Turkey Meatloaf Recipe and Some Sweet Potato Fries! YUM!

Ever since Mom and I found Bill Phillips' Body for Life Program back when I was in high school (that's over 10 years ago people) :), we've loved his turkey meatloaf recipe. It's the easiest, healthiest, yummiest meatloaf I've ever had. (And even my grandma, who always used ground beef for her meatloaf, loved this stuff. She even requested that I make it for her after she had her stroke and couldn't cook anymore. I even took some up to her at the nursing home a few times, since according to her, their food was awful.) :) So here is Bill's recipe straight from the Eating for Life cookbook. Whenever I've changed anything, I'll note those changes below!

Enjoy!!

Homestyle Turkey Meatloaf

This photo is from the Eating for Life cookbook. You can also view the recipe at the Transformation website.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs lean ground turkey (I just used a pack of extra lean Jennie O ground turkey breast; it's not quite 1 1/2 lbs but it's close enough)

1 onion, chopped (I hate chopping onions, so I buy a frozen bag of pre-chopped ones! It's so much easier!!)

4 egg whites (I use 3)

1 cup salsa (I use around 1 1/2 cups because we like the salsa)

3/4 cup old fashioned oats

1 pkg Knorr Vegetable Soup mix

1/4 tsp black pepper (I don't measure this, I just dump.) :)

1/2 cup ketchup (I don't measure this either. I just make a fat squiggly line on top!)

Garlic powder, to taste (I like to add a little of this, even though the original recipe doesn't call for it.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine ground turkey, onion, egg whites, salsa, oats, soup mix and black pepper. (Add in you garlic powder in this step too. Also I mix up everything but the turkey first. Then I add the turkey in. It helps me mix it up easier.)

3. Press mixture into a 9" x 5" loaf pan (I like to line my glass dish with foil, and then spray the foil with some olive oil cooking spray. It makes cleaning the dish a lot easier!) and spread ketchup over top. (I squirt mine in a squiggle line, because I think it's prettier.) :) Bake in preheated oven until meatloaf is no longer pink in the center and juice is clear, about 60 minutes. (I like to turn the oven up to 370° when it has about 15 minutes left, because I like mine to get a little brown and crispy on top.)

4. Remove meatloaf from oven and let sit for 5 minutes before slicing. (I'm too impatient for this, so I usually yank it out and we eat! haha) You can see in the picture below that it doesn't stick at all with the foil!

And here is the finished product! This was Adam's dinner from Monday night!

--Tasteful Tip from the cookbook--

Meatloaf makes a great "planned-over." Consider making an extra loaf and freezing it. Cool it completely, then cover tightly with plastic wrap. Overwrap it with aluminum foil, and store it in the freezer for up to two months.

I also made Sweet Potato Fries Monday night! I used a recipe I found on Pinterest! It worked out great! Here is the link to it! (Note: I baked it according to the directions, but I used our toaster oven since the meatloaf was in the big oven. After they baked through, and I had turned the fries over, I toasted them for about 5-10 minutes so they got brown and crispy. Adam and I both like them this way. Just an FYI for those of you who like cripsy, slightly brown fries!

Source: theartofdoingstuff.com via Beth on Pinterest



Nutella Cheesecake and What's for Dinner This Week?

Yikes! My last post was on July 11! Time has been flying by!! I have all this stuff I want to get accomplished and zero energy! Bleh!! But I did come across something YUMMY on Pinterest this weekend and just had to share! And I haven't done a dinner list in awhile so I thought it was time I did that too!

Adam's Dad's birthday is tomorrow, and we went to dinner last night to celebrate since Adam is working late most of this week! While at dinner I mentioned I had seen a recipe for Nutella cheesecake and Adam wanted me to make it. So we decided to make the recipe and take it over Wednesday or Thursday this week and have that for his Dad's birthday! Adam's whole family loves Nutella, so I think this will be a big hit! Plus they all love cheesecake, so it's a win-win for me. haha (I, on the other hand, don't really care of Nutella or cheesecake. But then again, I don't really care for most desserts or chocolate. Yeah I know, I'm weird.) :) Adam is working on me with the Nutella, so we'll see. I definitely always taste any dessert I make just to make sure it tastes good, but that's about it. I'm not really interested in more than one bite. It's not that they don't taste good, I just prefer chips or some sour candy. :) Those are my weaknesses! I could survive on chips alone. :) hehe

So here is the recipe!

