Smoked Meatloaf

Ingredients

1¼ pounds ground beef chuck

1¼ pounds ground turkey

1 pound ground pork

2 roasted red bell peppers, chopped (at home roasting instructions below)

¾ cup fresh bread crumbs

⅓ cup onion, finely chopped

4 fresh garlic cloves, minced

2 eggs, beaten

1 Tb dried oregano

1 tsp kosher salt

½ tsp black pepper

1½ cup barbeque sauce, separated

heavy duty aluminum foil to make your own loaf pan or 2 disposable aluminum foil pans

Preparation

TO ROAST RED BELL PEPPERS:

Grill bell peppers over a gas or charcoal grill. Grill all sides of each pepper until blackened, about 15-20 minutes. Place blackened peppers in a small bowl and cover with a plate to allow the steam to loosen up the skin on the peppers. Let steam about 15 minutes and then peel off the pepper skins and scrap out the seeds. DO NOT rinse the peppers under water to remove the skin and seeds because that will remove all the smokey flavor :) Chop the bell peppers and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients but only add ½ cup of the 1½ cup of barbeque sauce. Reserve other 1 cup of sauce to top the meatloaf later. Mix all ingredients in the bowl together until thoroughly combined.

Take a small baking sheet and make a foil loaf pan by taking a 24" piece of heavy duty aluminum foil and doubling it over by folding it half. Mold the foil sides upwards to form a loaf pan.

Fill the loaf pan with the meatloaf mixture. Place the meatloaf directly on the rack of an indirect heat barbeque smoker set at 225F degrees and smoke it for 3-4 hours, or until middle of meatloaf registers 165F degrees. Brush top of meatloaf with remaining 1 cup of barbeque sauce the last hour of cooking time.

**Alternative cooking method to smoking: Bake meatloaf in a preheated 350F degree oven for 1½ hours or until middle registers 165F. Top the uncooked meatloaf with the 1 cup of remaining barbeque sauce before placing in oven.

Remove fully cooked meatloaf from the pan and cut into slices.