Fancy Soup for a Sick Husband

We were so excited in November for our annual anniversary trip to Solvang (yes, I'm just blogging from November, don't judge).  We had a great hotel booked, we had booked a limo for wine-tasting (since we both taste, we always get a designated driver of some sort), and we were really looking forward to our chosen restaurants.  The day before we were scheduled to leave, my husband broke the news: he was really not feeling well.  We went back & forth, but decided to go on our trip, just cancelling the alcohol portions of the trip.  More to follow on Solvang.  The night before we left, I knew that my husband would want soup for dinner, but I really wanted to start celebrating and didn't want to heat up Campbells Soup.  I decided to go with this Tortellini Soup with Beans and Spinach, which I saw on both Annie's Eats and Elly Says Opa and adapted to my needs.  By adding hot Italian Turkey Sausage instead of the beans, this soup had a real kick that was perfect for my husband's cold, but was really hearty as well.  I think beans and sausage would be great, too (I forgot the beans).  I was sorry that I had to make it under these circumstances, but it was a tasty new recipe!

 

Tortellini Soup with Sausage and Spinach
1/2 lb hot Italian Turkey Sausage
1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 quart low sodium chicken stock
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
Oregano, basil, Italian Seasoning, to taste
1 small package fresh tortellini
1 bag fresh baby spinach
Cook sausage in olive oil in large stock pot until no longer pink.  Push to the sides of the pan and add onion, cooking until just golden.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil.  Add spices and simmer for 10 minutes.  Add tortellini and cook about 7 minutes or until tender.  Turn off heat and stir in spinach until just wilted.  Serve immediately, topped with parmesan cheese if desired.

Southwestern Turkey Meatball Skillet

This recipe was on the cover of my October 2011 Clean Eating Magazine and I knew right away that I wanted to make it.  It made it onto the menu within a couple weeks of receiving it (yes, I'm THAT behind on blogging).  I subscribe to a few magazines, but rarely actually make recipes directly from the publications, chosing instead to just draw inspiration from my reading.  So making an actual magazine recipe is a big deal.  I decided to half the recipe, knowing that a pound of ground turkey would be way too much.  As I went along, following the recipe but halving each item, I started adding extra spices to the mix, because the straight up turkey meatballs seemed a little plain.  The only trouble I ran into was in my "winging it" mode, I accidentally went a little gung ho with the egg whites and added both for my half recipe!  I tried scooping out some of the excess and then added more bread crumbs - it seemed to work pretty well.  We enjoyed the flavors of this and both agreed the extra spices were quite needed.  The only complaint that the husband had was that he thought it needed a "cream sauce."  Since there is no way that he would actually ask for a cream sauce usually, I think he was really asking for more fat in these very lean meatballs.  This is a recipe I will try again with a little tweaking.

Southwest Meatballs with Warm Corn-Black Bean Salsa (from Clean Eating Magazine October 2011)
1 lb ground turkey breast
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (I added)
1/2 tsp ground oregano (I added)
1 tsp cumin (I added)
2 tsp olive oil
1 cup frozen yellow or white corn
1 15oz can low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups diced vine ripened tomatoes
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 Tbs fresh lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I omitted)

In large bowl, combine turkey, egg whites, bread crumbs, salt and pepper and mix well.  Shape into 16 meatballs, each about the size of a golf ball

In a large skillet, heat oil on medium high.  Add meatballs and cook for 3-5 minutes, turning frequently until browned on all sides.  Add corn, beans, tomatoes, broth, lime juice and cumin and mix well.  Reduce heat to medium, partially cover and cook an additional 3-5 minutes, until meatballs are cooked through.  Stir in cilantro and serve.

Kale, Sausage & Beans Pasta

I commented last night to my husband that I sometimes feel like the vegetable delivery basket I get every week leaves me as a "Chopped" contestant. For those that don't watch Food Network, we love this show, which asks chefs to use a very strange ingredient combination to create a full meal (appetizer, main, dessert). After each round, one contestant is "chopped" for their poor performance and another weird list of ingredients is chosen for the next course. Sometimes the ingredients I get in our "Plow to Porch" delivery are really weird to me. I definitely never even tried kale prior to our subscription, and now it is one of the leafy greens we enjoy often. I had heard that kale & sausage goes well together, and I know that greens and white beans are a great combination. This was a dish that I came up with using the "secret ingredients" of kale, white beans, turkey sausage and green garlic. I really enjoyed this dish and the leftovers have been a really great lunch dish.


