Lasagna

I know you want it.

But you can't have it.

It's just so good. 

Turkey Meatloaf

I saw Tara on this season's The Biggest Loser, making Turkey Meatloaf and it looked so simple and delicious. I am pulling this recipe from Slim Shoppin's blog, which she pulled from Jennie-O's website, but I like her blog, so I'm doing some free advertising. 

Anyway, I'll be adding my own input in BLUE and illustrating with my very own pictures. :) I know you're excited.

First, I need to point out my new appliance! It did a FANTASTIC job on it's first use. I love, love, love it. And it was nice not having to spend time chopping all the veggies myself.

INGREDIENTS: 1 small yellow onion, coarsely chopped 

1 medium carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped 

1 stalk of celery, coarsely chopped 

2 chipotle peppers (canned in adobo sauce) 

1 (20-ounce) package JENNIE-O TURKEY STORE® extra lean ground turkey breast 

1/2 cup quick cooking oats 

2 egg whites 

FOR TOPPING: 1/4 cup fat free and sugar free ketchup 

1 tablespoon chipotle pepper adobo sauce (from canned peppers used in meatloaf)

 1 tablespoon brown sugar 

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F. In the work bowl of a food processor, combine onion, carrots and celery. Pulse until finely chopped. Add chipotle peppers and pulse until just combined. I found this in the Mexican food section of my grocery store.

In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey with the pepper and vegetable mixture. 

Add egg whites and oats; gently mix until combined. 

Place about 1/3 cup of the prepared meat loaf mixture into 9 wells of a standard size muffin pan that has been lightly sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Mine actually filled the entire muffin pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all of the topping ingredients in a small bowl; set aside. Remove meat loaves from oven and spoon the topping over each meat loaf. Return meat loaf to the oven and continue to bake for an additional 5-10 minutes or until meat loaf is firm and the internal temperature registers 170°F. Let meat loaf stand for 5 minutes before serving. Makes 9 (or 12) mini loaves. This Recipe is Biggest Loser approved

My sauce only made enough to cover 9 meatloafs, but I didn't mind because I wanted to try one without the sauce. 

The sauce was SUPER spicy-because of that chipotle pepper. The salad was the perfect side, because after each bite of meatloaf I could cool my mouth down with the ranch dressing. I would suggest using less of the abodo sauce, and subbing more ketchup if you want less spicy. HOWEVER, I do not suggest omitting the sauce all together. It really brought the whole meal together. The plain turkey meatloaf was lacking without that sauce. Overall, I give this meal a high rating. It was SIMPLE and DELICIOUS, and provided for easy clean up.

Try it out, and tell me what you think!

Nutritional Information for 1 mini loaf:

Calories: 110 Fat: 1 g Saturated Fat: 0 Sodium: 180 mg Protein: 16 g Cholesterol: 25 mg Carbohydrates: 6 g

Watch out for the baby though. He'll find the cookies while you're busy occupying yourself in the kitchen.

From Scratch!

I got a wonderful wheat grinder for Christmas. So after I went out and bought some wheat to grind I made bread. This was my first try! Pretty good huh?
I'm not going to post the recipe, so if you want it let me know. I'm not posting it cause I haven't found the bread recipe that I love, this was ok, but I didn't love it.
But we can enjoy the picture right!

Blueberry Crumble Top Muffins

I was inspired by Trent's blog to bake some Blueberry Muffins! And blueberries were on sale, so where could I go wrong? 

I'm not the greatest photographer, but these looks pretty scrumptious, huh?

Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 C Flour

3/4 C Sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/3 C Vegetable Oil

1 egg

1/3 cup Milk

1 C Berries

CRUMBLE TOP:

1/2 C Sugar

1/3 C Flour

1/4 C Butter, cubed

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Combine first 4 ingredients. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup. Add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups and sprinkle with crumb topping.

For the crumb topping, simply mix those 4 ingredients in a bowl with a fork. 

Bake at 400 degrees, 20-25 minutes.

Mama Mahelona's PB Chocolate Chip Cookies

THESE ARE YUMMY! You know how some cookies just don't taste good two or three days after you bake them, these cookies are different. They taste as good the next day and the next and the next and even the next.

1/2 C Margarine
1/2 C Peanut Butter
1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C Brown sugar
1 Egg

1 1/3 C Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
Chocolate Chips

Mix First 5 ingredients. Stir in last 4 ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet to bake. 350 for 9-11 minutes.
Yields: 2 dozen

Obituary

I think this blog died.

Pumpkin Tortilla Soup

Since I adore pumpkin I gave this yummy recipe a try. I found it on Apartment Therapy.

Pumpkin Tortilla Soup
Serves 6

12 (6-inch) corn tortillas
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup finely chopped cilantro, plus more sprigs for garnish
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Chile pequins, other dried hot peppers, or cayenne pepper to taste*
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
5 cups unsalted vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil for deep-frying*
1-2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and cubed

Cut 6 of the tortillas into 1/2-inch squares.

Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic, cilantro, and chopped tortillas and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is soft.

Add cumin and crushed peppers or cayenne and sauté for another minute.

Add pumpkin, tomatoes, vegetable stock, and salt and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for one hour.

While the soup is simmering, cut the remaining 6 tortillas in half and then into 1/4-inch-wide strips. Heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Fry tortilla strips in two batches until crisp and light golden (about a minute). Using a slotted spoon, transfer tortilla strips to towels to drain.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls and garnish with tortilla strips, avocado, and cilantro.

*You can tailor the type and amount of hot pepper to your own tastes. We usually make this with a couple of crushed chile pequins but have also used cayenne pepper, which is more readily available. If you're not sure how much to use, start with 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne, taste the soup after it has simmered for awhile, and then add more if desired.

* I just baked my tortillas to cut the fat.