Source: themoonlightbaker.com via Beth on Pinterest

Nutella Cheesecake Layer Bars
From The Moonlight Baker

- 8 Chocolate Graham Crackers
- ½ Stick Unsalted Butter, melted
- 16 oz. Cream Cheese, at room temperature
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ½ C. Granulated Sugar
- ¼ + 1 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
- 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
- ¼ C. Nutella

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter an 8 x 8 baking pan and line with parchment paper, making sure that the parchment is well pressed in the corners. Set aside.

In a food processor, pulse chocolate graham crackers until they become crumbs (like bread crumbs). Add in melted butter and pulse until moistened. Press graham cracker mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Bake crust in the center of the oven until set, about 12 minutes. Set aside and cool.

Clean out the food processor. Add cream cheese, eggs, sugar, ¼ C. heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Pulse until smooth. Put 2/3 of the cream cheese mixture in a bowl and set aside. Add Nutella and 1 Tbsp. of heavy cream to remaining 1/3 of the cream cheese mixture in the processor. Pulse until smooth.

To assemble, spread the vanilla cheesecake mixture over the cooled graham cracker base, being careful not to disturb the crust. Pour Nutella cheesecake layer on top of vanilla layer and spread evenly. Bake on the center rack of the oven for about 35 minutes, or until the center jiggles slightly. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a cooling rack. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

When ready to serve, lift bars out of the pan by lifting up the parchment paper (it should release easily). Slice into 16 squares and serve.

I'm excited to try this out! And I'll post Thursday or Friday after everyone has tried it to let y'all know how it turns out! Plus I'll take my own pics of the process and finished product!!

Ok now onto this week's dinners!

Monday: Turkey Meatloaf, Sweet Potato Fries (I have a great recipe for these! I'll post it later this week!) and corn (Changed from asapargus, because someone (Adam) :) wanted corn haha

Tuesday: Baked Salmon, salads, and leftover sweet potato fries

Wednesday: Tacos!

Thursday: Probably leftover meatloaf or tacos (we're most likely going to Adam's parent's house for birthday fun so we'll eat a quick dinner then head over there!)

Friday: Steaks on the grill, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto with parmesan cheese, and salads

Kind of boring this week, but healthy!! :) Hope everyone has a great week!

Great Giveaway at Freckled Laundry!

Check it out!! It's ends tonight!!

Lotus Boutique Necklace Knock-Off

When Adam and I were in Mobile last weekend for the estate sale, we stopped by Bel Air Mall to get pretzels at Auntie Anne's. We don't have one anymore in Pensacola, so anytime we are over there we have to stop! :) Well the great thing about the pretzel place is, it's right next door to one of my favorite shops, Lotus Boutique. Unfortunately our Lotus in Pensacola closed last year. I'm seeing a trend here. UGH! But at least Mobile is pretty close so it's not too far of a drive to go over there.

While in Lotus Boutique I spotted a super cute triple layer necklace that had fabric woven through it. I took one look at it, and told Adam, "I could so make that, and mine would be cuter." haha :) His reply was usual, "Take a picture and do it." So I did just that!

I ran by Joann's yesterday after work and grabbed my supplies and then came home and got to work! About halfway through, I realized I had forgotten to get eye pins for the beads, so after one more quick trip I had everything I needed to finish it up! :) (I also was able to used a 20% off total purchase (sale and regular price items) coupon from Michael's, which made my deals even better!!

So here is the original necklace from Lotus...

(Sorry about the crappy pictures, they are from my phone). I was excited last night that I had finished it and just started snapping pictures! :)

And here is the one I made. I snagged some Batik fabric strips from Mom's house when I was there on the 4th to use for this. I LOVE Batik's because they are the same on the front and back so I knew it would be perfect for threading through the chain of the necklace.

It took me about 3 hours to finish this up. I'm sure the next one will take way less since I've learned some what not to do and some how to make things go faster tips and tricks. :) I'll post a tutorial on it as soon a I've gather all my pictures up in case anyone wants to make one too!! I think the Lotus Boutique necklace would have been around $20 with tax, and I made this one for less than $10. Plus, I like my colors betters. :) hehe

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

I'm linking up at:

Inspiration Workshop Week 6 -- Pamper Yourself!

