Turkey Meatloaf Recipe: Use up your leftovers

As you all know by now, I am constantly in search of ways to make my teaching life easier AND my nutrition and lifestyle full of decisions that are good for my body.  Teaching is so demanding and it is so easy for me to focus ONLY on my classroom and neglect my health.  This is my go-to recipe that I love - TURKEY MEATLOAF!  I always keep ground turkey in the freezer so that when I want this meal, I'm ready to go.  The only other ingredients that you might need to plan for (if you don't keep them in your pantry regularly) are breadcrumbs (or crackers).  The rest of what you include can be any of the veggies and goodies leftover in the fridge that you need to use up.  This meal can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you're ready to heat it up, too.  So many benefits to this delish meal!

Let's get started!

You'll need:

• A mixing bowl
• Cutting board and sharp knife
• A safe place for your rings!  You're gonna be mixing this raw meat with your hands, so prepare for that!

Begin by placing all of your ingredients in the mixing bowl.  The core of this recipe requires ground turkey, one egg, one half cub breadcrumbs, and salt & pepper to taste.  That's the baseline.  The rest?  Mix, match, and play!  Pictured below is what I made most recently:  a handful of cheese, chopped spinach, vidalia onion, scallions, mushrooms, and a package of the dry french onion seasoning mix.  Smoosh everythign together by hand...

Then form a log!  I've used the bread loaf pans before, but "loafing" it by hand and placing it in a bitter casserole dish makes it a bit easier to cut and serve.  

Bake the turkey meatloaf in the oven a 375 degrees for 35 minutes.  With about 10 minutes remaining, remove the loaf and spread ketchup on top.  Place the loaf back in the oven to continue cooking.   When it comes out and your house smells amazing, it will look something like this!

Whip up some mashed potatoes (because that's what we had to finish up on this leftover day!) and serve! My honey and I can unapologetically  finish almost this entire loaf ourselves.  If you're cooking for a crowd, consider doubling the recipe and making two meatloaves!

I hope this recipe helps you conquer your nutrition goals and still leave you time to grade papers once it's all done.  After all, that's what I'm here to help you do!

Recipe Review - Oatmeal Banana Pumpkin Muffins

Happy Saturday, friends!

Since Luis proposed, I can't think of the last Saturday we didn't have something major to do or somewhere important to be.  Today is the first day in over a year that I am doing nothing with no apologies!  Plus, my back has been killing me since sand volleyball, so I decided to meander through a few loads of laundry and try a new muffin recipe I've been eyeballing on my Kitchen 526 board for a long time.  The recpie in question?  PUMPKIN. BANANA. OATMEAL. MUFFINS.  YES PLEASE!

Fall is basically code for PUMPKIN in my kitchen.  So here's how Mom Endeavors' recipe turned out for me in my little northern Illinois apartment :-)

Here's a look at the dry ingredients:  oatmeal "flour", cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and I added about 1/4 cup of dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of walnuts that I had on hand.

After mixing that up real good, I added my wet ingredients:  eggs, pumpkin puree (YUMMM!!), two ripe bananas (OHH YEAH!!!), some oil (I didn't have applesauce), and vanilla.  Are you drooling yet?

I greased up my pan and popped these babies into a hot oven.  They made my house smell amazing, by the way.

And presto!  Here's now they came out 20 minutes later!

My rating?  The muffins were reeeeally good!  They were a delicious blend of sweet and savory and just the most wonderful fall treat.  If you've got these ingredients tucked in your cabinets, go for it and give this great recipe a try.

xoxo,

Amanda

Meals: Planning, Pinning, Cooking, Shopping,...Who Does What?!

I can hardly believe Luis and I are embarking on week four of married life already...time really does
fly!  It's crazy!

I wanted to share with you all a great system that we've worked out together for meal planning and prepping; this system could work with roommates or a much bigger family, too!

When it comes to planning and preparing meals for the week, there are a few decisions to be made.  Who does the shopping?  What's the weekly budget?  Who does the prepping?  The cooking?  The planning and selecting of meals?  Who cleans up?  There's a lot to think about, and we've spend the past three months in trial-and-error-mode.  Here's what we found out:

1. It turns out (as I suspected), that I LOVE to grocery shop, but I REALLY LOVE to grocery shop ALONE!! Ha!  I spent several years on my own as a single lady building systems and routines that worked for me, and when it comes to grocery shopping, it's so much better for my family if I do that by myself.  It's actually such a relaxing time for me.  I like to go early on Saturday or Sunday mornings, coffee in hand, iPhone grocery list in the other.
2. Luis is a picky eater.  He won't admit it, but his pallate is extremely narrow.  For the most part, he likes things plain and mild.  I, on the other hand, enjoy savory, super spicy, and experimental kinds of dishes from all over the world.  Luis would be happy on a diet of Panda Express and Popeyes for life.  So, after I told him no more fast food, I put him in charge of a shared Pinterest board (did I forget to mention that he might actually love Pinterest more than me?  He posted all kinds of cool things on our wedding board when we were planning, too!).  It is Luis' job to find the recipes that he thinks look tasty, put them on the board, and I choose meals from the pins he's shared.  He's waaaay more open minded to food when HE finds it on Pinterest rather than me!  We've had some seriously good meals, meals that we've already repeated, using this system.  Hooray!!  
3. I also love to cook AND prep.  Luis?  Eh...he respects the work, but it doesn't call him unless it's meat on the smoker or on the grill.  So, I cook.  I prep on Sundays.  And I feel accomplished.  And I need to do these things to feel good for the week, so they're my job.   And it's great!
4. Luis and I both like to go to bed with a clean kitchen.   When we finish eating, we share in the cleaning/putting away food duties to make sure everything is done before we go to bed. 

All in all, I still do most of the work, but it's not because I feel obligated to, it's because I genuinely enjoy it.  Getting your hubby or family in on the Pinterest pinning part of the planning is sooooo highly recommended!  That part, which I also love, can be the most overwhelming part sometimes, so it's nice to just have 10 to pick through already narrowed down.  Try it and let me know how it works out for ya!

Here are a few from previous weeks that Luis found, we've tested, and we've had multiple times since!  

Have a wonderful fall weekend!  

xoxoxo,

Amanda

Biscuit Pot Pie

Drunken Chicken Marsala

Easy Beef Enchiladas

Weekly Meal Plan: 4/29 - 5/5

One of the major changes that needs to happen in my life is organizing they way I spend money and calories on food.  I'm so busy all of the time, that it's really critical that I organize my meals and limit eating out.  So much of my money is spent on groceries, that is then wasted because I end up eating fast food because I'm too busy or tired to cook when I get home.  Here's hoping that starting a personal blog keeps me organized and on point.  This is as much about losing weight as it is about saving money!

This week's menu plan is looking really good...I'm already stoked about having leftovers of all this yumminess for lunch and after our game on Wednesday.  I'm the most excited to attempt the Posole tonight.  I found the recipe at AllRecipies and it had great reviews.

Sunday: Posole & Fish Tacos (AllRecipies)


Monday:  Spicy Basil Chicken  (Cooking Light April 2012 p. 95)

Tuesday:  Pan Grilled Flank Steak with Soy-Mustard Sauce (Cooking Light April 2012 p. 96) with Sauteed Butter-Thyme Mushrooms (p. 138)

Wednesday: (game night) Leftovers

Thursday: Grad School - Eat out at Chipotle!

Friday: Make your own pizza

Saturday:  Open Face Hummus Sandwiches (Cooking Light April 2012 p. 122) with Avocado Butter Lettuce Salad