Recipe: Turkey and Mushroom Meatloaf & 21 Day Fix Results

I am all about taking my favorite recipes from growing up and making them healthier.  The other night, I decided to take a look at my mother's meatloaf recipe and tweak it to better fit my current eating plan.  I swapped out the hamburger for ground turkey and the bread crumbs and egg with mushrooms. The results were amazing, so much so, that my husband who normally scoffs at my healthy dinners said that he would be okay with me making this again. In other words, he liked it! Let me say, that I leaned up this recipe a bit, but there is still room for making it even leaner if you so choose, especially with regards to the sausage component of the meat loaf.  So here it is, my skinny mama's meatloaf:

I know it might not look appealing like this. I'm not good at taking food photos, but I promise it tastes awesome!

Ingredients

1 pound of ground turkey
1 pound of hot ground sausage (I used Jimmy Dean Hot, but to make it cleaner, you could use Jimmy Dean natural sausage instead, or a sausage substitute, I believe there is a good one you can find at Trader Joe's)
1 small Onion, finely chopped
1/2 a bell pepper finely chopped (I used red in this recipe, any color is fine)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
6 button mushrooms or 1 medium sized portobello mushroom chopped.
1/2 a small can of tomato sauce
A few dashes of your favorite hot sauce
Black Pepper and Italian Seasoning to taste
1 bay leaf (optional)

Directions

1. Mix the ground turkey, sausage, onion, bell pepper, parmesan cheese, mushrooms, 1/2 can of tomato sauce, and pepper and italian seasoning to taste in a medium sized mixing bowl.
2. Form either 1 large loaf or 2 smaller loaves and place in a baking dish. (I use a glass square dish)
3. Pour the other half of the tomato sauce over the top and add a bay leaf. (This is optional, depending on how tomato-y you like your meatloaf)
4. Cover with foil and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour. 
5.  After 1 hour, remove foil and drain off oil.  Continue cooking, uncovered, for 30 more minutes. (smaller loaves may take less time, check for doneness at 15 minutes).
6. Serve and enjoy!

Served with a side of mashed potatoes. You may be asking where the veggies are.  I had a big salad in a separate bowl. I'm a weirdo and can't eat my salad on a plate. I don't like my foods to mix!

21 Day Fix Results!

I finally had time to take my after photos, or I should say I finally found a time when my husband could take my after photos.  I really need to find a tripod for my iPhone so I can do these myself.  Here you go:

7 pounds and 13 inches in only 3 weeks!

The proof is in the pictures!  I had such fantastic results in the first round that I'm going for a second round to see how much more I can lose.  21 Day Fix is really a great program.  Easy to follow, and super effective for weight loss.  My November challenge group is in there second week right now and doing awesome.  I had one challenger share with me that she lost 4 pounds in just the first week. If you are looking to make a change in your health, why wait until January to make the change?  I will be running one more challenge group in 2014 and it starts December 1st.  The average American gains 5-8 pounds during the holidays.  Commit to this challenge and not only prevent yourself from the holiday gain, but also lose 8-15 pounds before Christmas and look awesome going into the New Year.  The challenge groups I run are small, and I only have 3 spots left in the December group.  If you are at all interested in this challenge group or want any information about the other types of challenge groups I run, please fill out the form below!  

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