Cranberry Turkey Meatloaf

Cranberry Turkey Meatloaf is about to become your new favorite dinner and possibly the star of your holiday table. Full of flavor, simple and affordable, this is a delicious main dish people can't wait to eat.

My path to witchcraft helped me understand that I didn't have to live life by other people's rules. It gave me permission to do what made me happy and worry a whole lot less about what other people thought. It taught me to trust my own desires and to see pleasure not as a destruction or a vice, but as a joyful gift. Witchcraft allowed me to go my own way and make my happiness a priority.

This affected my life in hugely profound ways, freeing me (most of the time) from anxiety, and setting me on a path of entrepreneurship. It freed me up to forgive myself for past mistakes so I could start creating the life I really wanted for myself. But this freedom also showed up in small ways, like eating what I want to eat when I want to eat it. The holidays are so bound in tradition, and we feel things have to stay the same even if they don't make us happy. Witchcraft showed me that was ridiculous. If I create my own happiness, I also have a hand in my own misery. If a tradition didn't bring me joy, it had to go.

What makes Cranberry Turkey Meatloaf so awesome?

If you think roast turkey is actually sort of bland and boring unless it's covered in gravy or cranberry sauce or added to a sandwich with other flavorful ingredients, then why are you still making it at the holidays? I hereby grant you permission to make Cranberry Turkey Meatloaf instead. I know you'll absolutely love it. I've been making this at Thanksgiving (and sometimes Christmas as well) since 2014, and every single person I've served has said it's amazing. It's made with ground turkey and pork sausage and topped with a spicy, tart, and slighty sweet mixture of cranberry sauce and sweet chili sauce. It's quite simply delicious.

And not only does it taste way better than roast turkey, it's also much more affordable and much easier to make. It's perfect for smaller groups as each meatloaf feeds 4 people. You don't need to find a place to store, defrost, and brine a whole bird. You don't have to wake up at 5 am to start cooking because this only takes a little over an hour. And did I mention it tastes much better? People will be so excited to eat this. Yes, it's not exactly traditional, but it's much more pleasurable. You've gotta give it a try.

Make it magical

Sometimes modern witchcraft can feel very bound up in ancient traditions. Some practitioners believe you should do everything the way our ancient ancestors would have done, but the truth is, we don't actually know much for certain about them because much of their history was lost to time. Wicca only began to gain prominence in the 1940s, and though at the time they claimed they had a direct line to ancient witchcraft, there's really no evidence to suggest that they, like most of us, weren't just making things up based on their best guesses.

So as we enter the holiday season and you're considering how you want to celebrate holidays both muggle and magical, remember your power. How do you want to feel on these days? What's the energy that you want to create? You are in control, so stick to the traditions that you vibe with, and let the rest fall away. Make it up as you go along. Follow your intuition. Raise your vibration in whatever way is best for you. That's what magick making is all about.

If you'd like to learn about the magical properties of cranberries, chillies, and other ingredients in this recipe, be sure to check the Kitchen Magick page.

Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make this dish. All the details are in the recipe card below.

• Cranberry sauce
• Sweet chili sauce
• Ground turkey - breast or thigh are both fine, I opt for 7% fat to keep the meatloaf moist
• Pork sausage - If you can get sage sausage, that's ideal. Here in Scotland, I use Cumberland sausages removed from the casing
• Egg
• Breadcrumbs - I use panko
• Onion - you could also substitute onion powder if needed
• Poultry seasoning
• salt and pepper

Tips for making Cranberry Turkey Meatloaf

This is seriously so ridiculously easy. Start by stirring together your cranberry sauce and sweet chili sauce in a small bowl and set that aside. Then in a big mixing bowl, add about a third of your sauce plus all the other ingredients. Use your clean hands to gently mix this all together, then transfer it to a loaf pan. Bake it for an hour.

When your meatloaf is cooked through and juicy, pull it out of the oven and pour the rest of the sauce over the top, then put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.

When I'm making a big holiday meal, I always make an oven schedule because different things need to cook at different temperatures, and I only have the one oven. Often I'll cook my meatloaf without the sauce, pull it out and cook something else at a high temperature (usually sweet potatoes) then add the sauce and put it back in the oven for the final 10 minutes to make sure it's fully heated through. While it's resting, you can turn the heat off in your oven and pop your rolls which you baked early back into the oven, wrapped in foil, so they're warm when you serve them.

Even if you don't make this for the holidays, this Cranberry Turkey Meatloaf makes a totally delicious dinner. I really hope you give it a try because it's super awesome.

Looking for more awesome meatloaf recipes? Try this Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf or some Mini Cheddar Meatloaves.

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Recipe adapted from Circle of Friends Cookbook: 25 Meatloaf Recipes.

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