Monday, November 26, 2012

{Recipe Recap} White Bean Bundt and Turkey-Lentil Meatloaf Muffins

So I’m sure we’re all feeling a little guilty thanks to some Thanksgiving indulgences.  Thanksgiving Day was probably my healthiest day of the four-day weekend: I had an egg-veggie sausage-spinach personal-sized casserole for breakfast then went on a six-mile run.  Snacking was minimal, lunch was cereal, and I didn’t stuff myself at dinner.  After all, I had to leave room for dessert.  I had a slice of apple pie, a slice of my peanut butter pie, and a square of the layered pumpkin pudding dessert that I made.  Yum, yum, and yum!

I wish I could say my willpower was as strong before and after Turkey Day, but that’s just not the case.  From being in vacation mode to feeding my sorrows (and routinely drowning them as well) to feeling extra snacks were okay because I ran a marathon (never mind that it was a week ago), I didn’t just bend my “everything in moderation” rule, I snapped it in half, threw it down, and stomped on it.

My clothes aren’t fitting as well, or at all in some cases.  I do NOT want to buy bigger pants so it’s back to letting MFP guide my food decisions and hitting the gym six days a week.  Now that I’m not training for the marathon, I want to do more “muscle stuff,” whether that’s an extra muscle conditioning class at the Y, a DVD in the bonus room, or lifting weights here at home.  Hopefully I’ll be back in my sweater dresses by the new year.

So, in honor of my renewed efforts, I’m sharing a could-be-worse-for-you cake and some healthy and tasty meatloaf muffins with you.

I made this cake for my coworker who tries to eat healthfully.  I’d seen the recipe a while back and was intrigued, but I needed the right person to make it for.

See that stuff on top of the sugar and butter?

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It’s not dough, it’s pureed cannellini beans.

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While I detected a slight bean flavor in the batter, it was not noticeable at all once the Bundt was baked.

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Oh yeah, I also added a heart-healthy ganache made from dark chocolate and red wine.  The Bundt cake just looked so plain-Jane and not special enough for a birthday that I decided some kind of an icing was necessary.

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This wasn’t the best plain cake I’ve ever had, but it was good enough and I felt slightly better eating it knowing it wasn’t quite as full of butter, sugar, and oil as what I normally make.

But before you have dessert, you should probably eat dinner.  I recommend these turkey-lentil meat-muffins.

I got 18 meat-muffins, which MFP says are 75 calories each.  They have lentils, oats, and carrots in them so they win points for being healthy, but they also actually taste good. 

(BTW, I used Garland Jack’s Secret Six barbecue sauce on top instead of the ketchup-based sauce that the recipe calls for.)

Hope you all had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends!  Mine’s coming to an end today.  I took today off and will get the rest of my Christmas decorations up, chill a bit, and also go to my normal Monday-night Power Hour Extreme class at the Y.  Then it’ll be back to the grind on Tuesday…

{White Bean Bundt Cake}

{Turkey-Lentil Mini Meatloaves}

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