Healthy Alternative Spaghetti with meat sauce

Tonight's recipe is a little different than the normal. A friend mentioned, the other day, that I should start posting recipes with meat as well, especially since I'm a bit more of a carnivore than a vegetarian. Recently, I've decided to start taking my diet more seriously. In that statement, I mean the primary definition of diet. I'm hoping to make some real changes to how I eat, not just for short term weight loss, but for long term health. Tonight, I made a meat dish that incorporates two things I love and won't give up (red sauce and pasta). Tonight was a sort of Spaghetti Chicken Stir Fry.

This recipe is pretty simple. Here is what you will need:

• chicken breast cut into strips (1lb) or stir fry chicken (as sold at Albertson's and Publix)
• mushrooms (1 package)
• onion (1/2 large onion) - I prefer vidalia
• oregano
• cilantro
• pasta (1 package)
• marinara sauce (1 can/jar) 

1. Begin by putting the pasta on to boil, as this will take the longest. 
2. Spray a little pan cooking spray into your frying pan -- sautee the chicken, onion and mushroom until the chicken has browned on the outside. I usually cook on medium to medium high (5-7 on electric stove top), adding maybe a 1/2 tsp of oregano and 1/2 tsp cilantro  as chicken is just starting to brown. 
3. At the same time that you being the chicken, put pasta sauce on to warm, cooking at a medium temp -- I suggest covering
4. Serve together, topped with a pinch of parmesan cheese

Overall, you will find this to be fewer calories than spaghetti with ground beef or meatballs -- 3 oz of chicken with the mushrooms and onions makes it feel somewhat hearty and very satisfying. Let me know what you think!
 

Meatless Monday -- Locally Grown Veggie Night

It has been a few weeks since I posted a new recipe on here. Gramma Kat (my mother) was here for two weeks, and life has just been hectic for a couple weeks prior and since. I've done probably 60 hours of yard work in the last three weeks, as well as plenty of indoor projects as well.

Tonight's recipe was very simple. This past weekend, the Apopka Woman's Club hosted their annual Apopka Art & Foliage Festival , and I was able to pick up two beautiful locally grown cucumbers (the one we had tonight was one of the best I've had in a while) and a massive locally grown eggplant, fresh picked Saturday in Zellwood.

I may have said this on past blogs, or to some of you in person, but the eggplant has always been a huge challenge to me, and I've just never enjoyed it at home, without frying it. That is, until a few weeks ago. The following recipe is one I love and has pleased everyone that has had it. I usually think of eggplant as a side dish (unless served with pasta and red sauce), but it was the main course tonight.

Joey's Breaded Eggplant (feeds 2-3 as a main course, 4-6 as a side dish):

You will need: 1 large eggplant; 3 large eggs, breadcrumbs (italian or plain), italian cheese mix

Preheat the oven to 350;  lay out two bowls -- one for the egg wash (you will want to whip them, but not until you are ready to start dipping, or the egg begins to separate) and one for the bread crumbs (big enough to roll it around). After slicing the eggplant, wash in egg and cover in breadcrumbs on each side. You can add some spices, like basil (my preference), italian seasonings, or thyme. Bake for about 12 minutes, remove from oven and top with cheese, baking for another 10 to 12 minutes. By then, they should be firm enough to hold and soft enough to bite into or cut with a fork.

The side ingredient that you see above is one of the most simple and tastiest salads in the world.

Tomato Cuke Salad:

You will need: 1 large cuke, 1 large ugly tomato (or 2 vine tomatos or maybe 3 romas), italian dressing (I use the fat free) and italian cheese

Cut the cuke to desired sizes -- I usually just slice and half them myself. I leave the skin on, as I like the flavor. Cut up your tomatos into ite sized pieces. Add italian dressing and sprinkle some cheese into it. Mix and serve.

To top it off, I managed a locally grown watermelon (local to Florida at least) as our second side dish.

