Turkey Lentil Meatloaf

I think it hit 80 degrees here today in the Boston area…at least that’s what my computer said.  For some reason I seem to always have long busy work days when we have awesome weather :(

Then, even though I worked late enough to be too tired and too hungry to go to the gym, we still managed to take part in a “summer night” ice cream run.

Neither of our stomachs were prepared…it was a long winter.

I give you a KIDDIE size cup of half cookie dough and half purple cow frozen yogurt.  The place right near us serves Richardson’s, which is the bomb.

Yeah, that’s the smallest size they have…

It’s easily an 8oz cup…no joke.  I’d hate to see the Large size. 

I could only put down about half of this, Brian finished his whole cup…we both don’t feel so great right now…

Enough ice cream.

So if you decide to make a batch of those delectable artichokes from my last post, make sure you save a few for yourself (and some extra dressing too)

Makes for a fabulous salad for lunch the next day on top of some mixed greens and other veggies.

An Antipasto Salad!  I added some fresh mozzarella and salami slices. 

But the real “meat” of this post (pun intended), is the Turkey and Lentil meatloaf I made recently.

I’ve made a version of this meat loaf before, based on this recipe.

I loved it so much, I’ve been dying to make it again!   This time I wanted a greater ratio of lentils to turkey.

Turkey & Lentil Meatloaf
adapted from Eat Live Run

Pre-heat oven to 400

• 1lb ground lean turkey
• 2 cups cooked green lentils
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 large stalks celery, diced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs, preferably whole wheat

-  Heat oil in a large skillet over med/med-high heat.  Saute onions for 5 minutes.  Add garlic, celery, and carrots, and saute for another 3-4 minutes.  Set aside.

- In a large bowl combine turkey, cooked lentils, the veggies you just cooked, and all the remaining ingredients. 

- You can try mixing with a spoon, but I find it easiest to just dive in fingers first and combine all ingredients.

- Transfer to your pan(s).  This recipe makes a lot…I love leftovers.  I made 1 large loaf (in my 10” loaf pan), filled 3/4 way to the top, and I had enough leftover for 1 mini loaf.

Glaze:

• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 T balsamic vinegar
• 2 T maple syrup

- spread/brush glaze over loaf (or loaves)

- Bake until the center reaches 165 degrees (about 45-50 min). Check mini-loaves after 30 minutes.

I don’t know why, but its just SO good!  Such a great flavor.  This is one of those dishes where I crave leftovers the next day or two.  I also froze a nice big chunk for a quick meal on a busy day.

This is also an incredibly healthy meal!  I don’t remember the exact numbers, but 1/8th of this large recipe was only about 250 calories!  Lots of protein and fills you up :)

Might need to break out those leftovers sometime soon.

 Favorite ice cream flavor??  I can’t decide.  I loved mint chocolate chip growing up, still do.  But I also loooove a good soft serve.

Weekend Fuel

Trying to forget Friday’s weather ever happened…it sort of feels like Spring this weekend. Still wearing my winter coat, but it’s been sunny with milder temps and the birds are chirping away!!

Brian was brewing a batch of beer on Saturday so that meant I had the whole day to do whatever my heart desired ;)

I knew I had to buy some bridal shower and baby gifts (and maybe one or two Bridget gifts), so I needed some breakfast fuel!

I channeled The Fitnessista and decided on some Perfect Protein Pancakes, seeing as how I recently ordered a bag of Sun Warrior protein powder after hearing so many people rave about it! (so far I really like it and I love that there’s no crap ingredients)

I followed her recipe, using skim milk instead of almond milk, white whole wheat flour instead of the gluten-free baking mix, an no stevia.

Made 2 perfect personal pancakes

and a side of fresh pineapple!

Yes, you can taste the protein powder so it’s important that you like the protein powder you use! My first bite was..eh (I’m not really used to the flavor yet), but by the end I really liked them!!

Especially with a smear of PB and a drizzle of real maple syrup!

I whipped up an iced latte this morning! I even foamed up a little milk for the top. Delish.

These definitely had staying power and kept me full all morning! It was a successful shopping trip, and a few cashews and half of a Luna Bar kept me going until early afternoon. I picked up some fixings for lunch at Trader Joes and came home for this masterpiece

• Multi-grain British muffins


• creamy goats cheese spread


• Wild Coho smoked salmon


• red onion


• capers


• (all items from TJ’s)

Seltzer with grapefruit slices As Brian dives into more complex beer brewing, it takes him longer… The whole processes took him about 9 hours! So I’m glad he got an early start because I was really in the mood to go out for dinner.

I had a SWEET Eversave coupon I desperately wanted to use.

A few weeks ago they had one that was $20 for $40 worth of food at Antico Forno…my FAVORITE restaurant in the North End. Hands Down.

Clearly I did not hesitate to make the purchase, and it was made even sweeter when I realized I had a $10 credit and found a $3 coupon code.