Kale, Sausage & White Beans (my own creation)
1 green garlic (it's kinda like a big green onion), white & light green only, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 lb Turkey Sausage, removed from casings
1/2 lb kale (mine was purple), chopped
1/2 cup chicken stock
8 oz small pasta (I used whole wheat medium shells)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup + 3 tsp milk
1 tsp cornstarch
1 can white (canelloni) beans, rinsed & drained
salt & pepper to taste
Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat oil in large saute pan over med-med high heat. Add diced garlic & pepper. Cook until garlic starts to carmelize, about 5 minutes. Remove veggies to a bowl, leaving as much of the oil behind as possible. Add turkey sausage, mashing into small pieces, and cook until no longer pink. Remove turkey to vegetable bowl. Add chopped kale and stir until coated with the sausage/veggie oil, then add chicken stock and cover. Cook for 5-7 minutes until kale is soft but still keeps some of its bite. Add all contents in the veggie/sausage bowl and drained beans and heat through. Create a well in the middle of the saute pan and add heavy cream. In a separate bowl, mix cornstarch with 3 tsp of milk. Stir to disolve, then add this mixture along with the rest of the milk to the saute pan. Stir very well until bubbly and thickened. Mix in with all the veggies and cook for 3-5 minutes more until desired consistency is reached. Add salt & pepper to taste, then add pasta and toss to combine. Makes 4 very filling servings.

Three Chile Turkey Burgers

Turkey burgers are a staple in our house for their ease and health-value. Unfortunately, they can be a little bland. I usually add a little spice to the turkey burger patties I buy (yes, I buy them preformed because they are just so easy that way!). I got a little inspiration when we tried these taco burgers and thought that the idea would translate well to turkey burgers as well. But I'm not a huge fan of taco seasoning packets, so I decided to use the basic flavor ingredients from taco seasoning and just apply directly to the burgers. Since I like the way different chile flavors play off each other, I decided to add a very lightly grilled (canned) anaheim chile to each burger before topping with pepperjack cheese and guacamole. Oh my, these burgers were so good. I don't think my husband could believe he was eating such a good burger at home. We've had them twice and both times he was speechless. I swear the turkey burgers taste meatier with all those other flavors going on. These are spicy, but I find them to be a complex spicy, not a hot spicy. The anaheim chiles are quite mild, and you can control the heat of the burger by adding more or less chili powder, or by varying what kind of chili powder you use. Remember to toast the burger buns a little extra so that they hold up to this burger. With the guac and the pepper, this one can get a little sloppy.



Triple Chile Turkey Burgers
2 preformed turkey burgers (or 1/2 lb of ground turkey, shaped into patties)
1/2-1 tsp onion powder
1/2-1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Chili powder (I used regular, but will try ancho and chipotle soon!)
1 small (4 oz) can whole mild chiles (anaheims)
1 small batch (1 avocado worth) guacamole (homemade is best, even if you are just mixing a little salsa into a chopped avocado!)
2 slices pepperjack cheese
2 toasted hamburger buns
Prepare and heat grill pan. Season turkey burgers with onion, garlic & chili powder. Set aside. Drain can of chiles. Remove two (save remaining for another use or discard). Carefully slice open one side to create one large single layer pepper out of each whole pepper. Using your knife, scrape out as many seeds as possible. Lightly grill peppers until they start to appear dry and just start to show char marks. Remove and set aside. Grill burgers, turning, until no longer pink inside. Top each burger with one grilled chile, then one slice of pepperjack cheese. Slide each burger onto a bun and top with guacamole before adding bun top.

