My best meatloaf ever!

Don’t you just love it when you try something new, and it turns out GREAT? I sure do! Even better? When it’s the healthiest version that I’ve ever made at the same time!

So, like many people, I have been focusing on better eating/more activity since the 1st of the year (more on that later). One of my big focuses is to find recipes that are healthy and so yummy that we wouldn’t dare feel deprived while eating them. I want to fill our table with food that we would be happy to eat forever, not that we are willing to eat as a temporary sacrifice. HUGELY different mindset. It’s definitely going to take a lot of work and experimentation though, but I’ll share my successes (and some of my failures) with you, so you don’t have to start from scratch yourselves. Yeah, I’m a giver.

My family LOVES meatloaf. Every single time I ask my husband’s input on what to make for upcoming dinners, he will answer meatloaf as his first choice. It can be REALLY high in fat and calories though, so I wanted to find a recipe which we could work into our lives, and still feel good about it. I have tried turkey meatloaf before, and was really disappointed. It was bland, and had a weird texture. Definitely not the one for us. I ran across a recipe on www.eatingwell.com where they used beer to caramelize onions in their meatloaf in order to add flavor and moisture. Genius! This meatloaf makes 8 hearty servings (I see some cut into 12 pieces, but I think that’s too skimpy.) Here’s my take:

My Best Meatloaf
6 oz. light beer
6 oz. fat free beef broth
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, divided
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (can substitute regular crumbs, as well)
1/2 cup dry quick-cook oats
1 large egg
1 large egg white
2 lb 93/7 ground beef
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp granulated garlic
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground mustard

1-In sautee pan, add beer, broth, 1 Tbsp of Worcestershire, and onions. Cook over medium-high heat until the liquid is almost completely cooked down. The onions will be a deep brown color. Watch them carefully when the liquid is almost gone, and stir regularly at that point, or they may burn.

2-In small bowl, stir together all dried ingredients. In separate bowl, beat egg, egg white, and remaining 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce.

3-In large bowl, break ground beef up a bit with your hands (I always mix meatloaf with my hands. It feels gross, but I think you get a much better distribution of ingredients without overworking the meat.) In batches, add some each of onion, dried ingredients, and egg mixture, and gently work through meat until everything is combined and well-distributed (I did this in about 3 stages, so I didn’t end up with big clumps of dried ingredients that were hard to work through). Transfer to loaf pan, and cover with foil.

4-In preheated 375-degree oven, cook meatloaf for approximately 1 hour (or until thermometer reads 160 when inserted into center), uncovering after 40 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes, and then pour off any liquid (I didn’t have much, and very little of it was fat). Slice into 8 servings.

Nutritional information (based on www.myfitnesspal.com’s recipe calculator):
242 calories, 13 g carb, 9 g fat, 26 g protein, 1 g fiber, and 347 mg sodium

P.S. Sorry no pic, but I wasn’t actually planning about blogging about it till this morning, hehe. (As you can tell, this blog has been sorely neglected for many months, lol) Next time I make one, I will edit this to add a pic!

Nuke me up a bowl of yum, wouldya?

Why, yes. Yes, I will!

So, I walked into a local discount store, and they had short-dated milk for .99/gallon. GALLON! Somehow, 3 of these suckers followed me home. As I was starting to play Fridge Tetris (TM), I remembered that dh had bought a gallon already last night! So… I thought about what uses up a lot of milk. PUDDING! Sweet, smooth, creamy, and CHOCOLATEY! I hopped onto my favorite recipe sit,e , and pulled up the following bit of magic. You will get the best results from a high quality cocoa, and you might even consider throwing a pat of butter in when you add the vanilla. I didn’t, and the results were pretty darn awesome, and we didn’t even wait till it was fully cooled!

Hasty Chocolate Pudding
Serves 4

Ingredients
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
1. In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch. Whisk in milk a little at a time so the mixture does not have any dry lumps.
2. Place in the microwave, and cook for 3 minutes on high. Stir, then cook at 1 minute intervals, stirring between cooking times for 2 to 4 minutes, or until shiny and thick. Stir in vanilla.
3. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming, and chill in the refrigerator. Serve cold.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/hasty-chocolate-pudding/detail.aspx

Mmmmmmm… Spiced Pumpkin Lattes

Ok, so these aren’t TRULY truly lattes, for the uber legalistic baristas among us. They are, however, WAY cheaper than you will find if you run to a coffee shop, and not particularly difficult, either.

Spiced Pumpkin Lattes (makes about 10 cups, but you can easily halve or quarter)

4 cups milk
2 cups brewed coffee
1/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp powdered creamer (if you don’t want chemicals, use a couple splashes of cream)
1 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Throw it all together on stove or in microwave. If you heat on stove, stir every so often, and heat on medium-low. Don’t let it boil. If you nuke it, stop every 90 sec or so to stir and tell how long you need to heat it. You DON’T want it to boil, though.

VERY important step: After this is heated, you must strain it. Otherwise, you will NOT be impressed with the grit at the bottom of your cup, lol.

