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.

Roasted Artichoke Antipasto

Happy Easter!!  It’s been a long day (and weekend)…and I would love to get to bed right now.  I feel like this:

want to do this

My Easter consisted of a 10 mile run and then a family party at my mom’s house!  We’ve always had Easter at our family’s house ever since I can remember. 

First the run.  My first double digit run ever!!!  I’m so excited that I did it!  It was definitely hard for me.  It was also pretty warm out today and I have a sweet racer back sunburn.  It’s hot…so is the tan line from my ipod arm band.  At least I had sun block on my face!

I had about 4-5 quick walk breaks throughout the whole thing.  One longer one after mile 5 when I couldn’t figure out which way to go…woops. New route :)  This is also where I enjoyed some Gu Chomps!

LOVE the Strawberry flavor!!  Much more than the orange.

It’s funny, I go up and down on these long runs… I’ll feel good at some points, then feel like I’m struggling…then good again.  It’s goes back and forth throughout…not good at the beginning and struggle at the end. 

Today’s 10 miles took me 1:53:30, averaging 11:21 min/miles.  I think 10 miles is on the schedule for next weekend as well, so it will be interesting to compare. 

I’ve also been kind of slacking on my 3rd “easy run” of the week.  I’m supposed to do a 4 or 5 mile easy run during the week, in addition to my speed runs, but I always seem to cut them short or miss it for some reason or another…  Bad Bridget.  Need to work on that! 

The good news is that I’ve been back at Body Pump!  Yay :)

FOOD!

I never know what to bring to family parties.  First of all there is usually SO much food that half the time I don’t really need to bring anything… everything is usually taken care of and then some by my aunts/uncles/grandparents. 

But I was always taught never to arrive anywhere empty handed :)

Plus I love making things!

The weekend was busy busy, so I wanted something fairly simple that I could prep the night before.  Literally.

I got a manicure at 6pm yesterday, then went to 2 grocery stores and came home and got to business. 

My inspiration came from my new Barefoot Contessa cookbook!

 A recipe for Roasted Artichoke Hearts, and the picture of the antipasto platter hooked me in!

I made the artichokes and purchased everything else for the platter!!  Easy and beautiful.

I more or less doubled the recipe

The pan was too crowded, so my artichokes more steamed than roasted, but in this case it’s fine as your going to marinate them anyways.   Although I’d love to make it again and get them nice and roasted.

The vinaigrette in the recipe is TO DIE FOR!!  I have extra and can not wait to use it on a salad.

 

Then toss artichokes and dressing with some chopped red onion, roasted red peppers, parsley and capers.

 

Along with the artichokes I also whipped up a quick batch of the goat cheese + peppadew pepper spread.  So quick and so good!!

This was the spread I tasted at Whole Foods over the holiday season.

Basically it’s just goat cheese mixed together with some chopped peppadew peppers (and a little juice from the peppers).  SUPER easy!

My platter for today (taken with iphone)

  

• Artichokes
• Peppadew + goat cheese spread
• salami (Trader Joes)
• Sopresatta (Trader Joes)
• Fresh Mozzarella (Whole Foods)
• Mixed Olives (Whole Foods antipasto bar)

I also got the peppadew peppers from the WF’s antipasto bar.

On the side was sliced baguette (white and whole wheat), and crackers

Everyone seemed to enjoy all the different items to choose from :)

This is a great item that makes for a beautiful presentation!  If I had more time (or thought of it earlier) I would of gone to an Italian market for some good meats but Trader Joe’s has great options as well!

Can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow!

What’s your go-to quick dish to bring to a party?? 
I need more ideas!

Dinner. Now, please.

I love to cook, but I really hate to make anything complicated or too involved after being at work all day.  Even worse is when I go to the gym after work: when I get home, I need food in mouth ASAP!

The past couple weeks I’ve really enjoyed some of our weeknight dinners, and the best part was how fast they came together! 

Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan

I had a package of chicken tenders, and my new favorite way to cook them is based on Giada’s method.

• 1 package (approx 1 lb) chicken tenders
• buttermilk or an egg
• bread crumbs (and kind you like)
• parmesan cheese
• olive oil
• olive oil cooking spray
• your favorite tomato sauce
• shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

I don’t have set quantities for this dish because it’s one that you just eyeball.