Veggie and Sausage Stuffed Shells

I love stuffed shells. They are a little bit labor intensive, but they are one of my favorite "American-Italian" meals. My problem is that my husband does not like traditional stuffed shells (although Mexican Stuffed Shells are among his favorite meals). He has found them too heavy and doesn't like the thick ricotta taste. While reading my "Cook Yourself Thin" cookbook, I saw a recipe for stuffed shells that bulked up the flavor by using zucchini. By the time I had decided to finally make stuffed shells with this technique, I had lost this cookbook, so I just decided to wing it by adding an appropriate amount of shredded zucchini and spinach to the usual ricotta mixture. I used about half of the normal ricotta with these adjustments, but I also added some crumbled cooked turkey sausage to the mix to add another boost of flavor. These were really good, and definitely kept that creamy taste and texture that I love, while remaining light and not as cheesy for my husband. I would probably even be okay with making them without the sausage for a vegetarian meal, but I'm not sure if my husband would agree. I'm planning on using zucchini a lot more this summer, since it is so good when it is in season, and it is easy to add to pastas for a little healthy vegetable kick! The funny thing is that when I finally found my cookbook, I had actually stuck to the recipe pretty closely, even though it had been months since I had looked at it. Good photographic recipe memory, I guess!

Stuffed Shells with Veggies and Sausage (inspired by Cook Yourself Thin)

1 box jumbo shells

1/2 lb turkey sausage, casings removed

1 tsp olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 zucchini, shredded

1 bag baby spinach, roughly chopped

1 egg

1 cup skim ricotta cheese

1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1 jar pasta sauce

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Cook pasta to package directions, drain. Heat oil in large saute pan. Cook sausage & garlic over medium high until no longer pink. Remove to large bowl with slotted spoon to cool, leaving juices in pan. Add zucchini and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain very well, pressing out as much water as possible. Add to sausage in bowl and let cool. Add ricotta, egg, parmesan and nutmeg and stir well to combine. Pour about 1/2 cup of sauce into 13" x 9" pan. Stuff cooked shells with 2 Tbs filling and place in pan. Top with remaining sauce. Cover and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and top with mozzarella. Bake for 5 minutes more or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Creamy Taco Pasta

This recipe has been hugely popular in the blogging world the last several weeks. It has been advertised as a homemade Hamburger Helper. When I saw that, I knew I would be making it, but also knew that I wouldn't be telling the husband about it being a Hamburger Helper sub! I love HH and usually make it for one of my meals if my husband is out of town for a week. I can't make it when he is home because he really, really dislikes the stuff. I think one of the reasons he doesn't like it is because ground beef is really heavy on its own, and then you add all sorts of processed, not-good-for-you stuff and it is just wrong! So I knew he would like this meal as long as I made it with ground turkey, since all the ingredients are identifiable and not as processed (though not necessarily good for you). I really enjoyed this fresh, and found that it tasted pretty good as leftovers as long as you added some additional liquid before microwaving.

Creamy Taco Pasta (as seen on Annie's Eats and LOTS of other places, original from Delish)

1¼ lbs. ground turkey

8 oz. dry pasta shapes

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 Packet Taco Seasoning (or use 4 Tbs homemade)

3 oz. cream cheese

½ cup sour cream

Salt and pepper

Shredded cheddar cheese (optional, I omitted)
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta according to the package directions. Drain, set aside. Meanwhile, in a large skillet or sauté pan, cook the ground turkey over medium-high heat until no longer pink. A few minutes before the turkey is cooked through, add the chopped onion to the skillet. Once the turkey is cooked through, mix in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Mix in the diced tomatoes and taco seasoning and let simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the cooked pasta, cream cheese, sour cream and continue stirring until the cream cheese is melted and the sauce is well blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over medium-low heat 3-5 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit. Remove from the heat and top with shredded cheddar cheese, if desired.

Taco Pasta Casserole

If you haven't figured it out yet, I really enjoy casseroles. They are comfort on a plate, and they make great leftovers. I run into trouble finding casseroles that are healthier. So many American casserole recipes are based in creamy condensed soup and/or covered in cheese. I was very excited to see this recipe from Joelen's Culinary Adventures, as Joelen is one of my favorite bloggers out there, and I knew she wouldn't have any condensed soup in her casserole. The best part of this casserole recipe is that it is adaptable. If I don't have one of the ingredients, I can toss in something else, and I can certainly adapt this to more in season vegetables if I want. As expected, this casserole was great as leftovers, too.

