I was at a “Taco Dinner” at Zan’s house this weekend, happily filling my plate with delicious goodies when Zan’s younger cousin Eleanor asked why all my tacos looked the same. As I looked around I saw that many of the other adults were making different varieties of tacos and mixing up the fixings to the point where their plates looks tremendously more interesting than mine.

Looking down again at my plate I saw this: taco shells, meat, cheese, sour cream.

Some may say picky, others may say boring, I say delicious.

My reply to Eleanor was, “I know what I like and I eat what I like.”

I live by that statement. I am a peanut-butter and jelly kind of girl. I often eat the same things for lunch and dinner week after week after week. Is there anything wrong with this? I don’t really think so. Does this mean that I don’t try new things? Absolutely not. Although at my favorite restaurants I often don’t even look at the menu, I am very good at trying new things and stepping out of my comfort zone. I just only do it when the time feels right for me to do it. So there are times when you’ll see me eating sushi, and thai food, and indian food, and even bone marrow (I tried it once at Toro!), but most of the time you’ll just see me eating turkey sandwiches, and chicken piccata, and definitely a lot of peanut butter a jelly.

And I like it that way.

(photos from Real Simple’s Brown Bag Lunch Series: one. two. three. four.)

This turkey meatloaf was so super flavorful. I gave my own spin to it and added carrots and goat cheese. Incredible!

Here’s the recipe if you want to give it a try. It’s a sure winner.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, finely chopped
1 teaspoon of olive oil
3 small carrots, cut into circles
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon ketchup
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (about 1.5/2 slices of Whole Foods oat nut bread)
1/3 cup 1% milk
1 whole large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1.5 pounds ground turkey
3 oz. goat cheese (I used garlic and herb!)

Directions (adapted from epicurious.com):

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cook onion and garlic in oil in a skillet over moderate heat. Stir til onion is softened (about 2 mins)

Add carrots, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and cook, stirring 3 more minutes until softened

Stir in Worcestershire sauce, 3 tablespoons ketchup, then transfer vegetables to a large bowl to cool

Next, stir together bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl and let stand for 5 mins.
Stir in eggs to bread and milk mixture, then add to vegetables.

Last, add Turkey and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to vegetable mixture and mix well with your hands. Get real good and messy here kids, this is super gooey stuff.

Here’s where I threw in the goat cheese. I’m OBSESSED with goat cheese and could (and would) eat it with a spoon. Yum yum yummm.

Form the mixture into a baking pan (a bread pan will do fine, I used a small glass baking dish from good ol’ Ikea that worked well) and brush or squeeze on the remaining 2 tablespoons of ketchup.

Bake in middle of oven, 50-55 minutes or until done.

Let meatloaf stand for 5 minutes before serving, then ENJOY!!

I served mine up with a side of buttered carrots I picked up from the Copley Farmers Market and a glass of pink lemonade. Oh so refreshing after having the oven on to bake the meatloaf! It was hot for summer, but definitely worth it. And the lemonade made it all the better. Happy eating!