All posts by harkey12

Ground Turkey Meatloaf

Recipes, ,

Friday night, I put some meat from the freezer into the fridge to thaw so I would have something to cook this weekend (and not have an excuse to not cook and go out instead!). I had a 2.5 lb package of ground turkey breast that I knew I would be able to use…I just didn’t know how or when. 🙂 Sunday late morning rolled around, and I was craving meatloaf!

I haven’t made a meatloaf since before I moved out of my old apartment in April, so this recipe was long-overdue. Like any smart lady, I jumped on Pinterest to find the easiest recipe possible for ground turkey meatloaf! Not surprisingly, recipes from the Six Sisters’ Stuff popped up first in my search. I immediately found this meatloaf recipe and knew I would be able to make it fit the ingredients I actually had on hand!

After baking for an hour, I had 3 slices of the meatloaf with a spinach mix salad for my Sunday lunch. It was filling and super healthy. Win-win!

photo(74)Don’t you like how I dotted the ketchup all over? Makes it look extremely appetizing, I know. 😛  Here’s how I put it all together…

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup plus 2 TB Ketchup
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 TB minced onions
  • 1.25 lb 99% lean ground turkey
  • 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp garlic salt
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • salt/pepper to taste

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray a loaf baking pan to reduce sticking. (I use Pam Olive Oil spray and love it!)

Mix together the ground turkey, minced onion, breadcrumbs, egg, 1/4 cup ketchup, garlic salt, onion powder, and salt/pepper. Once this is well combined, spread it into the loaf pan.

Mix together the extra 2 tbsp ketchup with the Worcestershire sauce in a separate bowl. Add a few more minced onions to this mix if you want! Spread this sauce evenly on top of the meatloaf.

Bake uncovered for around 1 hour/60 minutes. The meat should brown up nicely and start to pull away from the edges of the pan slightly. Let it cool a little before slicing!

photo(74)meatI failed to take anymore pictures of the finished product because Nick actually took this out of the oven for me while I was grocery shopping on Sunday. So by the time I got to it, half of the meatloaf was demolished. 🙂

This loaf was fairly small which is great for the 2 of us. I hate having days and days of leftover meat. It made about 3-4 adult portions – if I had to guess! It also only took around 5 minutes to put together and get into the oven. It would be a great mid-week dinner for busy moms!

I followed the original recipe fairly closely and only altered because I didn’t have a few things on hand. It still turned out great! I’m going to try it again soon with BBQ sauce in place of the ketchup. This is how my mom always makes her meatloaves, so it should bring back some memories!

Happy baking!

Glow Run 5K

Daily Life!, ,

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. The weather was amazing here in SGF, so I definitely took advantage! Most of my time was spent walking Mac, teaching Jazzercise, and running the typical weekend errands. But, the highlight of my weekend was the Glow Run 5K on Saturday night!

Glow Run 5K

2013-09-14 22.31.44Saturday was a bit of a whirlwind! I began bright and early with a chilly walk with Mac and then was onto teaching Jazzercise by 8 AM. So by the time I was getting ready for the Glow Run around 6:30 PM, I was not feeling super energetic! But I put on my best smile, pulled on some stretchy pants, and was out the door by 7 PM.

2013-09-14 18.56.00The race started at 8 PM, and I wanted to get there early to meet up with my girlfriend Carley to get all our glow gear on and do a bit of a warm up. We were provided the bright t-shirts and several neon glow bracelets and necklaces with our race registration. So when we met up, we quickly got our glow gear on and headed up to the warm-up area!

2013-09-14 22.25.26Carley was extra glowy with her awesome shorts and shoes! Some local Zumba instructors were leading a warm up with a fun DJ, so I kinda danced around while Carley chatted with some other friends that were running as well.

2013-09-14 19.41.33-1Yay for lots of glow runners! We couldn’t have asked for better weather either. It was right around 68 degrees, and the sun was setting as we were lining up in the chutes.

2013-09-14 20.05.11As we lined up, the energy was awesome! Loud music was pumping and glowing neon lights and shirts lined the street for blocks on end. We were so excited! It was Carley’s first race ever, so these last moments were filled with words of advice and positive reinforcement. The nerves were setting in!

We took off fairly slowly because of the crowds (obviously), and I thought we would pull away from them and have a little breathing room. But that didn’t really happen. We were dodging slower runners the entire time! But it was still a great time, and Carley and I kept each other pumped up the whole way.

The only major downside of the race? The 8 AM start time. Eating dinner was an issue! We both decided to eat an early dinner (between 4:30-5), and the food was fighting us the entire time! I had Mexican with Nick (stupid of me, I know!) and Carley had some light sushi with her boyfriend. We thought 3 hours would be sufficient digestion time. But we were VERY wrong! I didn’t feel nauseous, but every once in a while I could feel my dinner coming back up. We made it without having to pull over to puke, but it was a struggle.

