Many of you who have been long-time readers of my blog know that I married my high school sweetheart! Dave and I have been together since June of 2003! Crazy, huh?!

What you might know be aware of is that I led Dave on.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about some innocent "I like you but really I don’t" high school relationship drama.

I’m talking about something more serious. I’m talking something with some serious consequences.

I’m talking about meat.

Let’s look at the timeline:

June 2003: We started dating
August 2005: I stopped eating red meat and most dairy
December 2006: We got engaged
March 2008: I stopped eating all meat
May 2008: We got married

Looking at this you can see that when Dave proposed to me, he was proposing to a meat eating girl. Sure, not red meat, but chicken is pretty good, and turkey can be an excellent substitute for beef.  But then two months before our wedding, I threw him a curve ball. You see, Dave comes from a family that loves meat. They love their meat so much that they go out and hunt it themselves. There is meat for every single meal. And then there’s the future-daughter-in-law who is now a "vegetarian"? It seemed that at meals I grew three heads, or something equally grotesque. Not eating meat was just not normal. I remember a slightly panicked Dave trying to reason with me about not eating meat. But you see, when I make up my mind about something, there’s usually nothing you can do to get me to change it.

I am sure that the phrase "I didn’t sign up for this" passed through Dave’s mind a number of times since March of 2008.

For the most part, meat just really grosses me out. I haven’t had it for 2 and 1/2 years, somewhere along that point I simply lost my taste for it. Problem is that I have some wicked-good meat recipes that have been neglected. On rare and special occasions will I whip one up for Dave.

Tonight we had a friend over for dinner, so it was one such occasion.

Now friends, I’m about to let you in on a little Abby Normally secret.

Since giving up meat in March of 2008, I have had ONE bite of meat…and it was a bite of this meatloaf about 2 years ago.

And it was good.

****

The loaf

• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 slice bread
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 c. green pepper, chopped
• 1/4 c. onion, chopped
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice

Ketchup glaze

• 1/2 c. ketchup
• 1/3 c. loose brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. dry mustard

Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl combine the ingredients for the ketchup glaze and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, bread, egg, pepper, onion, and lemon juice. Add about half of the ketchup glaze. Form into a loaf and place in a loaf pan.

Cook covered for one hour. Remove cover and pour off excess fat/moisture. Add the remaining ketchup glaze to the top of the loaf, and cook another 10 minutes uncovered.

Enjoy. Seriously, I would eat this if the thought of that texture in my mouth didn’t make me want to puke. But it smelled amazing. And I’m told by Dave and our guest that it tasted amazing. In fact, the guest did say that it was the best meal he had all week. But he’s a bachelor, so I shouldn’t let it go to my head. Any kind of home cooked meal is a notable improvement from beer and nachos supreme.

What’s your dirty food secret??