Turkey Meatloaf

What could be better on a cold icy day than some comfort food in the form of meatloaf? I love meatloaf and I usually use the meatloaf mix (beef, pork and veal) that is sold in stores but I'm trying to cook a little healthier for my family so this time when I went food shopping I bought ground turkey instead of beef. Someone on the message board that I frequent posted about a really good recipe for turkey meatloaf from Cooking Light that she loved. Thankfully she posted the recipe because I couldn't find it on the Cooking Light website.

I posted the original recipe below. The only changes that I made were in quantity because my package or turkey was 2 1/2 lbs so I adjusted all of the other ingredients as well and I used mozzarella cheese because that's what I had.

This was so good. In my experience turkey meatloaf tends to be bland and tasteless. This, however, was very tasty and I think will be my go to recipe for turkey meatloaf.




Turkey Meat Loaf

Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 43 minutes
Other Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 5 servings (serving size: 2 slices)
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup (1 ounce) reduced-fat shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1 1/2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
Cooking spray
1/2 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard

Preheat oven to 350°.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Cool.

Combine onion mixture, cheese, and next 6 ingredients in a large bowl; tossing to moisten bread. Crumble turkey over onion mixture; stir just until blended.

Pack meat mixture into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes. Combine 1/2 cup ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard in a small bowl; stir well.

Spread ketchup mixture over meat loaf and bake an additional 5 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.

Remove meat loaf from pan. Cut into 10 slices.

Lemon Chicken and Rice with Artichokes

Happy Sunday! What a fantastic weekend! The first two days of spring have been amazing with lots of sunshine. I am so happy that the cold wintry days are behind us. After running a few errands with the girls today I decided to go to the playground so that Stephanie could run around a bit while Alexandra chased her. I sat on a bench watching while Eva napped in her infant seat.

Stephanie getting a push from Alexandra


Wheeeee!


Shhhhh....don't wake the baby


I came across this recipe on the Cooking Light website a while back and finally decided to give it a try. It was very easy to make and after a long day with the kids this is exactly the kind of recipe that I was looking for.




Lemon Chicken and Rice with Artichokes


Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 2 1/4 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 2 cups instant rice
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (14-ounce) can quartered artichoke hearts, drained
• 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese

Directions

Heat a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken, chopped onion, and red bell pepper; sauté 5 minutes. Stir in rice, lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, black pepper, and broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in artichokes, and cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with cheese.

My verdict: Not bad. I decided to also add some garlic and a few good shakes of Italian Seasoning. It needed a bit more salt and I think that next time I will squeeze a bit more lemon on top when serving. But we all really liked it and this will definitely make it into the dinner rotation.

Brunswick Stew

This is a very tasty and hearty stew from Cooking Light. Below is my version with a few adjustments made. If you'd like the original recipe click on the link above.

Depending on my mood I will sometimes serve this on its own in a bowl or like this time I served it over white rice. This picture is of my lunch the next day when everything is all mixed up....it was still pretty darn good.

This one is definitely worth a try.



Brunswick Stew

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 tbs EVOO
• 1 tbs all purpose flour
• 1lb skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 - 3 cups fat free, less sodium chicken stock (I sometimes use broth)
• 2 tbs no-salt added tomato paste
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 10 oz package of frozen corn, thawed
• 1 10 oz package of frozen Lima beans, thawed
• 1 10 oz package of frozen peas and carrots, thawed

Directions
Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan in EVOO, then add onions and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Combine flour and chicken in a bowl, tossing to coat. Add chicken to pan and cook until lightly browned. Gradually stir in stock and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Add tomato paste and next 5 ingredients (through to Lima beans) to pan. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

I love pork chops

I really do.

Yesterday I spent the day at the mall with my BF and our kids and I came home not in the mood to cook (when am I ever in the mood to cook?) but knew that I had to cook something. I decided on Sauteed Boneless Pork Chops with Tomato-Sage Pan Sauce. Sounds fancy, right? It is so easy and so yummy. I originally saw the recipe in Cooking Light but changed it up a little to make it even easier. I'm not quite sure how my changes affect the fat and calories so as usual the original recipe is above. I served mine with buttered bow ties.

Sauteed Boneless Pork Chops with Tomato-Sage Pan Sauce

Ingredients

• ground sage
  
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 - 5 boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
• olive oil
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
  
• 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Preparation

Sprinkle both sides of pork with sage, salt and pepper.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with olive oil. Add pork; cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove from heat; set aside.

Add chicken broth and minced garlic to pan, scraping to loosen browned bits. Cook 1 1/2 minutes or until reduced to about 1/4 cup. Stir in diced tomato and another sprinkle of sage, salt & pepper and cook 4 minutes or until slightly thick. Return pork and accumulated juices to pan. Cover and cook 1 minute or until heated.

My verdict: YUM, YUM, YUM! This is definitely one of my favorite ways to make pork chops. I don't always have white wine in the house (we prefer drinking red) so I just add more chicken broth instead and I think it still tastes great.