Cooking from your cupboard

I’m leaving for Europe in 22 days. Yes, I’m counting. The good thing about traveling, pre-trip, is that I save money because I’m motivated to have extra cash on the trip. It’s pretty easy for me to find an excuse to meet up with friends for happy hour or dinner, but given my extra incentive to save right now I’ve decided to tackle my pantry and leverage as much supply as I have on hand for weeknight dinners (and therefore lunches the next day).

What I have: ground turkey and rosemary

The idea: meatloaf

Believe it or not, I actually found a recipe for rosemary meatloaf. But since I’m cooking from my pantry I had to modify it and this is what I did:

1 pound ground turkey

1.5 cups bread crumbs (I used real bread because I was out of the boxed bread crumbs. Pull it out of the bag and let it dry out if you can)

1 onion, chopped

1 egg, beaten

1 cup of buttermilk (you would typically use regular milk)

½ cup balsamic vinegar (optional)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 ½ tablespoons fresh, chopped rosemary

1 cup ketchup (you could use tomato sauce for less vinegar)

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tsp Dijon mustard (you can use more but I find Dijon to be a little overpowering at times. Start small and you can always add more)

Assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F (175 degree C). lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground turkey, bread crumbs, onion, egg and buttermilk. Season with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and rosemary. Press into the pan.
3. Blend ketchup, brown sugar and mustard; pour evenly over the top of the loaf.
4. Bake for 1 hour in preheated oven or until juices run clear (when pricked with a knife).