1.  Clean chicken
2.  If using the buttermilk, place in a shallow dish and let chicken sit in the buttermilk for 15-20 min
2a.  If using an egg, crack 1 egg into a shallow bowl and lightly beat with a fork.
3.  Place bread crumbs and parmesan cheese in another shallow bowl.  I use about 2 parts bread crumbs to 1 part parmesan cheese
4.  Brush a baking sheet with olive oil
5.  Take chicken from buttermilk (or dip in egg), then dip in bread crumbs/cheese to coat, and place on baking sheet.
6.  Spray chicken with olive oil spray (or drizzle oil over tenders)
7.  Bake at 500 for about 12 min

Heat up your sauce in a pan or in the microwave.  Assemble cooked chicken in a pan, topped with sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Broil until cheese is melted.

While your chicken is baking, prep your sides!  Pasta, salad, veggies…whatever you want.

We had some steamed asparagus and a few slices of leftover baguette, toasted. 

  

This all took about 30 min from the time I came home, to dinner on the table.

Next: Mediterranean Style Burgers

The inspiration for these burgers came from Whole Foods, and it came to me when I was in Whole Foods!  There were samples of a similar burger sometime last year and I remembered that Brian and I both loved it but hadn’t made them yet!  Essentially it was a mix of ground beef and ground lamb with cumin and lemon juice.

• 1/2 lb ground beef (I used 93%)
• 1/2 lb ground lamb
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• juice from 1 lemon
• lemon zest from about 1/2 of the lemon

Combine all of the above ingredients and form into burgers.  I made 3: 1 big one for Brian and two smaller ones for me so I’d have one for lunch the next day.

We even fired up the outdoor grill!!  First time this year I think, since the snow was preventing us from even getting to the grill. 

While Brian handled the grilling, I cooked up some caramelized onions, made salads, and roasted some thin cut potatoes.

** microwave your potatoes for a few minutes first to soften them up, then brush on olive oil, salt, pepper, and whatever seasoning you want.  Bake at 450 for 15-20.  If you cut them thin, and pre-cook them a little they will be ready much faster!

I had picked up a few items from the WF’s antipasto bar for the salads: olives, sundried tomatoes, and marinated artichoke hearts.

Salad was dressed in lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Burgers served medium/med-rare, on whole wheat buns, topped with caramelized onions and a spread of some Trader Joes parmesan-artichoke dip (optional).

I had half a bun, and ate my burgers in the same bowl as my salad :)

Grilled anything gets me excited for warmer weather.  I REALLY loved these burgers.  I refrained from using ketchup because I really wanted to taste the lamb/cumin/lemon.  All the flavors are very subtle but everything tasted so fresh.

  
Once again, this dinner came together in about 30 min! 

I have a couple more I want to share, but we’ll save that for another post!

Don’t forget to SPRING forward tomorrow morning!! 

Brian and I are running a 5K tomorrow morning, and I’m pretty sure a whole bunch of other local bloggers will be running it as well…time to get some sleep!!

Mediterranean Ravioli a la TJ’s

When I got home from Hot Yoga last night, it was 7:45, I was super sweaty (which was making me colder by the minute), and STARVING!!! 

Luckily my buddy Joe…Trader Joe, that is, was able to come through like a champ!

I give you:  Mediterranean Ravioli

I grabbed these from the freezer:

And these from the fridge:

Honeymoon Capers!!  Santorini Capers are AMAZING!

 

Good thing I still have 2 more unopened jars :)

Got my water boiling for the ravioli, and cooked as directed.

I sautéed:

• about 1 T olive oil
• 3 small cloves garlic (chopped)
• 3 artichoke hearts (chopped)
• 1-2 T sundried tomatoes (chopped)

After a few minutes of cooking I added:

• some white wine (maybe 1/4 – 1/2 cup)
• juice from 1/4 lemon
• 1/4 can of diced tomatoes (had them leftover from another night)

After simmering for about 5min, I added a few handfuls of baby spinach, and about 2 tsp capers with juice.

Serve over Ravioli and top with some parmesan cheese!

so so so so so good!!!  And only took about 15 min from start to finish!

LOVE Trader Joes :)