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...