All in all, this was a delicious and somewhat light dinner. It was nice to have something like this after some yard work this evening, and I felt very satisfied with it all. If you try any of the above, let me know what you think.

I've been told that I need to start featuring some of my meaty dishes during the week, so I will try to get one up every week for each now, at least when I have something worth sharing.

This week I will post my vegetarian quiche that I made two weeks in a row, to much satisfaction.

Meatful Monday - Taco Spaghetti

Occasionally, Meatless Monday doesn't go as planned. This usually occurs when the in-laws invite the family over for dinner. Since the girls are already there, and if the ingredients are available, and I'm asked VERY nicely (lol, or just asked), I enjoy cooking dinner. This was supposed to be last Thursday's dinner, but my FiL's HOA meeting preempted dinner, and said dinner turned out to be tonight's feast.

This recipe is one of my own making. While it isn't as healthy as some of the meatless meals I post here weekly, this dinner has proven to be a favorite of the Pratt family. I call it taco spaghetti, and soon you will see why.

Ingredients:

1.5 packs spaghetti noodles
1.5lbs ground beef (feel free to substitute ground turkey* or even vegetarian ground beef crumbles or tofu, for those of you who prefer no meat)
2c cheddar cheese
1 packet taco seasoning

(this is for 6 adults)

Directions:

The dish is pretty easy to make. Boil your water, then cook the pasta as directed (rolling boil for about 7 minutes), drain and set aside pasta. Preheat the over to 350 degrees F (176.7 degrees C for you metric folks). Brown the ground beef while crumbling, add water and taco seasoning (again, follow directions). Next, pam your casserole dish (noodles will stick otherwise), cover the bottom of pan with the noodles. Spread the beef evenly across the noodles then cover with even layer of cheddar cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes.

I served this with garlic bread and a simple joey-mexicano ensalada (chopped lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced avocado, sour cream). Erin really enjoyed the salad right on top of her taco spaghetti, as did my MiL (see picture below). Either was is acceptable and quite tasty. If you are thinking that this doesn't sound good, I dare you to try it anyhow. Its a delicious dish. Nearly every last bite was consumed, between us and the girls. If you do make it, check back here and let me know what you thought!

Coming tomorrow -- Veggie Quiche with a Potato Crust! yum!

*a note on ground turkey -- If you're looking to save calories, then you want to look for Lean Ground Turkey Breast. If you just get ground turkey, it is a mix of white and dark meats, and some of the lesser cuts, giving you a fattier and less healthy ground turkey. I find that a lot of people don't realize that there is a distinction and are getting a 80% or 85% lean turkey rather than the very lean breast they think that they are getting. Also, in my opinion, you can use ground turkey any time you use a powerful flavor, like taco seasoning or marinara sauce, without noticing a great deal of difference. A lot of people dislike ground turkey when making burgers because they fail to adequately season the burgers -- which gives me an idea -- in the coming weeks, since Spring is upon us, I will do a burger blog.

Meatless Mondays (Tuesday Edition) -- Veggie Fajitas

This weeks recipe (although somewhat late) was an interesting one, for sure. Erin came up with the idea for veggie fajitas. I was all "what?? fajitas without meat?!? insane!!!" Never the less, we opted to make this dinner, sans recipe.

If you wish to recreate this dinner, here is what you will need. Oh, by the way, this picture is stolen from google, as I failed to take a picture of dinner last night.

Ingredients:
1 zucchini, 1/2 red bell pepper, 1/2 green bell pepper, 1 large package mushrooms, 1 large white onion, 2/3 head broccoli; tortillas; cheddar cheese; salsa; sour cream; fajita flavor packet; 2tbsp olive oil.

In a nutshell, here is what I did. In a large skillet, add all veggies and olive oil - saute for about 5 minutes, remove from heat and let steam (for the sake of the broccoli) for about 2 more minutes. Add a packet of fajita mix (you can skip this step, or substitute chili powder and lime juice) and saute for another 3 minutes.

Then make your fajitas just as you would, with you tortillas and toppings.