Taco Pasta Casserole (adapted from Joelen's Culinary Adventures)

1/2 lb dry short whole wheat pasta

1 Tbs Olive Oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

1/2 lb lean ground turkey

2 Tbs Taco Seasoning

2 Tomatoes, seeded & chopped

1 bell pepper, diced (mine was yellow)

1 can black beans, drained & rinsed

1 cup salsa (I used Medium)

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 cup shredded Cheddar Jack cheese

1 green onion, sliced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large pot, fill with water and let it come to a boil. Add pasta and cook until slightly under done. Drain. Meanwhile, in a saute pan, add the oil and saute onions until softened. Crumble in the ground turkey and brown. Add the taco seasoning, tomatoes, and bell pepper strips. Saute until vegetables soften. Add beans and salsa then add salt & pepper to taste. Toss the ground beef and vegetable mixture until incorporated. Top the pasta with shredded cheese and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until cheese melts and lightly browns. Before serving, top with sliced green onions for garnish. Serve hot and if desired, serve with guacamole and/or sour cream.

Turkey Sausage Pasta Bake

As this blog may show, I am a sucker for casseroles. I love their comforting nature and I especially love that they make good leftovers. I am always on the lookout for casserole recipes that don't have condensed cream soups, so this recipe from What's Cooking in the Orange Kitchen was perfect for a delicious weeknight meal. I halved this recipe, and this still made several servings for lunches during the week. Since I love turkey sausage, I will definitely be making this one again soon. Since I added a bell pepper, I found it had a lot of the flavors of an Italian sausage, peppers & onion sandwich. Yum!

Turkey Sausage Pasta Bake
1 (1-pound) package uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
1 pound hot turkey Italian sausage links
1 cup chopped onion
1 bell pepper, chopped (I added)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste (I used a little more)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 (14.5-ounce) cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese (I used a little more)
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese (I used a little less)
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain the pasta, and set aside.
3. Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onion, pepper and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil.
4. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture, and basil. Place half of the pasta mixture in a 4-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Pizza Pasta

I have been in the mood for casseroles lately, probably because the weather is slowly cooling off a bit (although we have still had days in the 80s in the last week!). This pasta casserole that I found from Lemons & Love looked really great, so I bought all our favorite pizza toppings and whipped this up. The husband was rather skeptical beforehand, but really, really liked this dish. He was rather impressed with how much pizza flavor the dish had. I brought my leftovers into work and picked out all the mushrooms (I tried to make half with, half without the shrooms, but some got into my side), and my boss ate all the mushrooms. He too, commented on how pizza-like the flavor was. This was a fun one to make that I'm sure I will be repeating, but not in the middle of the bike season: it isn't very good for you, as it has a lot of cheese! I'm excited to try this with some of our other favorite toppings.

Pizza Pasta

1/2 lb short pasta (I used whole wheat macaroni)

1 jar pasta sauce (I used about 3/4 jar of Ragu, since I needed to use an opened jar)

1 cup mozzerella cheese, grated

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Your favorite pizza toppings:

I used - 1/2 lb mild Italian turkey sausage

1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped

1/2 pack mushrooms, sliced thin

about 20 or so sliced pepperoni, cut in half

1 Tbs fresh chopped oregano (or 1 tsp dried)

Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to package directions, undercooking by about 2 minutes. Meanwhile, remove turkey sausage from casings and saute in skillet, breaking up into small pieces and cooking until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain if needed. Add remaining veggies (bell pepper and mushrooms) and cook until just softened (I did these separately to keep the mushrooms from contaminating the good stuff, ha!). Add pepperoni and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add pasta sauce, oregano and cooked "toppings" to pasta and mix to combine well. Pour 1/2 the pasta mixture into a 13x9 casserole dish. If you are attempting a "1/2 & 1/2" style pizza, place toppings separately at this stage on 1/2 of the mixture, reserving one or two as markers for the top so that you know which side is which. Top with about 3/4 cup of mozzerella cheese, then top with the rest of the pasta mixture, then the rest of the mozzerella and parmesan. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted & bubbly. Allow to cool before serving. Makes about 6 servings.

Duggar Casserole!

