Meatloaf with Roasted Squash and Sweet Potatoes

5 squash (zucchini and/or summer squash)

olive oil 

salt and pepper

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 onion

1/2 red bell pepper

1 cup breadcrumbs

garlic powder

4 sweet potatoes

butter or margarine 

Catsup

Preheat the oven to 350. 

This is a dairy-free meal that could easily be made gluten free if the breadcrumbs were substituted with something else. It is also a diabetic friendly meal, especially if you switch out the catsup with tomato salsa. 

I made this meal in large quantities to have left overs later in the week. I ended up having last minute guests, and this fed 6 portions with some left over. 

Of course, you can make meatloaf with ground beef. But I find that the turkey tastes just as delicious and it better for you.

Slice the squash. 

Cover a pan with foil. 

Lay out squash in a single layer. Pour olive oil over the squash and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss it all together and then make sure that the squash is laid out in a single layer again. 

Bake for 20 minutes. 

Remove squash from the oven. Using tongs, turn the squash over. Put pan back into the oven. 

While the squash is cooking, start on the meat loaf. 

The first step is to chop the onion and pepper so that they will fit into a food processor. You could dice these by hand, but I think meatloaf tastes better when there aren't chunks of things - it's better if it's all one consistency. 

Finely chop the vegetables and then saute them in a little olive oil until they are just softened. 

Add salt, pepper and garlic powder. The seasonings will distribute better into the meatloaf if they are mixed with the veggies. You need to put enough seasonings to flavor the entire meatloaf, not just the veggies. 

Cover the counter with parchment paper. Add breadcrumbs to the paper. 

Add veggies on top of the breadcrumbs. 

Add the ground meat onto the pile. 

Take off your rings (if you are wearing any) and mix the meat, veggies and breadcrumbs until all of the mixture is combined. You don't want any parts that have too much meat and no veggies or breadcrumbs. 

Form the meat into a shape. The thicker the shape, the longer you will need to cook the meatloaf. 

I was in a hurry, so I formed a thin heart which I cooked for 45 minutes. 

Pour catsup onto the meatloaf. 

Bake for 45 minutes. 

"Bake" sweet potatoes in the microwave. For more info on how to do this, see here. 

Mash the sweet potatoes and add butter or margarine, salt and pepper. 

Take the meatloaf out of the oven. 

Take the squash out of the oven. If you like your squash to be less crispy, take them out sooner. 

Serve it all up on a plate. Not super fancy, but really really tasty!

Roasted chicken with potatoes and pan gravy

1 whole chicken, giblets removed

3 shallots or 1 large red onion

3 - 4 small lemons

1 lb of small potatoes 

1 stick of butter

herbs (like rosemary or thyme)

garlic

salt and pepper

flour

white wine

chicken broth

Special equipment: Roasting pan, string

Preheat the oven to 425. 

Just a note, anytime you are working with raw chicken, make sure that you wash your hands after each time you handle the chicken. 

This was actually my first attempt at roasting a whole chicken. It turned out really well and it was pretty simple, once I got the hang of things. 

Cut some lemons in quarters. 

Rince of the inside and outside of the chicken with cold water. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. pour salt and pepper in the cavity. Add garlic cloves, lemon quarters and rosemary stalks to the inside of the cavity. 

I ended up removing the rosemary because I was worried it would burn. My chicken was small and I couldn't fit everything inside it. 

Melt the stick of butter. Brush the chicken generously with butter. Then sprinkle lots and lots of salt and pepper on the buttered skin. This will make a delicious crust. I had some extra lemons cut up so I added them to the roasting pan. 

Set the chicken on the grate in the roasting pan. If you don't have a grate, you can set the chicken directly on the potatoes. 

Speaking of potatoes, cut the larger potatoes in half and leave the smaller potatoes whole. Cut up the shallots (or red onion) and add those to the roasting pan. I also added more cloves of garlic. 

Pour the remaining butter on the vegetables and add salt and pepper. Toss all the vegetables together so that they are all coated in the butter and seasonings. 

Add the chicken in the grate back to the pan. The juices from the chicken will drip onto the vegetables when they cook and make them delicious. 

Take a piece of string and tie the legs together. 

Put the roasting pan in the center of the oven. Bake for 1 hour or until the juices from the thigh run clear when you stick the thigh with your knife. 

When it comes out, it will be brown and delicious. 

