Turkey Burgers with Creamy Romaine Slaw

Week 1, Day 3 (skipping the pasta dish due to excess carbs, boo).

I have never been a huge fan of turkey burgers. I think this is because I've seen too many episodes of the Biggest Loser where Jillian and Bob chastise the contestants for eating ground turkey that is not strictly breast meat; therefore, when I am trying to have a "healthy" burger, I'll substitute chicken breast or a black bean burger. But it turns out black bean burgers have a huge amount of sodium, and even 93/7 turkey is low in calories, and we're all going to die anyway. Also: my first turkey burger was incredibly bland and difficult to forget.

But these turkey burgers are not bland! It's kind of the Giada de Laurentiis throw a bunch of stuff in the turkey meatballs approach (see here). I liked the tangy mustard, and the oniony scallions, and I loved that I had already bought thyme for the previous day's recipe. The romaine and carrot slaw was a fun topping; my husband admitted that he hated coleslaw, but that this version was both creamier and more flavorful. Success! I used baby romaine, which took a little longer to slice, but I used a food pro for grating the carrots and that went quickly.

Linguine with Turkey Meatballs and Quick Sauce

I've sat down twice to blog about the linguine with turkey meatballs and quick sauce recipe from Everyday Pasta, which I cannot find online in an official form (it's on page 177-- buy it!). The trick to the recipe is that Giada throws all kinds of flavorful bits in with the turkey in the meatballs to pump up the bland flavor, including pancetta, sun-dried tomatoes and cheese, which makes it perfect for someone who is turkey ambivalent like me. Since we're counting calories these days, I cut out the first installment of EVOO down to 2 tablespoons, and then reused the leftover oil for the quick sauce without adding more. I also cut the cheese in half-- this I might recommend even if you're not counting calories, because the cheese has the tendency to burn and stick to the pan in the oven. Finally, I cut down on the amount of linguine and used whole wheat; unless you're making your own linguine, the sauce is the yummy part and doesn't need an excessive amount of pasta.

Turkey and Quinoa Meatloaf

I said no tofu... I didn't promise no quinoa!

If you want meatloaf, you should eat this meatloaf. If you want meatloaf but have been forced to banish unhealthy deliciousness from your diet, try this. It's spicy! It's sweet! It's still turkey, but you can deal. The friend who passed along the recipe suggested replacing the 1 teaspoon of water with about a tablespoon of tomato paste. According to livestrong, if you divide it into 10 slices, it's 114 calories a slice. So have a few slices :)