I will admit it: I watch too much TLC, although I have started to cut back after child exploitation got out of hand ("Toddlers & Tiaras," anyone? Yikes!). I have dropped Jon & Kate + 8 altogether and I used to watch it faithfully. My remaining vice is the Duggar family show. I find them fascinating and while yes, they are still earning money off the filming of their family, they really seem to have a strong hold on their own values while filming and portray a simple strength in family that I think is important for viewers to see. While I (obviously, no kids here!) don't follow their beliefs in family planning (or lack thereof), I've always felt that variety is the spice of life, and they are able to care for their family without government assistance, so who am I to judge? Anyway, this tater tot casserole is a recipe the Duggars have become famous for. Since I watch a lot more TV and am online a lot more than the entire Duggar family, I don't play actively as much as they do, so I chose to lighten up this recipe by using way less cheese, low fat soup, and added zucchini to add some green to the mix. This was pretty good, and a very traditional casserole, but I don't know if I'll make it again. I'm steering clear of recipes made with cream of xxx soups lately, and this casserole featured the flavor pretty prominently. I did love how festive the army of tater tots looked, though!

Tater Tot Casserole (from the Duggar Family by way of Lemons & Love)

half a bag of frozen tater tots
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used low fat cream of mushroom, I hate cream of chicken!)
1 pound ground turkey
2 cups cheddar cheese (I used about 3/4 cup)
salt
pepper
garlic powder (I used a clove of garlic)

I added:

1 small onion, diced

1 zucchini, sliced in half and diced into 1/2 inch pieces

1 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven according to tater tot directions (mine was 400 degrees).
Cook veggies in oil until soft. Remove. Cook ground turkey, season with salt & pepper. Drain if necessary. Add in cream of chicken soup and cheese. Mix well. Transfer turkey mixture into an 8x8 baking dish. Neatly top mixture with tater tots. Bake for approximately 25 minutes until tater tots are crispy to your preference. Serves: A LOT! We had leftovers for lunches and still threw some away.

Mini Turkey Meat Loaves

I have been wanting to try meatloaf myself for a long time now. I'm not a huge fan of the recipe we had all the time when I was younger. It was okay, but it didn't knock my socks off. I also knew that if I made meatloaf, it would need to be made with turkey, since we eat very little ground beef. Unfortunately, most of the turkey meatloaf recipes I've seen haven't really accounted for how much dryer the turkey is than ground beef. I finally found this recipe in a new cookbook I picked up called "Cook Yourself Thin." I loved the added spinach in this recipe, and the glaze sounded right up our alley with a little spice to it. Not to mention, the idea of using a measuring cup as a mold to create these cute little mini loaves was very appealing to me. These were very good and had enough of the old fashioned meatloaf flavor to satisfy that fall comfort food craving.

Turkey Mini-Meatloaves (from "Cook Yourself Thin")

1 slice whole wheat bread

1/2 cup skim milk

1 tsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

5 oz bag baby spinach

1.25 lbs lean ground turkey

2 Tbs finely grated parmesan

1 large egg

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

3 Tbs Ketchup

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp hot sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grind the bread in a food processor (I used Magic Bullet) until fine crumbs form. Transfer to large bowl and pour milk over top. Heat oil in large skillet, preferably nonstick, over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 5 minutes. Add spinach, stir until just wilted, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl with soaked crumbs. Add turkey, cheese, egg, salt, pepper & nutmeg. Combine with hands until well mixed; it will be very wet. Pack 1 cup of mixture into a 1 cup dry measuring cup. Invert cup onto a rimmed baking sheet, gently shaking to release. Pat mound to shape. Repeat with remaining mixture to create 4 mini loaves. Bake until cooked through and golden, about 40 minutes. While baking, create glaze: Mix ketchup, hot sauce and worcestershire sauce. Brush over the tops of the meatloaves with about 5 minutes remaining to cooking.

Turkey Shepherd's Pie

This St. Patrick's Day, it seemed a lot of people I know were planning pretty big food celebrations. Just in my office of 12 alone, we had one person making roasted lamb and colcannon and another making homemade Irish Soda Bread. So even though both my husband and I are standard American mutts with very well blended heritage, I decided that I would do something a little Irish tonight. I purposely made a ton of mashed potatoes on Sunday night for my Cornish Game Hen dinner so that I would have enough leftovers for Shepherd's Pie. The only trouble I was having was that I wasn't finding a recipe that really fit my tastes. So I improvised. I'm sure some Irish would be irked at my technique (ground turkey instead of beef, frozen vegetables, canned gravy), but I was impressed with how quickly this came together. I think next time, I will use more worcestershire sauce and perhaps some pepper and fresh herbs, but otherwise, this was very tasty.

