoes. I cut both potatoes into bite size cubes and the zucchini and squash I just thinly sliced them. I placed all the veggies in a big bowl. I poured in 1 tablespoon of canola oil, sprinkled in some Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese ( this is where my eyeballing measurements came in to play). I tossed everything with my hands and placed everything on a foil lined baking sheets.

Turkey Meatloaf: I preheated my oven to 400 degrees. I loaded up a big bowl with 1 pound of ground turkey, added 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of milk, 1 packet of meatloaf seasoning, 1 cup of panko bread crumbs, I diced up half of the green bell pepper, cut up about a quarter of the onion, and added in 3 diced artichoke hearts. I mixed everything with the best tools we have... our hands! Squished it all together and placed in a sprayed bread pan and added a little bit more bread crumbs then topped it with ketchup. I placed the veggies and meatloaf in the oven. I baked the veggies for 45 minutes and the meatloaf for 1 hour. House smelt amazing too with a warm cozy vibe.

I was excited to see how gorgeous the colors of the veggies turned out even with the burnt little edges. I really didn't let anything cool down before I plated it all. I was too hungry from waiting an hour and smelling my house. My stomach was in need of food ASAP.

I have a major sweet tooth and I constantly have to fight against wanting to make something super indulgent. But I became addicted to the dark chocolate trail mix bites that I made last Sunday. Naturally, I am a chocolate freak so this feeds that love in a slightly healthier way. I normally do not like dark chocolate because of it being so potent that it causes me to have headache, but using the semi sweet chocolate chips doesn't cause that. I don't know if its the nus and cranberries mixed together but it tastes wonderful together! I used a double boiler to melt my chocolate with a tablespoon of pure organic coconut oil. I stirred the chocolate until it was completely melted and poured it into a wax paper lined pan. Spread it out with a spatula and sprinkled on top the trail mix. The trail mix has coconut shavings, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, peanuts, and soybeans, and sunflower seeds. I am letting this cool and harden over night and I will break it into pieces and make it a trail mix bark.

I hope if you try this recipe it brings you as much joy as it did me. It was hearty and healthy. I did not at all feel like I ate too much or that sluggish full feeling. It was all very light and enjoyable. I was so impressed with the taste of everything together. It beautifully blended with the seasoning and spices.

Hope you enjoy! I will be traveling to California for the next 2 weeks, I will be very busy on Sundays driving back and unpacking. But I will keep cooking through out the weeks and post those recipes for you all. Please check back soon for another Soul Food Sunday!