BE VERY CAREFUL when taking the roasting pan out of the oven. I tend to forget that the pan remains 400+ degrees for a very long time after it is removed from the oven. I have several scars on my arm from past roasting pan uses. Hence, I'm a little crazy about roasting pan handling. 

The skin will be crispy and flavorful. So yummy. 

Using oven mits, remove the grate with the chicken and set it aside to rest for 10 - 20 minutes. This way the juices from the chicken will settle back into the meat and make it moist. 

Scoop out the potatoes and onions and set them aside on a platter. 

What is left on the pan is delicious chicken drippings. Remember, the pan is still hot. 

Turn the pan sideways so that it covers two burners on the stove. Turn on both burners. Keep in mind, the pan is still hot. And now you are heating it even more. So be careful. 

Sprinkle flour over the juices. Is the pan still hot? Yep. 

Whisk this into a paste and add a splash of white wine. Let it bubble for a bit, whisking the whole time. Should you grab the handle of the pan? Nope. It's still blazing hot. 

Add chicken broth to the pot, whisking it all together. Hot pan. 

Pour the gravy from the HOT PAN into a gravy dish or small bowl and set it aside for later. 

At this point in my chicken baking, my paranoia over the hot pan got the best of me and I put my pan in the sink and sprayed it with cold water until it cooled off and I could relax. 

Cut the meat off the bones. I concentrated on taking the breasts and the legs because those are the parts I like best. My husband also likes breasts and legs. 

I didn't worry about getting too much more of the meat off, because as you'll see in a post for tomorrow, I will use the carcass to help me make chicken soup, and the more meat on the bones, the better for the soup.  

On the platter, I started arranging the potatoes with the chicken pieces, but I got too hungry, so I stopped after the breasts. My house smelled like roasted chicken. It was time to eat. 

You can pour the gravy over the potatoes, the chicken or even over a piece of bread. I served mine up alongside some green beans. 

We both went back for seconds. 

Enjoy!

Fast pot roast with sweet potatoes and butter beans

2 Fully cooked, frozen pot roasts

1 can of butter beans

2 sweet potatoes

1/2 onion

Cinnamon

Salt and Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Brown Sugar 

Butter

This was a weeknight meal where I had very little time. I'm using store-prepared pot roasts, but you could use left overs of homemade pot roast, of course. I think the whole thing took less than 20 minutes. Very filling and tasty, if not the fanciest thing in the world. 

Wash the sweet potatoes and remove any long "hairs". Stab each potato with a fork multiple times on each side. This prevents the potato from exploding as the liquids heat in the microwave. 

Wrap each potato in a wet paper towel. 

Place potatoes in the microwave. 

Cook on high for 8 minutes. 

While the potatoes are cooking. Cut the half onion into chunks. 

Put onion chunks into a food processor. (If you don't want to use one, you can finely dice the onion.)

Melt butter in the pan.

Add onions, salt and pepper. 

While the onions cook, drain the liquid off of a can of beans. Add beans to the onions. 

Cover the beans with water and let them simmer while you work on the other items. Most of the water will be gone by the time you're ready to serve. 

When the microwave beeps, use tongs to flip over the sweet potatoes. Be careful, they're hot!

Put them on for another 4 minutes or so. If they feel very soft at this point, just put them on for 3 minutes. If they still feel a little hard, you can put them on for 5 minutes. 

I bought low-sodium pot roasts so I can control how much salt I put on them. These still had plenty of flavor. 

I took out two of the individually wrapped roasts.

Then I followed the directions according the package to heat them up. 

When the sweet potatoes are done, I took them out with the tongs - super hot - and cut them open so they could cool off a bit before I handled them. You can't tell from this photo, but the potatoes are steaming hot! 

I scraped out all of the sweet potatoes, throwing away the skin. It is easier sometimes just to peel off the skin than to dig out the potato. Either way, get all the insides in a bowl and mash them with a fork. If you want to make them extra delicious, add a little butter. If not, they are still fabulous. 

Add a little cinnamon, salt, pepper, a touch of brown sugar and a dash of cayenne pepper. Mix it all up. 

When the pot roasts are ready, pull them apart with two forks. 

To prevent the juices from getting everywhere, I served my meat in little bowls and divided the juices, pouring them over the meat. 

I served it all up on a large plate. Like I said at the beginning of this recipe, it's not fancy but it is very tasty and filling. It's also pretty affordable. Best of all, it was super fast and great for a weeknight when I didn't want to think too much about dinner. 

Enjoy!