I added a side of spanish rice (Zatterains), which I always enjoy.

Erin seemed to really enjoy them. She stated several times that she liked them, and ate two whole tacos. I enjoyed them, but I would have preferred to skip the fajita mix, and just had the veggies. Caution on the broccoli...if you cook it too long, it reduces and it less appealing (I adjusted the above numbers, but you may have to play with it some). All it really changes is the look, mushier broccoli still tastes like broccoli. All in all, a very good meal, and one we will be making again!

Meatless Mondays -- Pasta Bean Casserole

Its that time again, kids! Yep, Uncle Joey has another tasty meatless recipe that is sure to excite! Tonight's recipe was Pasta Bean Casserole.

I will spare you the details of our 2012 plan to go meatless on Mondays. We're not pushing the vegetarian lifestyle (I make my love of bacon known quite often), nor pushing any sort of green agenda on anyone (for many reasons, meatless Mondays are good for the environment) -- Erin and I mostly started this to see if we could (1) do it and (2) maintain it. So far, so good!

First, here is what you will need:

(1) box of penne pasta (about 16oz)
(2) can of diced tomatoes (about 14oz)
(3) two cans of kidney beans (about 32oz total)
(4) jar/can pasta sauce (about 26oz)
(5) 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
(6) broccoli
(7) 1 small onion

Preheat the oven to 375 and also put water on to boil for the pasta. You will want to go ahead and drain the kidney beans and rinse them and set them aside. Boil the pasta as directed, strain and rinse, return to the pot. Once in the pot, add the tomatoes, pasta sauce, kidney beans, broccoli and onions (chopped up of course). Pour all of that into a casserole dish, top with cheese and bake for 30-35 minutes.

You could serve with bread and butter (a staple in our home) or salad, but its a hearty meal on its own. The girls seemed to enjoy it. Well, Jordan ate every last bite, anyhow. Madison is Madison. Both ate and neither complained. Erin and I enjoyed it quite a bit as well. The beans are a great protein source, and a good substitute for meat (not in taste, of course). However, with the veggies and beans, you won't miss meat. Its quite tasty. We used Italian diced tomatoes (that is what I prefer) which adds some garlic,etc. The casserole is almost on par with a vegetable lasagne, and I think you could add zucchini or summer squash, as well as mushrooms for added depth and nutrients.

Give it a try! Actually, it would go very well with the breaded eggplant I made last week. If you make it, let me know how you liked it!

Meatless Mondays -- Ensalada de la Explosion

It has been a couple of weeks since I wrote our Meatless Mondays blog, not because we've been eating meat, but because the last two weeks were both busy and uninspired. I've been sick for part of the year, and Grandma Kat visited last weekend. I'm hoping to be a little more regular about this, but it is a learning curve, getting used to writing a blog regularly. I might be adding another weekly installment for other goings-on for the family, but we will see.

Tonight, Erin made Ensalada de la Explosion, a very delicious salad that she stole, sort of, from a Tex Mex restaurant she worked at for like 5 years. It remains her favorite dish (and her sister's favorite dish as well) and once in a while we make it at home. I've renamed it (and if you know the original, it should be somewhat obvious).

First things first, I made small cheese quesadillas for everyone. They can be served on the side, or in the salad. I like mine on the side, or to scoop up some of the good stuff at the bottom of the salad.

Now, onto the ensalada... We used a mix of green leaf lettuce and iceberg lettuce. The green leaf gives you iron and fiber, and I like the taste of it in a salad. The Iceberg, while adding little, has that crunch that most associate with salad, and provides a nice mix. On top of the salad we included chopped tomato, chopped onion, and cheddar cheese. We used a corn salsa, but from Jolly Green Giant. Their southwestern mix is a corn, black bean and bell pepper mix with lime and cilantro. Erin then made a nice guacamole ranch dressing (exactly as it sounds -- mix up some guacamole and add enough to turn the ranch greenish and give it the avacado flavor). Top that with some tortilla strips and you're all set.

