Monday Night dinner with Grandma

I haven't really forgotten about this secondary posting.  The time has just gotten away from me.

There have been some new challenges in feeding Grandma.  She keeps saying she doesn't like meat.  Of any sort.  That presents all sorts of problems as my husband, her grandson, who eats dinner with us  MUST have meat.  Of all sorts.

Now she will eat meatloaf.  I guess the more thoroughly the meat is "pre-chewed"  the better she likes it. I've developed quite a meatloaf recipe collection.

Tonight's, however, is a new one.  It's a chicken parm meatloaf.  In muffin tins.  Like big meatballs.  Chicken Parm meatballs.  With cheese and tomato sauce.  Here's the recipe:

Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf
Source: adapted from What’s Cookin’ Chicago?

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs raw ground chicken breast (if you have trouble finding ground chicken that is breast meat only, do what I do and throw the same weight of boneless, skinless chicken breasts into the food processor and run until ground)
1 large egg
1 egg whites
6 T dried breadcrumbs
¾ t dried basil
¾ t dried thyme
¾ t oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ a small onion, chopped small or grated
¾ t salt
1/3 t black pepper
¾ cup Parmesan cheese
¾ cup pasta sauce
¾ cup 2% reduced fat shredded Mozzarella cheese
Optional: dried parsley, oregano or basil for garnish

Directions:
1.    Pre-heat the oven to 350. Lightly mist a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.
2.    In a large bowl, combine the ground chicken, egg, egg whites, breadcrumbs, basil, thyme, oregano, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese and lightly mix together. Do not over handle.
3.    Form the meat mixture evenly into the 12 cups of your prepared muffin tin. Spread the pasta sauce evenly over the tops of each muffin. Bake for 20 minutes and remove from the oven. Top each muffin with about a tablespoon of shredded cheese and then return to the oven for 2-3 minutes until the cheese is melted. Garnish if desired.

Yields 12 muffins. WW P+:  4 per muffin or 7 P+ for 2 muffins (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)
Nutrition Information per muffin from myfitnesspal.com: 147 calories, 6 g carbs, 5 g fat, 18 g protein, 0 g fiber





The other key thing about Grandma is the she loves cake.  Coffee cake, spice cake, pretty much any kind of cake makes her happy.  This is the cake I'm making.  I add more spices so it actually tastes more like a spice cake and the sour cream keeps it very moist.

Applesauce-Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Weight Watchers Recipe

Ingredients 1 spray(s) cooking spray, or enough to coat pan    1 1/2 cup(s) all purpose flour    3/4 cup(s) packed light brown sugar    1 tsp baking soda    1/2 tsp baking powder    1 tsp ground cinnamon    1/2 tsp table salt      3/4 cup(s) fat-free sour cream    2 Tbsp vegetable oil      1 cup(s) unsweetened applesauce    Instructions Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch square pan with cooking spray. Stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Stir together sour cream, oil and applesauce in a small bowl. Stir sour cream mixture into flour mixture just to mix. (Do not beat.) Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 to 45 minutes. Allow cake to cool to warm or room temperature before slicing into 16 pieces.

That's what's cooking in my kitchen; how 'bout yours?  Whatever it is...

happy cooking