Mini Turkey Meat Loaves

The original recipe is called “Mini Chipotle-Spiced Turkey Meat Loaves”. It was made by Biggest Loser contestant Tara on an episode this past spring. Check out the original recipe on the Jennie-O web site: Mini Chipotle-Spiced Turkey Meat Loaves.


I have taken out the chipotle, carrots, and celery; replacing them with a chopped bell pepper mix (yellow, red, and green). I’ve also added a dash of cayenne pepper to the topping, instead of chipotle, for some added zing. The leftovers are fantastic and perfect size for a lunch on the go.


Mini Turkey Meat Loaves

Ingredients
FOR MEAT LOAF:
¼ C. white onion, coarsely chopped
½ C. bell pepper mix (yellow, red, green), coarsely chopped
1 (20-ounce) package JENNIE-O TURKEY STORE® extra lean ground turkey breast
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
2 egg whites
Salt & pepper
FOR TOPPING:
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon brown sugar substitute (such as Splenda® Brand)
Couple dashes of ground red pepper (cayenne pepper)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a small food processor, combine onion and peppers. Pulse until finely chopped. 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 olive oil cooking spray. 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 mini loaves.

Nutritional Information for 1 mini loaf: 110 calories, 1 g. fat, 0 g. saturated fat, 25 mg cholesterol, 180 mg sodium, 6 g. carbohydrates, 16 g. protein.

Recipe Credit: Arrion Rathsack and Jennie-O Turkey Store

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Red Onions and Bell Peppers

I'm back and armed with some new low calorie meal choices (I'll throw in a few naughty ones too...)

Let's start off with my BBQ Chicken Pizza with Red Onions and Bell Peppers

A great way to use extra grilled chicken you might have on hand. I recently calculated the calories and it makes a nice low cal dinner and satisfies my pizza cravings.

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Red Onions and Bell Peppers

Ingredients
Betty Crocker Pizza Crust Mix
½ C. Hot Water
6 oz of chopped grilled chicken breast
¼ C. chopped red onion
¼ C. chopped bell peppers
6 T. BBQ Sauce (I used Memphis Style)
1 Cup Kraft 2% Milk Mexican Style Four Cheese

Instructions
Heat oven to 425˚. Grease a large rectangular cookie sheet with olive oil spray.

Prepare pizza crust per instructions. While dough is resting, prepare the pizza toppings.

Press dough into a rectangle on cookie sheet, using floured fingers as necessary. Spread BBQ sauce evenly on dough. Add chicken, onion, and peppers. Bake for about 8 minutes. Evenly sprinkle cheese onto pizza. Bake an additional 5-8 minutes or until crust is starting to turn golden brown and cheese has melted.

4 Servings

Nutritional Information: 321 calories, 8 g. fat, 4 g. saturated fat, 45 mg cholesterol, 878 mg sodium, 44 g. carbohydrates, 1 g. fiber, 18 g. protein

Recipe credit: Arrion Rathsack

Taco Soup with Black Beans

Another great crock pot recipe. The leftovers are almost better than the fresh soup! Consider adding fresh lime juice or chopped cilantro after cooking.

Taco Soup with Black Beans

Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef, browned
28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 can corn, undrained
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can red beans, undrained
1 env. dry Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix
1 env. dry taco seasoning
1 small onion, chopped

Instructions
Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cover and cook on low 4-6 hours. Squeeze about half a lime into the finished soup (optional).
Garnish with tortilla or chips, shredded cheese, sour cream.

Italian Meatloaf

This is a great recipe for a large family meal. A nice twist on your traditional meatloaf or even spaghetti and meatballs. Serve with your favorite pasta and sauce.

To remove meatloaf and other meats from the crockpot, make yourself some foil handles. Place three, double strips of heavy foil, crisscrossed on the bottom of the pot and ends left hanging over the top edge. Place them in the pot first and put your meat on top.

Italian Meatloaf

Ingredients
2 lbs. ground beef or turkey
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 C. quick-cooking oats
1 envelope dry onion soup mix
1/2 C. pasta sauce (use the rest with pasta)
1 tsp. garlic powder
onion slices

Instructions
Combine meat, eggs, oats, soup mix, pasta sauce, and garlic powder. Shape into a loaf and place in the crockpot. Top with onion slices.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Serve with pasta and additional sauce.

Ham and Potatoes

This is a great recipe for your leftover Christmas Ham. Just pop the ingredients in the crockpot and it's ready for dinner. This is the first in a series of crockpot recipes I plan to post. I love getting out the crockpot this time of year, you'll always have a yummy stew, casserole, or roast for dinner!