$7 for $40 at Antico Forno. Hells Yes! It gets even better as we drove right into the city, found a street spot nearby, and after being told our wait would be 35-40 minutes, our buzzer buzzed about 5 min later!!

Fresh Italian bread with a white bean spread.

Then we split my most favorite salad ever EVER!

FOCACCINA CON CAPRINO

Flat aromatic bread topped with mixed green salad, goat cheese, fresh roasted cherry tomatoes and grilled zucchini

**the photo above is actually from an old post, as I didn’t get a good one from last night. Usually I’m good with the salad and maybe an appetizer, but since we had the coupon I went for an entre figuring I’d have leftovers (I do!) I went with the:

LINGUINE AL FRUTTI DI MARE

Linguine pasta with clams, mussels, calamari and shrimp sautéed in a plum tomato sauce baked in parchment paper.

I opted for extra shrimp instead of calamari Served:

Open the present

Uh-mazing. I don't know what they put in that sauce…looked just like cherry tomatoes, but it tastes incredible. I ate all the seafood, a little pasta, and packed the rest to go.

Sunday. I wanted to wake up early…and got my wish. I set my alarm for around 7 (early for a weekend), and apparently while pushing buttons I managed to screw with the time.

Didn’t realize it was 6:15 until I got downstairs!

Oh well I was up. I wanted to make muffins and prepped some of my ingredients the night before…

(more on that tomorrow!)

The rest of the day was more shopping (including a useless trip to IKEA, which is SO annoying).

But my mood lifted when we got to another of my destinations. Since we were down near the south shore I was dying to try PINKBERRY!

After hearing about it for years, I finally get to try the brand that started it all.

Mine: Small with original and mango side-by-side. Toppings: coconut, blueberries, raspberries, waffle cookie, dark chocolate crispies.

Umm..1 price and as many toppings as you want??? Yes Please! (Berryline did you hear that??)

Brian opted for pomegranate and lychee side by side, with chocolate shavings, and lime (suggested to squeeze over the lychee). So refreshing!

Big fan of Pinkberry!!

Long Run Time (no worries, running happened hours after froyo!)

Half-Marathon Updates

• We had a 7 miler today. It was hard! My legs started feeling tired and heavy during mile 3, but we had planned our route to go past our car after 4miles so we could grab a sip of water. Our water break took a little longer because I really needed to stretch. A nice down-dog really helped my legs, and we set off for our last 3 miles. Again, a little harder than we’ve felt up to this point, but we made it.


• 7 miles was the longest Brian and I had ever run!


• My speedwork this past Tuesday was also harder than usual but I powered through.


• However my other “easy runs” have been slacked on a bit. On Thursday I only ran 1.5 miles before Body Pump but I was SO pumped (pun intended) to get back to Body Pump!! We’ve had dog training class on this night for the past 2 months so I haven’t been in a long time.


• Foot pain has subsided, although I still can’t figure out what combination of sneakers + inserts help my plantar fasciitis! It’s not bad but I feel it in both arches when I run.


• I run faster with Brian. Good and Bad thing. I think it was bad today because I stared off faster than I should have…I don’t think I should be increasing my mileage and my speed at the same time! Lesson learned.

Later we had a stretching session at home and as I was sitting, a little fury friend crawled INTO my stretch!

He likes to be nice and close when we’re trying to stretch….but that’s ok by me :)

Muffin recipe still to come!

Weather is looking beautiful for Tuesday AND I have a deep tissue massage that day!! Only my second massage EVER and I am so excited!!

What are you looking forward to this week??

Homemade Fro-Yo Yo Yo

Continuing on from the Pesto dinner the other night…we were in dire need of a frozen treat!!

Now I know you’ve seen homemade tart frozen yogurt all over the blog world, I have too.  I think the first one I saw was way back on 101Cookbooks, and one of the more recent ones has been on Lauren’s blog

I liked the proportions of non-fat/low-fat yogurt and reduced sugar that Lauren was using, so I went with those measurements.

• 2 Cups Non-Fat Greek Yogurt
• 1 Cup 2% Greek Yogurt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• I added about 1/8 tsp vanilla bean paste in the hopes for some flecks of vanilla bean in there…not really sure why I didn’t just use all paste instead…oh well next time

 

Throw it into your ice cream maker and let ‘er rip!

I was craving some of the toppings that I get when I hit up Berryline…which sometimes involves sugary kids cereal :)

So I bought this bad boy…

OMG, I used to always ask my mom to buy these when I was little!!  Of course I’d eat the few I liked and not the rest…hence I didn’t get them often ;)

My yogurt serving was going to involve one of these selections:

Fresh cut up nectarine

and fresh raspberries

Coco Puffs it is! 

The yogurt came out sooooooo creamy! 

I almost think it was even a tad too sweet…I might cut down the sugar to 1/3 of a cup next time! 

 

This has got to be the easiest homemade frozen treat yet!  I can’t wait to explore the possibilities and flavors.  

Perfect for this crazy heat wave we’re having up here!

Time for Body Pump, I haven’t been in weeks!!!  Should be interesting ;)