Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday

One of my favorite days of the week- when we all swap snack ideas and recipes :) 

First, though, here's a little ditty about protein from a post we did on October 14th.

Protein 101: Eat LOTS of it. According to Runner's World magazine, if you want to lose weight, about 25% of the calories you consume each day should be from protein sources, and furthermore clumped to just after your workout. Benefits of getting in your daily protein include:

• Making you feel fuller for longer,
• Helping to build and maintain lean muscle mass,
• and Repairing your micro-tears in your muscles following a workout.

How do you get in your protein each day?  Skinless chicken is always a good bet, as is yogurt, skim milk, low-fat cheese, low-fat cottage cheese, lean meats, fish, etc.  Some prefer protein powders and shakes, though, or Clif bars, etc.  What has been your protein strategy?

Check-in with what you've eaten the last 3 days, what yumminess you've bought or made, any delicious new healthy recipes you've made.  Did you know you can do a recipe analysis online?  There are several ways to do it and different sites you can google that do just that, but I prefer to just use My Fitness Pal, jump forward to a blank day, enter in the full recipe's ingredients like I was eating the whole batch, then divide my totals by the # of servings the recipe makes.  For instance, if I'm making a big batch of soup, I'd enter in a whole 48 ounce container of reduced-sodium V8 juice, a whole head of cabbage, 4 carrotts, etc.  Then when I got all that entered in as a meal, I'd take the total calories, total fats, total proteins, etc. and divide that by the 20 servings or whatever the recipe makes.  You can save your homemade recipes in there, too, for future use.  Or you can jot down the totals on your paper recipe. 

Here's a granola recipe from Tara:

Honey Cinnamon Granola

1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups whole oats (not quick cooking kind)
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
Handful of Craisins

1. In a small pot, combine honey, brown sugar, and vanilla. Heat over medium until sugar and honey are combined and smooth. Make sure to stir it a couple of times.
2. In a bowl, combine oats, wheat germ, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
3. Pour honey mixture over the oat mixture and stir well.
4. Pour granola onto a sheet pan that has been sprayed or has a silpat.
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Make sure you stir the granola often. Maybe every 5 minutes or so.
6. Let cool on sheet pan. Stir in Craisins and enjoy. Could add chocolate chips. You could also try dried apple slices!
7. Store in air-tight container.

Last night I tried a new recipe that someone posted on the My Fitness Pal recipe forum and it was YUMMY! My hubby and I both really liked it.  Served w/ a big mound of steamed green beans.  I forgot to take a picture, though- sorry!

Sweet Potato Turkey Meatloaf

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 pound ground turkey breast
1 large egg
1 small sweet onion, finely chopped (I only did about a tablespoon of chopped onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup honey barbecue sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 slices whole-wheat bread, torn into small crumbs (I had to use 4 pieces)
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1 tablespoon salt, or to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 2 quart baking dish.
2. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the sweet potato, and cook until soft, about 10 minutes. Drain the sweet potatoes, and mash or whip until smooth.
3. Mix the ground turkey together with the egg, sweet onion, garlic, barbecue sauce, ketchup, Dijon mustard, and whole wheat bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the sweet potatoes, and stir until evenly combined. If the mixture seems too wet, add more bread crumbs. Use your hands to form the turkey mixture into a loaf shape and place in the prepared baking dish.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 1 hour. Slice the loaf to serve. {Serves 4)

Per serving:
Calories: 336
Total Fat: 2.7g
Cholesterol: 123mg
Sodium: 2478mg
Total Carbs: 43g
Dietary Fiber: 5.3g
Protein: 33.8g

I'll bet you could make this dish with leftover sweet potatoes and leftover turkey from Thanksgiving!  Probably just put it in a food processor or Magic Bullet to grind/puree.  And I think it could serve 6 no problem. It's pretty big.

And forgive me- the posts Thursday & Friday will most likely be late in the day, not bright & early :)