My Super-Comforting Turkey Meatloaf Recipe

This recipe is a super-favorite in our house! I created it because we wanted something comforting, homey, and that reminds us of mom's cooking, but on the lighter, healthier side. My husband practically races home when he hears we're having this for dinner. I like to serve it with garlic mashed potatoes (try Bob Evans brand for a pre-made, refrigerated version that cuts down on time in the kitchen) and French-cut green beans. Leftovers are just as delightful as fresh out of the oven. Bon appetit!

Healthy Lifestyle Post: September 2013 Bestowed Box

I'm back with a new monthly subscription box - this one with a slightly different twist!

Refreshing Summer Salad

It's time for another Reasonable Recipe!

In most of the country this week, it's been So. Freakin'. Hot.  I didn't want to cook dinner tonight (I slaved away last night making a fantastic bella braised chicken) so we decided to get a pizza.  Well, as any girl who's tried to lose those "last few pounds" can tell you, pizza is the devil.  The tasty, tasty devil.  So, I decided to make one of my favorite guilt-free salads as a side.  Seriously, chomping away at this salad is both satisfying and strategic - I didn't gorge myself on pizza, and I feel pretty darn good right now.  So, here it is!

Healthy, easy rice recipe

I tweeted about sharing this recipe, so here it is!

A couple weeks ago, I made a few Jamaican jerk pork chops and needed a rice recipe to go with it.  What was suggested with the pork was a curry rice, but neither my fiance or I are big fans of curry, so I scavenged the cabinets and came up with something on my own.  What resulted was apparently very good (I didn't actually get to try it the first time around), and my fiance talked about it for days.  So, I made it again tonight and documented the process for anyone who might be interested!

First thing, a rice cooker will make this process a lot easier.  I have the following one from Proctor Silex.  It's not fancy and I believe it was pretty inexpensive.

Healthy lunch idea: Tuna nicoise salad

I snapped a picture of Saturday's light and healthy lunch and wanted to share because it was really good!  It's a [rather large] tuna nicoise salad with grapes and water.  The salad is easy to make - 3 cups of romaine lettuce, 4 ounces of tuna (water packed) from a pouch, tomato wedges, red onion slices, three small boiled potatoes, sliced, and about a cup of fresh green beans, steamed.  I drizzled red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil overtop as a dressing.

The original lunch called for kiwi, but I didn't have any and I had grapes that need to get eaten, so I substituted.  The water went really well, but I thought about light lemonade too.  Of course, we're in the middle of winter, so this isn't the first thing you think of when coming up with ideas for lunch, but we had a freakishly warm weekend in the 60s, so it was nice and refreshing and helped fuel my run afterwards!

If you're new to the nicoise salad, I definitely recommend giving it a shot.  It doesn't seem like potatoes and green beans would be good on a salad with tuna, but it all works together really well.  I got a steamer bag of fresh green beans from the produce section of my local supermarket and they microwaved very well.  I boiled the potatoes in a small saucepan for a few minutes (until I could jab a fork into them with relative ease).  The rest was easy.

Would you eat it?

Healthy lunch idea 1: Chicken salad

Lately I have been thinking a lot about health and fitness, seeing as how the wedding is in 13 weeks and it's a new year (and who DOESN'T resolve themselves to get healthier in the new year?!).  I've searched a lot online for diet plan ideas, recipes, health tips, etc in addition to the information my trainer and nutritionist have given me.  I've found a meal plan that I'm actually really enjoying and I wanted to share a few highlights (my versions) for people who are looking for healthy options and ideas.  Today's post is a healthy lunch of chicken salad with pear, veggies and dip, and some Triscuit crackers.  Yum, and only 463 calories!

Reasonable Recipe: Savory Apple Couscous

Welcome to my first Reasonable Recipe!  I started tonight's dinner by attempting a recipe in one of my healthy cookbooks, but it turns out, I didn't have many of the ingredients (and the meat had gone bad due to the unexpected winter weather-induced power outage this weekend), so here's what I made instead.  It turned out surprisingly good for such a simple recipe.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 small-medium onion, diced

1 large red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 small-medium tart apple (i.e., Granny Smith), coarsely chopped

canola oil

garlic powder

ground ginger

3/4 cup apple juice

1 cup dry couscous (I used plain, but whole wheat would be great!)

1 chicken bouillon cube (can be omitted for vegetarian option)

Heat oil in a large skillet or dutch oven.  Add onion and red pepper to skillet and cook until pretty soft (5 minutes or so).  Add a healthy sprinkle of ground ginger and garlic powder (as much or as little as you like), and cook another minute longer.  Add water, apple juice, and the chicken bouillon cube (which will dissolve) and allow to boil.  Stir in apple and couscous, cover, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.  Fluff couscous before serving.

Makes 6 servings.

Each serving:

217 calories

7.2 g fat

0 mg cholesterol

110 mg sodium

33.1 g carbohydrates (2 g fiber, 9 g sugar)

4.6 g protein

The next time I make this, I will add some halved grape tomatoes in the final step with the couscous and apple.  Very good!!