Turkey Shepherd's Pie
1/2 lb Extra Lean Ground Turkey

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbs Olive Oil

3 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (I used a Trader Joe's 4 veggie blend of carrots, beans, corn and peas and it was VERY good)

6 oz canned chicken gravy

2 cups mashed potatoes (fresh, leftover, or packaged are all fine)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sautee Onion & Garlic in oil over medium high heat until soft. Add Turkey breast and cook until no longer pink, about 5 minutes, breaking up into bite size pieces. Add Worcestershire Sauce. Add frozen vegetables and saute until thawed. Add gravy and mix well to combine. Pour mixture into an 8" x 8" baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Top with mashed potatoes and spread over mixture until covered like a crust. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes, then increase temp. to 450 and bake for 5 minutes more. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting. Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving: Calories: 233, Fat: 7.1g (1.6 sat, 1.0 poly, 3.6 mono), Carbs: 27.5g, Fiber: 3.9g

Chiles Rellenos Casserole

Since this was going to be one of the only nights I was going to have time to cook something fun this week (we’ve had a lot going on), I thought I would take on Chiles Rellenos Casserole from my Cooking Light cookbook. Well, my husband came home from his bike ride just as I was thinking about getting started, and wanted to take a walk to tell me all about his fun rides today. Since I love going for walks and he really did have a good day of riding, I accepted. However, this meal does take a really long time to make! We didn’t eat until after 8:00. I can’t post the recipe because Cooking Light likes to hunt down bloggers and frighten them for “stealing recipes.” I followed the linked recipe pretty closely, but I used an extra can of chiles (which meant using slightly less batter at the end), I used black refried beans and I used ground turkey instead of ground chicken. The results were fantastic, I loved the additional chiles! The batter creates a nice soufflé texture around the turkey/beans/chiles filling. This also tastes really good as leftovers, which is good, because I’m getting a little tired of my standard lunch fare this week and I’m ready for leftovers for lunch!

Nutrition Info: Calories: 335, Fat: 9g (4.5 Sat, 1.6 Poly, 2.7 Mono), Carbs: 37.7g, Fiber: 5.5g

American Chop Suey Revamp

So there was a recipe from my childhood that I enjoyed that is known in some families as "American Chop Suey" and known in others as "Goulash." While the American Chop Suey served in my family was quite enjoyable when I was little, two things have happened that have ruined the original for me. #1 was just the broadening of my taste buds (original recipe called for browned hamburger meat, a can of tomato sauce, cooked macaroni and dried parsley). #2 was a nanny we had that couldn't cook to save her life and decided that browned hamburger and a can of tomato sauce could qualify for dinner (yes, that's right, no pasta needed, folks). So Gross! American Chop Suey in its original family format now reminds me of that dog-food concoction and I was determined to revamp it tonight to make it more palatable for grown ups and to wipe the negative connotation from my mind. Oddly enough, my changes ended up making American Chop Suey 2.0 into something that resembles this recipe on my blog. Either way, we enjoyed it and it was similar enough to remind me of childhood comfort food without being gross.

American Chop Suey 2.0

2 cups small shaped whole wheat pasta cooked to package directions & drained

2 tsp olive oil, divided

1/2 lb Extra Lean Ground Turkey Breast

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 medium celery stalks, chopped

1 small red bell pepper, diced

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 tsp fresh chopped basil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Cook all veggies in 1 tsp of oil in a large non-stick skillet. I recommend cooking celery & onion for a few minutes first and then adding the garlic & peppers. Remove from pan, add remaining tsp oil and saute turkey until no longer pink. Return veggie mixture to pan, top with canned tomatoes and crushed red pepper, stir well, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Pour sauce over pasta and toss to combine. Top with fresh basil just before serving. Makes 4 large one dish servings.

Nutrition info for 1 serving: 199.3 Calories, Fat: 3.6g (.7 Sat, .4 Poly, 1.7 Mono), Carbs: 26.1g, Fiber: 3.8g

Family Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

When my dad married my stepmom, there was the usual blending of two families, which is not always easy. In addition to all the normal struggles, my parents like to joke of how they had to combine Spaghetti Sauce recipes. One of the top two most requested favorite meals from my childhood was the recipe they created. Once I became an adult, I found out that I really didn't often have the time to let my spaghetti sauce simmer on low for 4-6 hours, so I pretty much became a Ragu girl and never looked back. Today is different. Today, I chart new waters by further adjusting my parents recipe to better fit my current family (my husband and me). This was really fun, I loved tweaking things for my personal grown up tastes and coming up with the perfect match. I will still Ragu it up sometimes, but this is good when I have the time.

