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.
I’m sort of obsessed with your team work. The meat load looks fabulous also : )
ha ha! Thanks! I”m thinking of looking for some more make ahead meals because it’s awesome to have some healthy dinners when I get home late. I know we’ll be backing this again!
Awesome job fitting in your runs! I used to try to run at race pace all of the time and I ended up with quite a few injuries. Now, I do at least 3 easier runs a week at 1-2 mins/mile slower than race pace. It’s helped my running so much!
Thanks for the tip and support! That is good to know and I have been enjoying that. I agree that I don’t want an injury for sure!
I need to read that book!
I found it at the used book store. It’s great!
I just discovered Goya sauces and they are so good!
We have an amazing international aisle in our grocery store so there is always something to discover. It’s so fun!
That is a good job of tag-teaming dinners! And impressive to get in a run of that length in the morning!
Thanks! My new schedule allows for it which is making marathon training soo much easier! I have a tough time running at night and I can get in long runs without waking up before the sun. I’m loving the team work! Now if only I could get him to help with clean up : )
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