After a week of talking about it, it was finally time to make Chipotle Turkey Meatloaf for dinner tonight.  It’s a good thing that the turkey was still fresh and ready to go!  Coming back from Wisconsin Sunday night and leaving again Friday, the BOY and I made a quick and easy meal plan this week. 

 

Monday: Out for Dinner

Tuesday: Chipotle Turkey Meatloaf (recipe below)

Wednesday: Pork Chops on the Grill

Thursday: Leftovers or Carry In

 

Also planned for this week, a lot of running!  I started Monday with an easy 4 miler.  One of tips that I picked up from Hal’s book is that not every run needs to be at race pace and that many elite and professional marathoners will do training runs much slower (like 12 minute miles) than they are capable.  This information has allowed me to relax a bit about my pace on early week day runs and focus on achieving 9 minute miles on the runs labeled ‘race pace’.  The book also talks about early training weeks stating that even if you can run these short distances fast, that is not the purpose of the runs in your training plan.  Slower runs are necessary to prevent injury.  In all of my years as a runner, I have never read a running book (other than Eat and Run by Scott Jurek earlier in the year), so I am finding it extremely interesting.

 

 

This morning I hit the 1 mile mark right at 9 minutes and consciously decided to slow myself down a bit.  Shortly after, I got lost in my thought and let my body pick the pace.  I didn’t run with a fuel belt today so no food or water.  I stated to feel a little sluggish and when I looked at my watch, I saw it was 43 minutes, my usual refuel time.  I rediscovered my stride and finished my 7 mile run at 65:09.  A great morning run!  I  know that these 50 degree temps are helping make these morning runs much more fun.  It reminds me of my favorite season fall and of course junior high and high school cross country season.

 

When I got home, I had an almond butter and banana as my post race snack and then got to work on making dinner.  My plan was to pull everything together so that the BOY could just pop the meatloaf into the oven.

 

 

 

We still don’t have onion so I made a few adjustments to the original recipe from Cooking Light, including adding some of my mystery red spice from Israel.

 

 

When I walked in the door after work, dinner had just 4 minutes before it was ready to be pulled out of the oven.  The BOY and I are getting the hang of this tag team dinner thing!  And Chipotle Turkey Meatloaf was worth the week wait!

 

 

Confession: I had just enough time to make the meatloaf, shower, and eat some eggs before it was time to leave for work, I didn’t stretch this morning.  Man, my legs are feeling it!  I have another 7 miler on Thursday and a long run Friday morning.

 

 

Chipotle Turkey Meatloaf

Adapted Slightly From Cooking Light December 2005

 

Ingredients

Meat loaf:

1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1/2 cup finely chopped onion (I still don’t have onion in the house so I left this out)

1/4 cup regular oats

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon unnamed red seasoning from Israel

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 large egg whites

1.25 pounds ground turkey

Cooking spray

 

Topping:

1/4 cup tomato sauce

1 tablespoon ketchup

1/2 teaspoon chipotle hot sauce

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare meat loaf, remove 1 chipotle chile and 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can; reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Chop chile. Combine chile, adobo sauce, onion, and next ingredients (through ground turkey breast) in a large bowl, stirring to combine. Place turkey mixture in a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 30 minutes.

To prepare topping, combine 1/4 cup tomato sauce, ketchup, and hot sauce in a small bowl; brush mixture evenly over meat loaf. Cover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until thermometer registers 160°. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.