This is not as icky-sweet as a coffee shop version, but if you want it that way, add some more sugar. Tweak as you like. Add more spices, top with whipped cream and freshly grated nutmeg, whatevah.

I can’t wait to make this on a truly frigid morning, after I’ve dropped kids off at school, and sitting down to do Bible study or before I start laundry or whatever. It just sounds so warm and cozy. Oh, I also think this would be really good even if you put the ingredients together and froze them so it’d be ready when you are, OR you could thaw it just a bit and throw it in the blender. Yummy!

Teriyaki Green Beans

These were so good! And easy! And healthy! They’re a veritable edible trifecta, lol. (Seriously, ds7 complained that he HATED green beans when he came to the table, and ended up eating 3 full servings of these!)

Teriyaki Green Beans
4 cups frozen long green beans
1/2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/3 cup Soyaki Sauce (from Trader Joes)

Drizzle olive oil in pan. When hot, add green beans and stir fry for 1-2 minutes (till they are defrosted). If there is a lot of extra water released, absorb with a paper towel. Toss with garlic, and cook 1 minute longer. Add Soyaki sauce, and continue to stir gently, until sauce is reduced and green beans are tender.

4 servings
Nutrition info (per serving):
108 calories, 15 g carbs, 5 g fat, 3 g protein, 3 g fiber

Asian lettuce wraps

These were YUMMY!!! I will definitely make these again, and they were pretty healthy, as well.

ASIAN LETTUCE WRAPS, 6 servings

1 lb extra lean ground beef
8 oz can sliced water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1/2 cup green onions, sliced and divided (greens and whites)
2 T low-sodium soy sauce
2 T molasses
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 T minced garlic
1/2 T minced fresh ginger
1 T rice wine vinegar
1/8 tsp ground coriander
12-18 large green lettuce leaves, rinsed and dried
1 cup shredded carrots

Over medium heat, brown ground beef, while breaking up into fine chunks. Drain well. Add water chestnuts and 1/3 cup white part of green onions. Cook 2 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together next 8 ingredients. Add to meat mixture, and cook and stir 2 more minutes, until hot.

To serve, take 2-3 lettuce leaves per person, scoop a little meat on each, and sprinkle with shredded carrots and remaining green onions. Wrap up, similar to a burrito, and enjoy!

Nutritional information (per serving):
180 calories, 15 g carbs, 5 g fat, 20 g protein, 2 g fiber

I’m going to try this sometime, as an OAMC meal, as well.

Recipe: Greek Spaghetti Pie

2 tsp olive oil

4 cups cooked whole wheat spaghetti

1 cup 2% lowfat cottage cheese

4 eggs

1-1/2 tsp fresh oregano, chopped, divided

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes packed in oil, drained

1 lg zucchini, unpeeled, thinly sliced

1 cup feta, crumbled, divided

1/4 tsp Greek seasoning, or to taste

Rub olive oil around bottom and sides of a large ovenproof skillet. In blender or food processor, blend cottage cheese, eggs, Greek seasoning, and 1 tsp oregano. When smooth, pour into spaghetti and mix so all noodles are coated. Heat pan on medium, below oil smoke point. Spread 1/2 of the spaghetti mixture into bottom of pan, evenly. In single layer, lay zucchini out on top of spaghetti. Sprinkle 3/4 cup feta on top (reserving 1/4 cup of the bigger chunks), and then sprinkle tomatoes on top of feta. Top with remaining spaghetti, and drizzle any remaining egg mixture on top. Sprinkle with reserved feta.

Cover pan with lid, and bake in oven for 20 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tsp chopped oregano, and Bake an additional 10 minutes. Cover, let stand 5 minutes, then cut into 6 wedges and serve.

NI per wedge:

282 calories, 30 carbs, 11 g fat, 19 g protein, 5 g fiber

“Creamed” spinach

I made this for dinner tonight, with steak and sweet potatoes. The big people really liked it, but the little people were so horrified that ds5 would rather starve than even let it touch his fork, and ds6 actually cried and wiped his tongue off with a napkin when he finally got a small bite in his mouth!

Awesomely, it is SUPER healthy, so we WILL be making it again, if for no other reason than to torture the boys when they have been particularly naughty.

Some people really like some fresh ground nutmeg with their greens, and I think a little would be good with this as well. I used half fresh spinach, and half frozen.

“Creamed” Spinach, taken from the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
Makes 4 servings

2/3 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup low-fat milk
1 TBSP grated Parmesan (go for fresh!)
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp fresh cracked pepper
2 10-oz bags triple-washed spinach, steamed until tender and drained well OR 1 1-lb bag frozen chopped spinach, steamed and drained well

In a food processor or blender, combine first 6 ingredients, plus 1/4 of the spinach, and process until smooth. In a nonstick pot, combine remaining spinach with cottage cheese mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, just until heated through (about 5 minutes).

Per Serving: 71 calories, 1 g fat, 7 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 10 g protein