Ever have one of those weekday mornings where you think: "ok, if I can make enough tonight for leftovers, I will make it through the rest of this insane week"? Right, well, that was my plan of attack for tonight's dinner until I got home and got a call from hubs saying he had to work late and could I pick up the boys from daycare? No problem (as I think to myself "scrap 40 minutes from dinner prep").
So I come home with the 3 boys and I have zero time to think. Bread crumbs? Ugh - gotta get the food processor out. Almonds? Same thing. Corn flakes? None. Solution? Turkey nacho meatloaf! Yup! Why not?!? and some roasted potatoes on the side cause I have to finish my CSA order - more to come tomorrow!!
Roasted potatoes:
1 sweet potato (local)
6 small fingerling potatoes (local)
*cut into cubes (skin on or off, whichever your preference) and parboil. Drain and chuff them up in the sieve. Return to pot, drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and dried rosemary (from the garden). Bake at 425F until golden & crisp.
Turkey nacho meatloaf (prep while potatoes are boiling)
2 pounds ground turkey (origin unmarked on package. Creepy)
1 lg free run egg - lightly beaten (Canadian)
1 cup of smashed up nacho chips - I used the blue corn ones, lightly salted - put them in a plastic bag and crush with rolling pin (made in Canada).
1 small onion (local) - finely diced
1/4 - 1/3 cup medium salsa (imported. Origin unmarked on package. Also creepy)
1/3 cup small cubes of mozzarella (Canadian)
2 Tbsp Meatloaf Blend (prepared in Canada)
3 Tsp Taco Seasoning (prepared in Canada)
*Combine egg into the ground turkey. Stir in nacho crumbs, then onion, salsa, cheese and seasonings. Scoop into muffin tins to make individual loaves, bake at 425F for 18-20 minutes. Once meatloaves are in the oven, potatoes should be ready to be drained and put in the oven - they'll probably be ready at the same time.
At this point, I am a bit nervous. It looks good and smells good but if it doesn't taste good, there goes my plan for leftovers this week! This is truly a culinary experiment.
Serve topped with usual nacho toppings (salsa, mozzarella and sour cream - Canadian).
It was delish. The boys ate with no complaints and thought it was cool that the blue chips were inside!
OH! You know that nagging feeling of wanting to do something and never getting around to it? Well... Go! Go now! Go do it! Ok, well finish reading my post first, then go ;) In my last post I wrote about blueberry guilt. All week long whenever I opened the fridge, there they were, staring at me. Creepy foreign blue fruit.
I signed on with a CSA farm that same week and a week and a half later I received my first delivery. It's so easy! I pay online and put my cooler on my doorstep. I leave a blanket in the cooler for a bit of insulation. They deliver right to my door!! When I got home this week, it was like Christmas!!! My oldest son (JJ, he's 7) helped me carry the cooler to the kitchen and we unpacked it together.
It was full of surprises!! Mushrooms, garlic, heirloom potatoes, lettuce, micro greens, carrots, parsnip (new kind of carrot, as JJ put it), chard, celery, onions, sweet potato... I must be forgetting something.
Oh yes! broccoli and cauliflower! Notice the bright red bell pepper right in the middle there? We filled half the table with tons of produce. Tons of local produce and celared roots. My kitchen table was so bright! JJ even asked me if we could make a salad for dinner!! Um? Yeah!!
Check out the inside of these gorgeous heirloom potatoes. Wish I knew what they were called!
I'm thinking that my menu planning for the coming week might be a bit easier with a fridge full of vegetables. I'm already looking forward to my next delivery, and the next one, and the next one after that...
