Meatloaf???!!!?
August 25th, 2010
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??
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Oh Abby! I knew I loved you. Billy and his family are HUGE meat eaters and hunters as well. There are dead animals all over their house. I’ll have to email you photos so you can really see what I’m talking about…
Anyway, when we started dating (less than 2 years ago), I was an all meat-eating individual. We’d go to steakhouses on the regular. I ate beef jerky. Now I eat fish on occasion but no meat since February. Granted, Billy still proposed in May but I know his family doesn’t get it at all. Glad to know someone else has experienced a similar situation.
Oh, please email these to me! I have a feeling we will have a lot to talk about!!
That’s not such a dirty secret. It’s tough to define yourself with a label based on what you eat because it really restricts you and makes you feel guilty. I prefer meat from humanely treated animals and see nothing wrong with eating it but otherwise I like to stay away from meat. I would never call myself a vegetarian though, because then if you DO decide to eat meat, you’d feel guilty and people would jump all over you: “But I thought you were vegetarian“
Looks delicious! Nothing wrong with a little meat loaf every now and then, but I’m not sure I could have eaten it either. I’ve never been a huge fan of loafed meat.
I love meatloaf…and I love you! Oh and my dirty food secret isss….I’ve started eating salad. I sometimes even crave it!
I snuck a piece of pepperoni at the cottage (I don’t eat red meat) and I ate a hotdog while on vacation in the Dominican.. Phew! Glad thats off my chest
Haha
I love this post.
I can totally relate to you because I wasn’t a vegetarian when I met my boyfriend in 2008. But then I cut off meat cold-turkey (pun intended). I’m with you–the texture of meat totally grosses me out, I don’t care if others eat it, but just to imagine myself chewing through a pork chop..is just too much!
Jason’s family is taken aback by my vegetarianism too. They often say “You don’t eat meat? Like, NO MEAT? Not even chicken? Nothing????”
And the only bite I’ve had of meat while being vegetarian, is a bite of fatback at a southern kitchen! -I wasn’t aware that fatback was meat, DURRRR Stacey!-My boyfriend still gives me grief about it lol
Totally made me LOL. I don’t think it’s a dirty secret – just human. I am a newbie-ish veg (7 months now) and I love the smell of cooking meat. I don’t necessarily like cooking it (but I do for The Lover and my boys) but the smell still smells good to me.