Actually, they are half-baked in the microwave and half- baked with the standard oven.  This is not why I call them half-baked, though.  It is because, I bake them as opened halves.  This makes the outer part of the inside crispy over the softer part of the potato.

I am a huge Ellie Krieger fan.  Her recipes produce healthy meals, often easy to make, and almost always delicious.  My husband is a meat loaf fan and when he asked for one, I turned to Ellie and ended up with a meat loaf, my husband really liked.  I add some instant mashed potatoes for the filler but I stayed close to Ellie’s choices.  She is usually on target and she is one of the few chefs, I can follow with limited changes.

Turkey Meatloaf – adapted from Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/2 cup instant mashed potatoes
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 medium onion, chopped (first cut some slices for the top of loaf)
• 1 pound ground turkey breast
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/8 cup ketchup
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 /2 cup tomato sauce or enough to cover turkey loaf.

Directions

Harvest Loaf

  3 cups all-purpose  or gluten-free flour 

 1 teaspoon baking powder

 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce 

Using mixer at medium speed, mix the oil, applesauce, eggs, and agave. Add the dry ingredients in two batches.

Using food processor, run the vegetables till chopped small.  Include carrots, scallions, zucchini, and spinach.  Not corn………  

Add the vegetables, including corn to applesauce mix.

 

Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

This is linked to Gluten Free Wednesdays         Real Food Wednesdays     Allergy Free Wednesdays       Newlywed Recipe Linky

The more I make eggplant, the more I realize, how I like it when it is crispy or dry.  I don’t enjoy wet eggplant or at least, not very much.  The logical decision was  to roast it, at a high temperature.  All you need to do is peel it, season it and put in the oven.

Mideastern Roast Eggplant

Ingredients

1 – 2 eggplants, peeled and sliced

Mideastern Seasoning

Spray Olive Oil

Procedure

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.  Place parchment paper on cookie sheet.  Place eggplant slices on sheet.

Bake for about 20 minutes.

Image via Wikipedia

Related articles

• Roasted Cauliflower and Eggplant Salad (jazzinthekitchen.wordpress.com)
• Topped Baked Eggplant (bookcasefoodie.wordpress.com)

Sunday – Spaghetti Pie (it was delicious)

Monday – Quinoa Pilaf with Pine Nuts with Savory Three Cheese Cookies

Tuesday – Sweet Potato Hash with Caramelized Onions and Eggs (Sausage optional)

Wednesday – Mom’s Turkey Meatloaf – Ellie Krieger with Roasted Beets with Herbs and Orange

Thursday – Broccoli Frittata with Hash Brown Casserole

Friday – Potato and Salmon Cakes with Ginger and Scallions

Linked to Organizing Junkie

I was happy when I found this one on allrecipes.com.  I love Indian seasonings and often add them to other dishes.  Apples always make me happy in main and side dishes as well as desserts.  This sounded good.  I made a few changes and we had a worthy meal for dinner.

Indian Style Chicken with Apples

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cut into strips
• 1 large sweet onion, diced
• 2 apples – peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chicken broth (from soup bubbling on the stove)
• 1 cup Tofutti sour cream to replace the dairy yogurt
•  pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the chicken until golden brown, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
2. Add the onion and apple to the skillet and reduce the heat to medium. Cook and stir until the onions are translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the bell pepper; continue to cook and stir for another 5 minutes. Season with curry powder and cinnamon; cook for a few more minutes to intensify the flavors.
3. Stir in the chicken broth and Tofutti sour cream. Return chicken to the skillet and simmer for a few minutes to heat through. Remove from the heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.Prep time was only a few minutes and everything went smoothly.  This is an easy recipe.
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• This is linked to  Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

I buy lox (smoked salmon) in the local grocery store and my husband picks it up at Costco.  We usually are organized and only one of us brings it home.  Perfection is not always in play and one week, we both brought home rather large packages.  Being a lox lover, I was thrilled and started on a search for recipes other than bagels and lox, scrambled eggs with lox or stuffed wontons with lox.  I found some with noodles and others with potatoes and there were a big variety of salads.

I found recipes on several sites and there is one particular site that particularly held my interest and where I got this recipe, Just Smoked Salmon.  Knowing me, you know I adjusted some of the ingredients but all in all, I kept to their recipe.  They used canned Sockeye Smoked Salmon and I used fresh smoked salmon.

Summer Salmon potato salad 

1 large slice smoked salmon
3 large potatoes, boiled and cut into chunks
1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
1 cucumber, cut into bite sized chunks
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon coarse grained mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon fresh dill chopped

Combine salmon, potatoes, tomatoes and cucumber in a bowl.
Sprinkle with pepper.
Combine remaining ingredients and mix well.  I used a small Rubbermaid container and shook it with the lid on, of course.
Toss with salad ingredients.

Serves 6-8.

The  lox makes all the difference in the potato salad.  It brings the salty flavor to pop throughout the salad.  The

cukes felt just right, in this salad, although, I have never used cucumbers in potato salad, before.

This is linked to

See Ya in the Gumbo             Mangia Mondays

My Meatless Mondays           Savory Sundays 

Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits                Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Real Food Wednesdays             Ultimate Recipe Swap

I am not sure if it is that I am in a rut or that I really prefer the large shells stuffed with ricotta to meat.  Usually, when I take out the shells, I automatically take out the cheese, without giving meat, a thought.  This time, I thought about the shells, when I made my weekly menu and with the added thinking time, planned to take out the chopped beef and did just that.

I must admit, we enjoyed the change of pace in our eating style.  I did not load the shells with meat.  I added onions and Taco crumbs to the meat to lighten the dish.  I don’t add any fat to the recipe since the meat usually has enough for the purpose of frying.  In other words, in my limited ways, I attempted to keep this from being a heavy dish.  Serving it with carrots and almonds and a zucchini tomato dish, kept the meal light, in general.

Cook pasta shells according to package directions. In large skillet saute onion. Add ground beef. Cook until meat browns.  Remove from heat, stir in  crumbs; set aside to cool.Pour 1/2 bottle Marinara sauce into greased 2 quart baking dish. Using a small spoon, carefully fill each shell with meat filling. Place stuffed shells, side by side, filling side up into baking dish. Spoon remaining sauce over shells. Combine the non dairy creamer and egg and pour over the shells. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 35- 40 minutes.

 Grocery Cart Challenge