Tag: meatloaf

Recipe: Beef and Olive Individual Mini Meatloaf Cups

I have made mini meatloaves a few times, and it works out very well. I divide my meatloaf mixture into a cupcake tin and/or ramekins for easier portion control. Plus it bakes quicker!

Here is the recipe I made tonight:

Makes 7 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb 93% ground beef (it also works with ground bison or turkey if you please)
  • 1 large egg
  • 3-5 cloves of chopped garlic
  • 1-2 chopped shallots
  • 8 Kalamata black olives (or any other kind of olives. You can use more or less to your own tastes)
  • 2 oz Friendship Farmers Cheese – If you have never used Farmer’s Cheese, check it out. It’s similar to feta, but it’s got a creamier texture like whipped cream cheese. The Friendship brand is very low in calories. 1 oz = 50 calories.
  • Salt & Pepper seasoning to taste (you might also add herbs and/or spices like cumin, celery flakes, etc)

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients together in large bowl
  2. Divide mixture into 6 muffin tins and/or ramekins – approximately 3 oz each
  3. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes or until cooked through.
  4. You might need to use a cookie sheet under if there is spill over.

individual beef and olive meatloaf cups - mini meatloaves

It definitely had a strong olive taste. I love olive oil, so I am really trying to eat more whole olives. Even though I am not a huge olive fan, I keep trying to add small amounts while cooking. I might try using a little less olives next time.

I cook for only two of us, so a benefit of this recipe is there are always left-overs. I slice them into smaller chunks and add them to tomato sauce for the next night’s dinner.

Nutritional Data:

1 of 7 servings:
Calories 126.1
Total Fat 6.1 g
Saturated Fat 2.5 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.8 g
Cholesterol 70.4 mg
Sodium 168.8 mg
Potassium 19.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate 1.1 g
Dietary Fiber 0.2 g
Sugars 0.0 g
Protein 16.2 g

I served the mini meatloaves with huge portion of spinach and some brown rice.

mini meatloaves made with beef and olives

Turkey Meatloaf – Round 3

I don’t know what it is about this turkey meatloaf recipe (from Epicurious.com), but I am almost obsessed about perfecting it! I made it again last night, and while it was better than last time, it still needs a few more tweaks.

To recap, the first try, it was delicious, but it tasted too much like “stuffing” with all the bread crumbs. Second time, I made the mistake of adding way too much chicken stock/broth, so it was swimming in juices. Still delicious, but not right.

Okay, so last night, this was the recipe:

  • 1 lb ground turkey (93%)
  • 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth/stock (low sodium preferred)
  • 1 egg
  • shallots, zucchini, and a few chopped peppers. You can use mushrooms, or any other veggies like onions, carrots, etc.
  • I roasted a whole pepper in the oven, and sliced it to add to the top of the meatloaf as well
  • whatever herbs or spices you have: I used chopped fresh parsley, and dried thyme.
  • salt and pepper

The consistency was less liquidy this time, but it was still a bit too mushy. I need to lower the chicken stock amount again, or maybe add a touch more bread crumbs. Or even better, try it with real crusty bread chunks. I didn’t have mushrooms this time, so I used zucchini, and I am sure that added a bit to the liquid content of the meatloaf.

It’s been really fun experimenting with this recipe!

Second Try Turkey Meatloaf

I tried a pretty good recipe for turkey meatloaf about a month ago, and I wanted to try it again last night with some revisions.

Well, it was edible, but I still made mistakes and I think 3 times will be the charm next time!

First, I only had 1 lb ground turkey, which was half what the recipe called for. I forgot to divide the ingredients in half before I poured the full cup of chicken stock. I figured eh, the mushrooms would absorb it! Big mistake. I shouldn’t have put in so much stock. It made the meat way too liquidy, and it ended up steaming/boiling the turkey, so it had a gray tinge. Didn’t look extremely pleasing to the eye, but did still taste fine, just a little soupy.

I reduced the panko bread crumbs to 1/2 cup, and this time added the mushrooms and shallots. Diced up those mushrooms as small as I could to make sure my picky hubby wouldn’t notice them. It worked for the first piece of meatloaf, but when he went back for seconds, he asked me what this little piece of “something” was. LOL.

The good news is, he only picked out that one piece of ‘shroom and didn’t even bat an eye when eating the rest of the 2nd piece!

So, we have leftovers for lunch today, along with beets, butternut squash and brown rice. I like making extra so we have lunch portions too!

Next time, I think I will definitely watch the amount of chicken stock, and I think it will be perfect. In the future, I might experiment with whole grains, like oatmeal or whole wheat bread instead of the panko crumbs.

Turkey Meatloaf

I was planning on making pasta with turkey tomato sauce, but figured I might make a meatloaf instead. That way I could take the leftovers and easily make the pasta tomato sauce tomorrow night.

I searched on the Epicurious iPhone app for ground turkey recipes, and found what looked like a good one.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Turkey-Meatloaf-with-Mushrooms-and-Herbs-355229

I had to edit the ingredients, and “make it my own” as usual. (Note: I am not a good recipe follower, I rarely ever make a dish to recipe specifications)

I had one pound of ground white turkey (Natural from Plainville Farms) so I figured I better cut the recipe ingredients in half.

I didn’t have any bread, so I used 1 cup of Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs (only 220 calories for the full cup)
1/2 Cup of Swanson Low Sodium chicken broth (they have organic low sodium now! Yay)
Some diced onion
1 tbsp Olive Oil (yum)
1 egg (Pete & Gerry’s – Organic Eggs)
Basil, onion powder, garlic powder, a little dash of cumin, salt & pepper

Mixed that up, (smelled really good) then I donned a plastic food glove and mixed in the pound of ground turkey (not my favorite part! yuck)

Bake in pre-heated oven at 375 degrees.

The reviews were excellent, but since I messed with the ingredients, and only used ground white turkey, I hope it’s not too dry.
We’ll see how it comes out.

ETA: The meatloaf came out okay. I think I definitely overcooked it. Next time, I will watch it better. The taste reminded me of Thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. It was good. I think I might use less breading next time so it won’t be so “stuffing-like” and also might add thyme, as in the original recipe.

But all in all, it was a good start to a good turkey loaf.

Nutritional Data:

Calories 178.2
Total Fat 8.6 g
Saturated Fat 2.2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2.0 g
Cholesterol 88.8 mg
Sodium 175.5 mg
Potassium 10.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 8.3 g
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g
Sugars 0.8 g
Protein 17.2 g
Iron 8.0 %

Photos below are not that appealing, and yes, I know my dish is very carb heavy! I didn’t feel like green beans and was too lazy to make a salad, so I microwaved frozen peas. I also added four Poppys potato and cheddar Pierogies with a dollop of fat-free plain yogurt. Yeah, way too carb heavy, but I am usually under on my carbs, so it’s okay.

turkey meatloaf

turkey meatloaf