All in all, the salad is a fantastic salad. Its meatless, delicious, and feels nice and filling.

As a little bonus, I'd like to blog about a side dish I made at the in-laws house Sunday night for family dinner, eggplant bake.

This was a pretty simple dish. You'll need the following:

(1) eggplant
(2) 4 eggs
(3) italian bread crumbs
(4) mozzerella cheese

Thinly slice up the eggplant. Thick eggplant won't cook as well. Whip the eggs until fluffy. Immerse each slice into the egg, then coat in italian bread crumbs. Baked at 375 degrees for 35 minutes on a cookie sheet (sprayed with a light coat of Pam). Remove, cover in mozzerella cheese and back for 5 minutes.

This dish was, I'm proud to say, my first successful eggplant dish, and I didn't have to fry them!

I know this to be true because not only did both of the girls eat a slice, but Jordan got seconds, and Erin had several slices. I highly recommend this recipe. It would be great with pasta and red sauce, but this was served on the side of steaks and baked potatoes.

Try either of these and feel free to give me feedback!

Until next time...

Meatless Mondays -- Corn & Two-Bean Burgers

Just as I post here each and every week, our family continues to take part in Meatless Mondays, dinner edition. At some point, in the near future, maybe we will also make it a full day, with no meat at breakfast, lunch or dinner. However, for now, Erin & I continue to enjoy trying new recipes and seeing what we do and don't like in terms of vegetarian fair.

Tonight, we made Corn & Two Bean Burgers with a side of sweet potato waffle fries.

I think that Erin was somewhat hesitant to try the burgers. I tried to go easy on her, as I've been wanting to try Lentil burgers for some time now. However, we had all the ingredients for this meal, so I chose this option tonight. According to Erin, "they were okay," and said "they weren't bad, I would eat them again." Erin was nonplussed with the consistency. I, on the other hand, really enjoyed them, which is somewhat surprising.

Many of you that know me well, or that join us for dinner here in our home, or out and about, know what a fan of the burger I am. I consider myself a bit of a hamburger virtuoso. In fact, I'd go as far to say that a hamburger is my most favorite food. If I were about to be executed, a hamburger would be a part of my last meal. I've tried all sorts of them, from beef, turkey and chicken, to mushroom, shrimp and even spam.



In form, they took to patty well, and friend to a nice color, very similar to a beef burger (except for the kernels of corn). The consistency was fine. They crisp a little on the outside, but they don't quite hold up as well as a burger would. We topped them with sliced tomato and green leaf lettuce, as well as muenster cheese. I added the ketchup from the recipe, with one accidental change. Instead of chipotle, I used chili powder. It still tasted pretty good.

On the side, we added Alexia All Natural Waffle-Cut Sweet Potato (from the freezer section at Winn Dixie). We'd never made sweet potatoes before, so we cheated, but they were fantastic (and much lower in fat and calories than store bought fries). The girls even ate up the sweet potato fries. I used the extra ketchup from the burgers for my fries, which added a nice zing.

One tip, in my opinion, is to use a lesser bread product than a bun, and we opted for deli flats, which we use in place of buns and bread a lot. Erin feels that it would have been a better burger experience if we had used fancy rolls, so we might try that next time.

I will certainly make these again, and we will certainly eat them again. However, I will continue to search for a good burger alternative for meatless meals. My three mushroom burger was a good example of how good a meatless burger really can be. In the coming weeks, I will make those again and post my own recipe for that.

Until next time, happy eating!

Meatless Mondays - Vegetable Lasagna

Last night, I made my famous Mushroom Lasagna, a constantly evolving dish (read, constantly improving) that sort of morphed into Vegetable Lasagna (click the link -- every time I say vegetable lasagna, I think of this).

In our continuing effort to eat vegetarian on Monday nights, I made this lasagna meatless. It isn't necessarily low calorie, but its lower calorie than a typical lasagna.