So this week at Gussy Sews, her Inspiration Workshop is all about pampering yourself. While I don't really take out a lot of time to do this on a regular basis, here is how I'd spend a day just on me! :)

Reading a great book

Photo from Amazon.com

Photo from Amazon.com

I usually do this at night, when I'm getting ready to go to sleep, so I typically don't make it very far before falling asleep. :) haha And if I do manage to stay awake, I'm up way too late and then I'm tired the next morning. Not my idea of feeling pampered. haha So it would be nice to curl up one morning with a good book and just read and be quiet! (And yes I like vampire books!) :)

Going Junk (ok ok...Vintage) Shopping ;)

I LOVE being in an antique/thrift/flea market store and quietly perusing around looking for that amazing "thing" you just have to have! :) Just going to these places and just taking in the atmosphere is super relaxing. A few of my fav's are Blue Moon and Mixon's for this. It's always so quiet in there!! :)

Taking a Nap

(This is how NOT to take a nap. With a live cat scarf around your neck. UGH! Adam doesn't mind this. I like to sleep cat-free, thank you very much!)

It's not a real surprise to my family that I LOVE TO SLEEP! :) haha I don't like waking up early (even if it's to do something fun). I'm not the person on vacation that is up at the crack of dawn ready to go. I'm always running late, because I NEED those extra 5 minutes of sleep. And I just plain don't like getting out of bed. haha :) My problem with naps are, they are never the quick 20 minutes and I'm good to go kind of naps. I like to nap for 3 hours, which kind of defeats the purpose. haha But on a day pampering myself, I'd take full advantage and nap away.

I'm seeing a pattern here. I like quiet things. Who knew? ;)

Head on over to Gussy Sews and link up your post about how you pamper yourself!

Pinterest??? Yes please! :)

So I'm sure all of you know about Pinterest by now! I just LOVE this site! And I downloaded the app to my iPhone so I'm pinning all day long! haha It's my new favorite thing to pass the time during work!! ;)

My favorites folder at work and at home are huge, and when I email myself ideas they tend to get lost in piles of virtual mail. So I was so excited when I found this place! You have to be invited by someone to join or get on the waiting list and who knows how long that will take! Let me know if you want an invite and I'll gladly send you one! Just send me your email! :)

Source: restorationhardware.com via Beth on Pinterest

I FOUND IT! -- New Sewing Table

This past weekend I coerced Mom to go with me to Mobile, AL to the Olde Mobile Antiques Gallery July estate sale! :) We went on Saturday, so everything except furniture and jewelry was 30% off. I got a cute candlestick for 70 cents, and a pile of pillowcases, placemats and a sheet for 70 cents each to start out.

As we were walking to the front to check out, I noticed a white table piled underneath some other furniture. I looked at Mom and said, "Is that what I think it is??" Sure enough, a cute porcelain top dining table was sitting right near the entrance, and we would have missed it if we hadn't walked over there again. I couldn't believe what great condition the top was in. No chips, dings, etc. Just a pretty, natural worn look. Plus, the bottom was stable as well. (I wish I had taken a picture of it all covered up, but I ended up not taking any pictures! Next time I will!!)

One of the estate sale workers came over and helped us dig it out so I could see it better. And I was super excited when I saw the price tag.......$58!!! Are you kidding me? I've been debating spending $180 for the one on ebay! HA! While we were chatting with his wife, he left and then came back. To our surprise, he said, "I got them to go down to $45." I looked at him and said "SOLD! Load it up!" haha :)

Mom and I were talking about the table on the way home, and I realized it was exactly what I had wished for in my previous post about searching for one. It's got a blue drawer (not a blue knob like the one in Daphne, but what a coincidence right? And since it doesn't have a knob or handle, I can add my own), it's in perfect shape like the one on ebay, and I got it for $45 which is close enough to the $40 one that's in town! I still can't believe we found one! :) And the best part is, we weren't even looking for one. haha I guess good things do come to those who wait and aren't looking right? ;)

So here is my pretty table with my sewing machine on it! It's ready to go!

Now I'm off to find a vintage chair...... :)

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