Mini Turkey Meat Loaves with Nutty Parsley Gremolata

This dish is one of my favorite ground turkey recipes!  Each loaf comes out to only 270 calories too!  The lemon flavor in the gremolata is a nice accent to this turkey mealoaf!  I am not a big fan of strong lemon flavor but it actually worked so well with in this dish as a delicious compliment!  Just go easy on topping each loaf as a little goes a long way!

I always double this recipe and use toasted pine nuts because they are my fave so I can just use the 16-oz packages of both the ground turkey and the lean ground turkey breast.  It makes 8 loaves this way!  The below instructions are for 4 loaves and 8 oz of each the ground turkey and ground turkey breast.

Ingredients:

Cooking spray, parchment paper, or tinfoil
2 egg whites
1-1/2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup finely chopped dried tomatoes (in pouch not in oil)
1/4 c finely chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
8 oz uncooked ground turkey
8 oz uncooked ground turkey breast

1/3 cup snipped flat leaf Italian parsley (I chop mine)
1/4 cup chopped toasted pine nuts, walnuts, or sliced almonds
2 tsp walnut oil or olive oil
1/2 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 15" x 10" x 1" baking pan with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl beat the egg whites with a fork and add in the mushrooms, rolled oats, dried tomatoes, onion, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper.  Add in the ground turkey and mix well.

Divide the meat mixture into four equal portions.  For me this comes out to about 6 ounces each (slightly more).  Shape each into a 4" oval that is about 2-1/2" wide in the center. Place in prepared baking pan so they are not touching.  Bake about 20 minutes or  until internal temperature is 165 degrees.

While loaves are baking, make the gremolata mixture.  Stir together the parsley, the nuts, oil, lemon peel, lemon juice and 1/8 tsp salt.

To serve, top each loaf with a serving of the gremolata.

YIELDS:  4 Servings
SERVING SIZE:  1 loaf

Nutritional Information:  270 calories, 12 g fat (2 g sat), 68 mg chol, 479 mg sodium, 10 g carb, 3 g sugars, 2 g fiber, 30 g protein.

Szechuan Rice Noodles with Ground Turkey

This is such an easy meal designed for one!  You can add more red pepper flakes if you like super spicy but it had the perfect amount of kick for us here with the ginger and red pepper flakes it calls for. 

I was cooking for three so I just tripled the below recipe! 

Multiple everything by four if needing to utilize the whole 16 oz of the ground turkey breast package!

When cooking rice noodles, you can follow the below directions, but I had to microwave the sitting container in the microwave because just letting the noodles sit covered with the hot water (had been boiled) was taking too long.  Instructions on the package would work better too I'm assuming!

Ingredients:

1 oz thin rice noodles
1 tsp dark sesame oil
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 tsp minced, peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, (or more if wanting spicier)
1/4-lb ground turkey breast
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro

Instructions:

Place noodles into a medium bowl, cover with boiling water, and let stand until noodles soften, (about 3 minutes). Drain and set aside.

Heat oil in medium nonstick skillet on medium heat and add the scallions, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  Cook stirring constantly until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add turkey to skillet.  Cook breaking up the ground turkey breast until no longer pink.  Stir in soy sauce, rice vinegar and chicken broth.  Add in noodles and toss to combine.  Transfer to a plate and top with fresh cilantro. 

YIELDS:  1 serving
SERVING SIZE:  1-1/3 cups
SMART POINTS:  6

Nutritional Information:  323 Calories, Total Fat 9 g (saturated 1 g), Sodium 705 mg, Total Carb 29 g, Sugar 2 g, Fiber 2 g, Protein 29 g