More Heart Healthy Food
Topic: Nutrition and food safety

In keeping with February's Heart Month, I am posting another recipe that is a family-pleaser yet is very low in saturated fat: Ground Turkey Meatloaf!

You know that we raise grassfed beef cattle and that ground beef is also lower in saturated fats and  higher in "heart-healthy" fats, but it's not readily available in all markets. This week, ground turkey seems to be on sale everywhere! Look for the 95% Lean ground Turkey and organic if possible.

I've also tried to make this recipe lower in sodium by omitting worchestershire sauce and adding herbs for flavor enhancement, lower in carbohydrates by using plain tomato sauce instead of a traditional processed catsup or BBQ sauce addition, higher in natural sources of vitamins by sneaking in finely chopped vegetables. All of these things may seem small but if you are on any restriction, they add up in the course of a day. I encourage you to look at your traditional recipes and you'll find there are often ways to improve the "healthiness", without sacrificing the convenience in preps. 

Ground Turkey Meatloaf

1 pkg. (20 0z.) lean ground turkey (95% lean, if possible)

1/4 cup bread crumbs

4 oz. plain tomato sauce 

1 large egg

1/2 red, yellow or green pepper, diced (smart you- you keep frozen strips already in the freezer, saved from last Summer!)

1/2 cup finely chopped spinach or kale leaves

1/2 small onion, finely chopped 

finely chopped fresh parsley, dried or fresh thyme leaves, freshly ground black pepper, salt

Here's a photo of the deconstructed meatloaf before mixing together. Mix these ingredients and form into a meatloaf.

Then ready to go in the oven--note: I decided to drizzle a little more tomato here, it's really a small amount of catsup when "drizzled"! And you can omit it too, but don't put any on the table when you serve--that's where people tend to overuse.  Bake one hour at 350 degrees.

And finally, plated for serving. This will make 4 servings of 5 oz ground turkey each, perfect for any diet. 

Lots more colorful veggies included--a small serving of scalloped potatoes, large serving of steamed Kale with cooked carrots and cannellini beans. I put about 4-6 oz water and about 1 Tbsp. lemon juice in a large skillet, brought to simmer, then added a 1/2 bag of triple washed kale greens, cooking down until wilted (add more lemon water, if needed). Toss in some chopped garlic with the cooked greens. I cooked the carrots separately, then added them to the kale after greens were wilted and tender, and finally stirred in one can of rinsed and drained cannellini beans. Extra lemon juice and ground pepper to taste.