Despite the angry tummies, we ran the entire way (she was determined to not walk!) and finished in around 30 minutes. And with all the crowds, families, and strollers, I feel like this was pretty good!

2013-09-14 20.45.54Right as we crossed the finish line, they were handing out water and some hefty medals! I was so excited to get a medal. It was my first one! My other races didn’t provide any type of award. Sad day. But now I have an awesome lime green/neon medal to display! I can’t wait to add to my new medal collection in the future.

Me with my medal!
Me with my medal!
And Carley with hers!
And Carley with hers!

We were slightly proud! The Glow Run was sooo much fun. It’s something I definitely recommend if they ever have a run near your town. It was well organized and very accommodating to all types of athletes and age groups.

After the race, we parted ways, and I headed home to shower and recup. I didn’t realize how rough running could be on your body when you’ve had too much to eat. By the time I showered and settled on the couch to relax before bed, my stomach was completely bloated and I was nauseous bigtime. I stayed up and dipped water and snacked on half an apple before heading to bed. I woke up several times through the night thinking I needed to puke, but thankfully it never happened!

Lesson learned: Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, eat a full Mexican dinner within a few hours of a race!

I spent Sunday recuperating since my stomach was still not back to 100%. I felt ok, and even taught my normal Jazzercise class, but had a bloated and tender belly the whole day. My whole day basically looked like this…

2013-09-15 07.39.49Carbs. And butter. And more carbs. I was in full running recup mode! 🙂 And it was delicious.

Hope your Monday is off to a great start! I’m feeling back to my normal self thankfully. I’ll catch you all later! (I have a super quick and simple meatloaf recipe coming for ya!)

 

Tangy Cucumber Salad Recipe

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Recipes, ,

Happy Saturday to ya! Hope your weekend is off to a great start! Mine has been good so far. But someone did not want to get out of bed this morning…

Grumpy Mac
Grumpy Mac

I had a grumpy boy on my hands this AM. But I checked the weather, and it was perfect conditions outside for a chilly walk before heading off to teach Jazzercise. So I pulled out my fleece jacket and Mac’s sweater for the first time this season!

IMG_1835It was a brisk walk with temps in the 50’s this morning, so we were both happy to be bundled up a bit.

IMG_1836When we got home, I warmed up with a cup of hot coffee with pumpkin spice creamer before having some Greek yogurt and half a bagel. This was great fuel for my 8 AM Jazzercise class! I had a fairly full room of sleepy-eyed students. But the pumpkin spice was pumping through my veins to keep my energy high!

After I was home, I walked Mac a bit more because the weather was just too amazing here in Springfield this morning! By the time we returned home again, and I had a long shower, it was time to think about some lunch. I was given 3 large cucumbers from my wonderful Jazzercise student, so I thought I should whip up a quick salad to use them up!

Tangy Cucumber Salad

Typical cucumber salads incorporate fresh onions and tomatoes. But I was fresh out of both of these veggies today. So I opted to add some baby carrots to my salad for extra color!

Ingredients

  • 1 large cucumber, or 2 small
  • About 15 baby carrots, chopped
  • 3 TB zesty Italian dressing
  • 2 TB Apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 TB minced onions
  • 1/2 TB dill weed
  • Drizzle of honey (optional)
  • Salt & pepper to taste

Chop up the cucumber into bite-size chunks. I chose to cute my large cucumber length-wise twice before more finely chopping.

IMG_1837
From this…
To this!
To this!

Woohoo! Okay, now add in your carrots (or veggies of choice) that have already been chopped.

IMG_1839Next add the remaining ingredients, stirring thoroughly and taste-testing to determine if you need more salt, honey, etc. This salad is all about seasoning proportions and your taste preferences. I like mine a little more sweet, so I added a good drizzling of honey. If you like it more tangy, add a touch more Italian dressing.

Cover and refrigerate an hour or so before tossing once more and serving! This salad is fresh and super low-cal. Use up those last summer cucumbers while you can!

For the rest of my lunch, I made a low-carb wrap with some fresh spring mix spinach and turkey with mustard.

IMG_1841I made my wrap a little too full, so I just folded it in half and ate it like a taco. It works!

Now Nick and I are just lounging around while I snack on some carbs before my Glow Run 5K tonight! Nick is not running with me since me and my girlfriend decided it would just for ‘us girls’, but he may come cheer us on! The race begins at 8 PM. It should be dark and chilly by then – perfect running weather! I hope to snap some great photos of all the glowing runners to share with you all tomorrow.

Get outside and enjoy this weather! See you all after my race!