Pass the tuna, please

I was never really that in to how food tasted.  Really.  I used to eat tuna out of the can for lunch because it was easy, low fat and tons of protein. What did I care how it tasted?  I was done eating in less than 10 minutes.

The reason behind that kind of eating, started when a friend in High School took me to her gym after school to work out.  She introduced me to the world of sweat, grunts and aerobics.

With that, came eating healthy.  I remember sitting down to dinner one night and proclaiming “I’m not eating that anymore!”  Much to my parents dismay and confusion, they eventually went along with it.  I sat there with my cottage cheese and tomatoes while they ate deep friend chicken nuggets and french fries.  OK, that sounds dramatic, but she did used to make that as a meal once in awhile.  To her credit, most of the meals my mom prepared were budget friendly and pretty healthy.

However at that time, eating healthy to ME meant one main rule: NO FAT.  I now know that is the wrong way to go.  Think of all the good fats that are essential in things like almonds, avocados, olive oil. Back then I would have said “No” to all of them.

When I really got in to weight lifting, I even ate plain baked potatoes. Like it was an apple.  That was when I was really in to working out and weight lifting.  I mean really in to it.  Who would ever eat a plain baked potato!?  Yuck. But, hey I did pretty good at reaching my goal.  I was squatting 245 lb and benching 100 lb with 11% body fat. Not bad, right?

I certainly don’t do that extreme work out or eating routine anymore.  Oh no, I’ve acquired taste buds and enjoyment from a good meal.  Nor do I care to ever spend that much time at a gym again.

In fact, this weekend I whipped up a new yummy recipe.  This time of year always gets me in the kitchen baking or cooking.  That fall air blows in and suddenly I find myself standing in the kitchen saying “Where’s the beef?”

Well, I happened to have 1 lb. of organic beef that was to either be eaten or thrown in the freezer.  And my new crockpot was still sitting in the box where it had been all summer.  And the yam I bought was starting to sprout wings.

I figured a meatloaf had to be pretty easy.  I’d only made a weird turkey version years before, but really, how hard could it be?  Well, it was even easier than I thought.  After looking around on-line for a good recipe and realizing there were so many variations, I decided to come up with my own. And we loved it, so thought I’d share:

2 eggs whisked
add: 1 lb of beef
1 C breadcrumbs
1/2 C chopped onion and garlic mix
1/2 C steak sauce
salt and pepper

Mashed it all together in to a loaf shape with my hands and put it in the crockpot on high for about 3 hours.  Next time I make this, I plan to add sliced mushrooms and feta cheese.  Yum!

For the yam, I just peeled, sliced, drizzled with 2 Tbsp. of butter and sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Covered and baked in the oven at 375 for about 30 – 45 minutes.

Bon Appetit!