My family traditionally has lima beans with ham and potatoes. I would toss in some frozen lima beans with this recipe.

Ham and Potatoes

Ingredients
5-6 potatoes, sliced
About 2 C.+ ham, diced
8 oz + American or Velveeta Cheese, cubed
half a small onion, diced
1 can of cream of chicken soup (I use the healthy request, reduced fat stuff)
1/2 C. milk

Instructions
Layer potatoes, ham, cheese, and onion in the crockpot. Add the soup on top.
Cover and cook on low for about 6 hours.

Recipe Credit: Arrion Rathsack

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

I always thought that Mac and Cheese was too difficult to make, so I never tried. I stuck to my favorite Kraft Macaroni and Cheese from a box. The other day, I came across this recipe from my mother-in-law Brenda Rathsack. She had written a bunch of recipes for my husband Ben on a steno-pad when he first went off to college. Now of course, Ben has never made anything other than chicken fajitas or chicken stir-fry (i.e. all the same ingredients except for the bottle of spice he grabs.) He did say he tried a tuna casserole once, enough said.

Anyway, this is VERY simple. I am now addicted to the stuff. It's REAL mac and cheese. (Can you tell I am excited?)

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients
1 bag of elbow macaroni
Milk (I did use whole milk - but try 2%)
1/2 a large box of Kraft Deluxe American Cheese - cubed
Butter - about 1/2 a stick or more

Instructions
After macaroni is cooked and drained, place it back in the pan. Start heating (about medium). Add enough milk to just cover the macaroni.
Add cubed cheese and butter.
Heat until cheese has melted and milk has thickened.
You'll know when it's ready!

Recipe Credit: Brenda Rathsack

Fricadels

My great-grandmother Dorothy Sorensen Kinnick immigrated from Denmark to the United States in 1903, landing at Ellis Island. This is a recipe handed down to me from her daughter Eileen Kinnick Smith (my Grandma Smith). It's best described as a danish hamburger recipe! But they have always been refered to as Fricadels.

The photo shows the Kinnick family abt. summer 1938. L.to R. Edward (Buzz), Mary Eileen (Grandma Smith), Leo, Paul, and Dorothy Kinnick.

Fricadels

Ingredients

1lb hamburger

1 egg

1 T. flour

1/2 C. Milk

Onion, pepper, salt

Instructions

Combine all ingredients and shape burger mix into patties. Drop 2 T. fat in skillet. Fry patties on both sides until done in the middle.

Recipe credit: Dorothy Sorensen Kinnick (1887-1983)

New Fashioned Chicken and Noodles

I used to love my Grandma Smith's homemade chicken and noodles. Of course the egg noodles were from scratch and the chicken was often leftovers from homemade fried chicken. I tried making noodles from scratch, they were good, but time consuming. In effort to save even a few calories, I use chicken breasts, low fat broth, bouillon, and you can even use no yolk noodles (although I heard they really don't save you much in fat/calories/choles/etc.)

I was never able to get my grandma's recipe, but came up with this one on my own (after looking at several different cookbooks and websites). Enjoy!

New Fashioned Chicken and Noodles

Ingredients
32 oz low fat chicken broth
4 C. water
4 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
3 chicken breast halves (abt. 1½ lb package) cut in large chunks
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
3 tsp celery flakes
¼ tsp pepper
dash salt
3 T. butter (don’t substitute!)
2 C. whole milk
3 T. flour
12 oz Bag of Egg Noodles

Instructions
In a six-quart pot combine broth, water, granules, chicken breasts chunks, herbs, pepper & pepper, & onion powder. Bring to boil, then turn heat down to medium, and cook until chicken is no longer pink, stirring occasionally (if it starts to boil over, take a stick of butter and rub it around the rim of the pot). Remove from heat. Remove chicken. Add the butter. Let chicken cool slightly (so it’s easy to handle), shred or chop into small pieces. Set aside.

Combine ½ C. milk and 3 T. flour, mix or shake well. Bring broth to boil again. Add bag of noodles, cook about 5 minutes. Stir in 1 ½ C. milk. Add the milk and flour mix. Stir into the noodles. Turn down to medium heat. Stir and cook until thick and bubbly. Stir in chicken and cook a few more minutes until chicken is warm and sauce further thickens.

You can make your own noodles, but I found it takes to much time and effort, the bagged works well. The broth and herbs add the good flavor!

Serves about 6-8. Great with homemade mashed potatoes, peas, and corn!

UPDATE: I recently used a bag of Amish Kluski noodles and they worked great. More like old fashioned noodles.

Recipe Credit: Arrion Rathsack