Bachelor Meatloaf

My interest in cooking is a bit on the basic side and generally tied to me wanting to save money.  When I was in 5th & 6th grades my mother would often leave my brother and I along for the weekend while she worked or recreated with her friends.  She'd leave money on the table with the intention we'd walk down to the local Burger King for meals.

Eventually we'd buy some groceries, I'd cook something up and we'd spend the difference on screwing around.

I've been cooking rather simple fare ever since. I've made some fancy-smancy stuff like a Cheese Souffle and once made a cassolette that tasted great, but not worth the four or five hours of work that went into it.  My preference runs towards easy & simple dishes, which is why I love old cookbooks.  What I like to do is start with a simple recipe and tweak it to my preferences.  Take this meatloaf recipe for example......


I like to call this a "bachelor-simple" recipe:

Best mixed with your hands

1 package of ground turkey (I prefer the 85% lean)
1/2 cup season bread crumbs
8 oz mushrooms
1 egg

Cut the mushrooms, mash everything together well and bake in a loaf pan at 350* for an hour.

This time I've cut up the mushrooms with a food processor.  I've done larger pieces with a knife.  The recipe is fairly forgiving.  You could use ground beef, different grades, canned mushrooms, plain breadcrumbs (but I'd add seasonings), throw in some other cut up veggies, etc.

Even though I loved meatloaf, especially cold meatloaf sandwiches, I was never taught how to make meatloaf.  My early "experiments" in meatloaf were fairly complicated affairs trying to closely follow a recipe that invariably called for ingredients I normally don't have lying around.

Sometimes I'll make a little gravy for the meatloaf, but it hasn't really needed it.