I started with two types of mushrooms, baby bella and white mushrooms (just the caps, I don't use the stump, myself -- note, I often use cremini as well, but they weren't available at Target, so we skipped them), and sliced up some zucchini. In addition, I used lasagna noodles, red sauce (1.5 jars), white sauce (1/2 jar), low fat sour cream (you can use ricotta or cottage cheese in its place), mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese and spinach (i used frozen, but it must be defrosted and wrung out completely -- you can use fresh).

I don't cook the noodles in advance. Save the time and effort. I start with a very thin layer of red sauce at the bottom of the pan, and a layer of noodles, covered in a thicker layer of red sauce. Next, I made a layer of thinly sliced zucchini, followed by a layer of white sauce. On top of the white sauce, I put the layer of baby bellas and spinach, covered by a thin layer of sour cream. Next, the second layer of noodles, covered again in red sauce, with a second layer of zucchini and the white mushrooms. On a side note, for the mushrooms, I mostly just capped them, and cut them into halves (except the large ones) as chunky mushrooms, in my opinion, make it feel bulkier and more satisfying. On top, I put a good layer of mozzarella cheese, sprinkled a small amount of parmesan cheese and added a few small dollops of red sauce for appearance. You'll want to bake it for about 45 minutes, at 375 degrees. It is best if you let it sit for about 30 minutes, to solidify, but if your family are hungry hungry hippos (I'm not calling anyone fat here!), they won't likely want to wait. The final result looked like this:













I served this tasty dish with bread sticks and a veggie salad. The veggie salad was composed of the leftover zucchini slices (halved), carrot pieces and chunked tomato in a zesty Italian dressing and a little bit of mozzarella.

I would love to hear if any of you guys try this, and what you think of it. My family loves it, even though it changes every time. I wouldn't recommend shiitake musrooms or oyster mushrooms for this lasagna, as I didn't personally enjoy the lasagna much the times I tried adding either of those.

As always, happy eating! I'll be back next week, hopefully with something somewhat exotic (like lentil burgers).

Pictures

I took the girls yesterday to the park because I wanted to get some updated pictures of them, but also because I am currently feeling insanely frustrated with my photography. I am not saying this to fish for compliments. I know I have an eye for what I do. I am certainly better than the average person. But I just feel like I am not at the level I wish I were. I would LOVE one day to be able to make a living photographing weddings and families. But until I figure out how to make my pictures what I want them to be, that just isn't going to happen. So I am feeling discouraged, to say the least.

Yesterday's trip was not a very successful endeavor. I can photograph other children just fine. I constantly get great shots of kids (and adults as well!). I have a ton of patience when it comes to photography trying lots of different things and completely making a fool of myself in order to get that perfect shot. Except when it comes to my own children. I guess I feel like they should listen better to me? But instead, they just do not take me seriously behind the camera. They run away, don't sit where I tell them, won't look at the camera, make silly faces...  Maybe when their older they'll be better models. In the meantime, I will remember these ages by goofy expressions and the backs of their heads. :)

But here are a few of my favorites from this attempt. I'll have to try again soon, maybe next time with backup.

Gimmie some attitude!

This one was a great smile of Sissy's!

Then Sissy got over it.

Sleepy eyes.

Jordan playing in the dirt.

Meatless Mondays (Tuesday Edition) -- Cauliflower Crust Pizza

In our continuing effort to better our lives, Erin and I continue to practice our Meatless Mondays... This week, we were invited out to dinner on Monday night at El Potro Mexican Restaurant (Apopka's only Mexican restaurant, I believe, and quite a good one too!) and so we paused Meatless Monday for a night.

Some of you may wonder why we choose to do a meatless night each week...

Even though we are only one family, we recognize that reducing our meat consumption reduces our carbon footprint. It is estimated that the meat industry accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than transportation... it also cuts fossil fuel consumption and water consumption... while us, alone, can't really make a dent, if more and more families implement just one meatless night (or whole day) a week, imagine what a difference it would make, worldwide!

