Fashionably Fit

Yep. You read that correctly — meatloaf muffins. This is not some perverse item I dreamed up to combine my loves of baking and meat. It’s just an easy way of making portion-controlled meatloaf.

I like meatloaf. Since I started cooking I’ve tried a couple different recipes, a couple Crock Pot varieties … but none ever tasted like classic meatloaf, ketchup glaze and all. It seems like when I make it in a loaf pan, half of the thing is lost to the grease on the bottom of the pan, and the rest of sticks to the pan, and it’s just a hideous mess.

Meatloaf muffins, thankfully, are not a hideous mess. And two of them are a serving, so there’s no hacking at a loaf and hoping you got the right amount. And just like its full-size friend, it tastes way better the next day.

Meatloaf muffins

From Cooking Light

Ingredients

• 1.25 to 1.5 pounds of lean ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 cup diced carrot
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• Minced garlic to taste
• 1 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 and coat a 12-muffin tin with nonstick spray.

Mix the carrots, onions and oregano together and sauté in olive oil; set aside to cool.

Mix the beef, eggs, breadcrumbs and remaining ingredients together, adding in the onion mixture when cool.

Scoop the meatloaf mixture into the muffin pan. My muffin cups were filled above the brim.

Bake at 350 until a meat thermometer reads 160 — this took about 35 minutes for me.

Now that I’m officially registered for a 5K on New Year’s Eve, it’s even more important that I run as much as I can. Unfortunately, it’s been extremely cold and icy, so I’m stuck on the treadmill. Even more unfortunately, I can’t find my mp3 player, and I think I left it in the strength training room at the gym. I’ve tried on two occasions (at the desk last night and by phone today) to see if someone turned it in at the lost-and-found, but apparently there is one person in the entire operation who can unlock the lost-and-found safe, and she was unavailable both times. Grrr.

I made my best effort last night to run on the treadmill sans music, but it just was not working. I think I used up all my mental willpower with the Back Fat Be Gone routine from Health.com (I added planks, jumping jacks and tricep dips for my own little circuit routine.) When my efforts to retrieve the mp3 player failed today, I came home and did the Jillian Michaels 30-Day Shred Level 2. As always, Jillian kicked my ass, but there is no workout that makes me feel as good as running does when I’m done.

While I was shredding, my dinner was cooking.

(Cell phone photo — sorry! Ten days til Santa brings my new camera. )

 I made an “easy quiche” from a recipe I found on a PCOS message board, soulcysters.net. Because these last 20 pounds are particularly stubborn, I’ve been looking for foods and recipes specifically geared toward insulin resistance.

Stuffing Quiche

Box of dry stuffing
6 eggs
1 cup of milk
1/2 onion chopped
Peppers and/or any other veggies you like (mushrooms, tomatoes, etc.) chopped

Lightly spray a pie pan with oil of choice. Pour in the stuffing from the box. On top of the stuffing place all your veggies chopped up. Beat the eggs and milk, then pour over the stuffing and vegetables. You want to make sure the egg mixture goes all the way to the bottom of the dish (sometimes I have to poke around with a fork to get it to soak down). If you want you can sprinkle cheese on the top.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. You want the egg to cook through.

I used a bag of frozen veggies out of cheapness and laziness and skipped the chopped onion. I tried a small bite after it was done and decided the stuffing was still a little too soggy, so it is going back in the oven for a few minutes.

If you usually read the blog through Google reader, stop by and check out my new masthead — my mom designed it!

Chobani Giveaway

If you love Greek yogurt as much as I do (and that’s a lot) check out The Fit Bride’s Chobani Giveaway!

I had a really delicious dinner this afternoon.

Spicy sweet potatoes fries and barbecue chicken with red onion and reduced fat Mexican shredded cheese on a 100-calorie sandwich thin.

I was disappointed to find that some of my cherries were covered in mold, but it turned out to be only half of the container so I salvaged some of them for dessert.

Today marked the end of my first week of the Couch to 5K challenge!

Week 1:

- Sunday: Walking/ralking/jogging different distances

- Monday, Wednesday, Friday a.m. : Jog 60 seconds, walk 90 seconds for 20 minutes

- Tuesday: Kickboxing

- Thursday: 45 minutes of elliptical intervals, chest and arm strength training

- Friday p.m.:  Went back to the track to see if I could run a full lap, or a quarter mile. Yes, it was pushing ahead, and the program says not to, but I just really, really wanted to see if I could. And I did! Twice! (Although not consecutively.)

- Saturday: off

- Sunday a.m.:  Brisk 1/2 mile warm-up walk,  followed up running a quarter mile then walking a quarter four times (or two miles). I stopped running halfway through the fourth running lap, though. I wasn’t feeling it and I thought back to how the program said not to push it, so I didn’t. End on a high note, I reminded myself. So I ralked the rest of that lap and three more.

- Sunday p.m.: I went to the gym for a light jaunt on the elliptical to loosen my legs. It was the best thing for them! It was weird to be on the machine for only 20 minutes and not at a real high intensity, but it was fun. I also did some core and strength training work.

My thoughts on the week:

+ I am enjoying running and looking forward to this week.

- I get a little frustrated because I feel like I should be able to do way more. When I ran my first quarter mile, I was elated for abotu 15 seconds, then frustrated. Shouldn’t I be able to do way more? No, not according to the program. According to the program I am ahead by about two weeks (they don’t ask you to jog for three minutes until week 3.)

+ It’s nice to have a new workout challenge, though. As much as I love my elliptical machine and cardio classes, I know better than anyone that you have to mix it up or your fitness level suffers.

- I keep wanting to push myself when I run the way I push myself at the gym, but I know I can’t. I’ve been working out on the elliptical for four years and taking cardio classes for three. When I leave the gym I like to hit the point where I am truly exhausted but shy of the point of throwing up — on a good day, I really like to work that hard. But I can’t run that hard yet. I’ve only been running for one week.

- I don’t see how I’m going to go from a quarter mile to running three miles in another seven weeks. But I’m going to keep following the program and see where it leads me.

I would love some input from runners! Any advice, feedback, anything at all.

Also, Melissa over at For the Love of Health is having an amazing giveaway! Check it out.

Have a good week!