Oatmeal evokes happy childhood memories for me...
My mother prepared the comforting porridge on cold mornings, and I would customize mine with a generous pat of butter, a bit of sugar and a hearty pour of French Vanilla coffee creamer.
These days, rather than transforming a previously healthy dish into a breakfast-time treat, I use these filling oats as a fiber-rich addition in smoothies, cookies and most recently, meatloaf.
Always trying to create healthy variations of comfort food, this meatloaf, which calls for ground turkey in the place of beef and oatmeal instead of bread crumbs, was a surprisingly delicious success.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 lbs. 97% lean ground turkey
1 medium white onion, chopped finely
1 cup raw spinach, chopped finely
3/4 cup of quick-cooking oatmeal
1/3 cup fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
2 egg whites
1 TBSP minced garlic
1 TBSP olive oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
Directions:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic for five minutes. Remove skillet from the burner and allow onion mixture to cool.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine turkey, spinach, oatmeal, chicken broth and egg whites. Fold ingredients together and mix thoroughly, using clean hands.
• Add onion mixture, salt and pepper and continue folding with hands until ingredients are thoroughly combined.
• Spoon meatloaf into a 9x13 inch dish.
• Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until loaf is cooked all the way through.
For an especially nutritious meal, serve with carrots and spinach.