In addition, it reduces our red meat consumption, fatty meat consumption, etc... the health benefits alone will be good for our family.

Tonight, we chose Cauliflower Crust Pizza, which I found on Eat.Drink.Smile. (photo credit goes to them, tonight) thanks to Pinterest.

I'd like to point out just how much I've come to enjoy the Pinterest website. Granted, I don't get much out of the constant pictures of fingernail paint colors, purses, or pictures of dudes in boxer briefs, I do find lots of good ideas for the kitchen.

Let me start by saying that Cauliflower Crust Pizza is a sort of work in progress, I think... Ricing cauliflower is the easy part. The cheese caused the crust to stick (A LOT), which I found irritating. In fact, in classic Joey fashion, my plate ended up a pile of two pieces of the pizza, and didn't look all that appetizing, which is what I get for getting irritable. The recipe suggested cooking the toppings first, which you certainly should. Even with broiling the pizza (Erin suggested against cooking the toppings, because of the broil) the onions and mushrooms still seemed mostly raw (we used onions, baby bella mushrooms and tomatoes).

Erin reports that she really enjoyed it, and Madison ate almost an entire piece (she really liked the crust and cheese), which is excellent. The entire pizza was about 600 calories, and a head of cauliflower makes three pizzas. We made two pizzas, and ate every bit of it. This was not my favorite meal, but it was good, and I've learned a few tips for next time. I think it would have been delicious with peperoni, but that would defeat the purpose of being meatless. Also, I will point out that I'm full from my four pieces.

If you decide, yourself, to try this pizza, please let me know. I'm curious what other people think about it. Until next time...

Meatless Mondays - Black Bean Burritos

In an effort to change the way we eat (and really, the way we think of food and meal time), Erin and I have decided to make a few changes to our kitchen, fridge and meal planning.

First, and foremost, we've decided to start adding back some color to our fridge. The greens, the reds, and everything in between has been missing for far too long (or being purchased and going to waste). We've been working on adding veggies and fruits back to the fridge.

Next, we are sitting down, and thinking out meals (still very much a work in progress for us, but Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were our food habits!).

In working out meal plans, Erin and I have decided to try Meatless Mondays for 2012 (and hopefully beyond). Each week, we will have a healthy, interesting, exciting dish that (for some crazy reason) doesn't include meat. However, the purpose is to make that meal a healthy meal, one that integrates some veggies, which we need more of.

We had cauliflower soup a couple of weeks ago, and it was fantastic. However, as with any soup, we ate a 4' loaf of bread with it, which sort of negates all the good.

Tonight, we chose Black Bean Burritos.









They were great, and they utilized something we don't eat very often -- red bell peppers. Chock full of vitamin C and E, and carotenoids and sulfur. There is also some belief (I'm not sure if it is verified or not) that capsaicin is a cancer fighter and blood sugar.

We didn't get fancy tonight. Erin just had the black bean mixture (onions, bell pepper, jalepeno, cream cheese) in the burrito, where I added some lettuce and cheese, along with some hot sauce to mine. We really enjoy them, found them to be filling, and the black bean mixture felt hearty, like a meaty burrito would have. I was full from two, and Erin from one (a bit less than we usually eat). One serving of the bean mix was about 1/2 cup, which was about 180 calories and another 180 calories for the burrito. All in all, a great meal.

Tune in next week, when I share Lentil Burgers with you (if Erin agrees with me!).

Cauliflower Soup

Ok. Here's what you need:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves minced garlic
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks
1 head cauliflower, broken into small florets
3 red potatoes, diced
2 cups vegetable stock
2 cups milk
basil
salt and pepper to taste

First, melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for a couple minutes.

Next, add cauliflower, carrots, celery and potatoes, and continue to saute for about 5 minutes.

Add vegetable stock (I added a little water as well, just to make sure all my vegetables were covered, and I sprinkled with basil) and bring to a boil.Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.

Add milk, stir to blend. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Delish!