This blog post reflects two of my biggest health priorities: exercise and good food. It also reflects one of my favorite hobbies: getting more done in the day.
Have you ever balanced the checkbook while waiting for laundry to dry ? How about unloading the dishwasher while listening to an online class ? I call this nesting. This just means you put one chore inside another. It is not the same as multitasking, which is so last decade.
In that spirit, I like to workout and prepare dinner when I get home from work. To accomplish both I need recipes which can go untended for the length of a workout. I call these workout recipes.
I have noticed that many of my patients do not get the recommended amount of cardio. I have advised such patients starting out to take it easy at first, and go for a manageable length of time, like about 20 minutes. What kind of recipe might work ? Meatloaf ? Nope. It takes too long. But what if you hacked the recipe and instead of making one big lump that took an hour to cook, you divided it into muffin tins ? Voila. You may have heard of this on Pinterest, but my husband is sure he made it up. OK. Here is our version. I suspect you can do it with any meatloaf recipe.
Muffin Tin Meatloaf
Preheat to 350 degrees
Thoroughly Mix:
1 pound thawed drained ground red meat
1/2 to 1 minced onion, 1 Tablespoon minced garlic, or once bunch minced green onions
1 Tablespoon mixed Italian spices or Herbes de Provence, a few grinds of pepper, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon mustard, and some say also of ketchup, some say a dash of Worcestershire sauce
One whole wheat piece of bread, made into fine crumbs
One egg
If you want to sneak some veggies in, add a couple grated carrots.
Mixture should be moist but able to be formed. Adjust with crumbs or olive oil.
Scoop into papered muffin tins and bake until crusty and done to 160 degrees internal temp ( Takes between 20-30 minutes ) You may add a sauce on top but this may make it too sweet and also it will be prone to burning before the meat is even done. You can always add a sauce later.
Do your workout.
Toss a big fresh salad, pour some water and serve.