Family Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 lb Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage, casings removed (original used ground beef)
2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes (original used 3 cans of tomato sauce, no crushed)
1 10 oz can tomato paste
2 6 oz jars pimentos, drained
1 tsp each dried italian seasoning, oregano, basil (or 1 Tbs fresh if you have it)
1 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes (my addition)
Optional: Up to 3/4 cup of water to thin out sauce if you like yours thinner, I like it thick!

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until soft and clear in very large skillet or dutch oven (at least 3 quarts). Remove onion mixture and add turkey sausage to pan. Brown until no longer pink. Drain excess fat. Add onion/garlic mixture, all tomato products and pimentos to pan. Mix well. Add all seasonings and mix well (you may want to taste test seasonings here, adjust as needed). Simmer on low for at least 4 hours. Serve over hot cooked pasta, top with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. Makes 8-10 servings.

Nutrition Information for Sauce: Calories: 149.6, Fat: 3.9g (.7 Sat, .5 Poly, 2.1 Mono), Carbs: 17.8g, Fiber: 4.2g

Mexican Stuffed Shells

I found this recipe on another blog while browsing thenest.com What's Cooking discussion boards. The Nest is a website for newly married people that I frequent often even though I've been married a while, and the What's Cooking board is actually where I found out that cooking blogs even existed, so they kinda inspired this whole thing. This recipe from Le Petit Pierogi looked really good, and we tried it right away back before I started blogging. We both liked it, but decided it could use some tweaking for our tastes, so we swapped out the beef for turkey (we hardly ever use ground beef and almost always swap it out for turkey) and added some black beans, along with a few other small changes. The result was a lighter tasting filling, and we both really loved the recipe this way. So thanks to The Nest for the recipe and introducing me to the world of blogging.

Mexican Stuffed Shells

12 Jumbo Pasta Shells

1/2 lb Extra Lean Ground Turkey Breast

1/2 packet taco seasoning

2 oz light cream cheese

1/4 cup nonfat refried black beans

1/2 cup salsa

1/2 cup red taco sauce

1/2 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese blend

Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and cool. Brown turkey in nonstick pan until no longer pink. Add 1/2 packet of taco seasoning and amount of water recommended for 1/2 a packet. Simmer according to packet directions. Add cream cheese and simmer & stir on low until cheese is well blended. Cool completely. Pour salsa into a 7x11x2" baking dish. Add about a teaspoon of black beans to each shell and spread as evenly as possible. Top with a tablespoon of turkey mixture and place in baking dish. Continue until all shells are filled. Top shells with taco sauce. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Uncover and top with cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes more or until cheese is bubbly.

Makes 3 servings of 4 shells each.

Nutrition Info: Calories: 321, Fat: 11.3g (6.5g Sat, .4 Poly, 1 Mono), Carbs: 26.3g, Fiber: 1.7g

Turkey Chili Pasta

This is an interesting blend between a chili and pasta. It isn't like Chili-Mac, since the pasta is pretty saucy and there are no beans, but you definitely get the chili flavors shining through. I think I'm finally zeroing in on the exact ratio of flavors. Trust me on the weird chili powder/sugar/vinegar combo, it really works. This is a very quick meal if you use prechopped peppers and/or onions from the grocery.

Turkey Chili Pasta (adapted from allrecipes here)

1/2 lb extra lean turkey breast

2 tsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 cups uncooked short whole wheat pasta (like rotini or bowties)

1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes

1 Tbs white vinegar

3/4 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 to 1 tsp chili powder

Saute peppers, onions and garlic in oil until soft in a non-stick pan. Remove from pan and saute turkey until no longer pink. Return veggies to pan and add tomatoes, vinegar, sugar and chili powder. Simmer, covered, until sauce becomes one consistency (turkey should blend in with the rest of the sauce and won't stand out as much, see picture). Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return pasta to cooking pot. Add sauce to pasta and mix well. Makes 4 large one dish servings

Nutrition Info per serving: Calories: 292.8, Fat: 4.3g (.6 Sat, .3 Poly, 1.7 Mono), Carbs: 49.5g, Fiber: 7.4g