Pasta Primavera

I like to try to make one vegetarian meal a week and this one is my go to.  It’s super simple and very filling.  I use mushrooms and then pretty much whatever vegetables I happen to have.  Today the only vegetable I had with color was carrots so the nearly monochromaticness of the dish didn’t look too pretty, but was still good. 

6 oz whole wheat penne pasta

1 tbs olive oil

½ cup red pepper, diced

1 clove garlic

2 cups cauliflower, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 cups baby bella mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

½ tsp basil

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp crushed red pepper

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet with a lid, heat the olive oil over medium heat then cook the onion and garlic until tender, do not brown.  Add the mushrooms and cook until soft.  Add the vegetables and cover.  The water in the vegetables will cook out and steam them, but stir periodically to make sure they don’t stick.  I have a Teflon skillet so my vegetables don’t ever stick, but I am not sure what would happen in a non non-stick pan.  If they do start to stick you could add a little chicken stock or water to generate some steam and lubrication between the vegetables and the pan, but don’t add too much because you don’t want to boil your mushrooms. 

Cook until crisp tender then add the basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.  Stir in the cooked pasta and parmesan cheese. Easy Schmeesy.

Serves 2, 500 calories, 14 g fat

This is also good to double and have for lunch.  Of course the highest contributor to the calories in this is the pasta (280 calories/serving), so if you want to have this with some bread or a salad and 500 calories is close to your meal limit you can always cut back on how much pasta you add.  Some other vegetable combinations that I might do are carrots, spinach, broccoli or red/orange bell pepper, asparagus, cauliflower and I usually add green peas no matter what I do but I forgot to buy some this week.  Feel free to experiment with this, you can’t screw it up.

Balsamic Glazed Meatloaf and Smashed Cauliflower

Last night turned out to be a Food Network inspired meal, even though I make both of these so frequently I feel like they are my own, but honestly I stole them.  There really are few recipes that after making a few times I don’t change at all, but Bobby Flay’s balsamic meatloaf needs no alterations from me.  Ok I take that back, he uses meats that I can’t eat so I have changed it to turkey and chicken, but other than that it’s the same.  This is one of our big meals that will be lunch for a few days, but you could cut this in half pretty easily for 4 servings.

1 zucchini, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow squash, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

¾  tsp red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tbs olive oil

2 eggs, beaten

1 tbs thyme

¼ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1 lb ground chicken

1 cup bread crumbs

½ cup parmesan

1 cup ketchup, divided

¼ cup plus 2 tbs balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.  Add the zucchini, squash, bell pepper, garlic, ½ tsp red pepper flakes,  and salt and pepper, to taste, and cook until almost soft, about 5 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Whisk together the eggs and herbs in a large bowl.  Add the meat, bread crumbs, cheese, ½ cup ketchup, 2 tbs balsamic vinegar, and the cooled vegetables and mix until just combined. 

Mold the meatloaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Whisk together the remaining ketchup, balsamic vinegar and ¼ tsp red pepper flakes in a small bowl.  Brush the mixture over the entire loaf.  Bake the meatloaf for 1-1 ¼ hours.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

Serves 8, 400 calories, 14 g fat 

I used 99/1 turkey and chicken breast that I ground myself to keep it lower in fat. 

With this I made a smashed cauliflower inspired by Rachael Ray.  This is a delicious way to trick your husband/kids into eating vegetables.  Really I guess that’s kind of the theme of this whole meal, cauliflower covered in cheese and meatloaf stuffed with vegetables, sneaky.

½ head cauliflower

3 tbs boursin garlic and herb cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the cauliflower until it is tender. Mash the cauliflower with a fork or a hand mixer and stir in the cheese, salt and pepper.

Serves 2, 100 calories, 10 g fat

Baked Ziti with Turkey Meatballs

Last night was the big meal to get us through lunches for the rest of the week, but you could easily cut this recipe in half for just 4 servings.  This is pretty simple but for me it’s good comfort food, I can’t turn down anything with pasta and cheese.  

2 lbs 99/1 ground turkey

1 cup pine nuts

1 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs, beaten

olive oil

1 cup parmesan cheese

4 oz mozzarella cheese

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

28 oz canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano

16 oz whole wheat penne pasta

Mix turkey, nuts, bread crumbs, eggs, and the seasonings and form the meat into 1" balls. Heat 2-3 turns of olive oil over medium-high heat and brown the meatballs.  Be sure not to crowd the pan, I did this in 4 batches and had to add additional olive oil for the third batch.  Turn the meatballs a few times so they are browned all the way around.

Cook the pasta to al dente. Puree the tomatoes and season the sauce to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano.  Mix the sauce and ½ cup of parmesan cheese in with the pasta.  For me, tubular pasta I always break down and buy, even though I know it would taste better if I made it myself, but there is no way I have the time to roll up a ton of little tubes of pasta, I do have a day job.

Spread the pasta into a 9x13 baking dish and top with the browned meatballs.  Top the meatballs with thinly sliced mozzarella cheese and the rest of the parmesan cheese. 

Bake at 350 to melt the cheese and finish cooking the meatballs, about 15 minutes.

Serves 8, 650 calories, 27 g fat

This is pretty high in fat but I love cheese, so every once in a while I do splurge.  You could cut back on the cheese or use low fat mozzarella, which would also save some calories too, but cheese is not something I like to buy cheap or fat free/low fat.  There is a popular concept in healthy cooking that suggests using less or low fat cheese because you won’t notice the difference.  I think if the cheese doesn’t add enough to your meal such that you won’t notice if there is less or you won’t be able to taste the difference between an amazing fresh mozzarella ball versus fat free, plasticy like shredded cheese, why waste the calories and add it at all? If it adds to your dish, go for the gold, if not, leave it out, and this dish with its gooey awesomeness definitely calls for cheese.

Caesar Salad

So last night’s meal was a little different.  This weekend I think my husband had a Caesar salad for the first time, and actually liked it quite a bit.  So that is what he requested for dinner, odd I know.  So I made a Caesar salad using some of the roast chicken I had left over from last week and also made a soup from the roast chicken carcass.  I will admit I am not a very good soup maker; they never have as much flavor as I am anticipating.  “It tastes like soup” is what my insightful husband had to say about it.  But since I had the chicken bones, plus extra carrots, celery, and potatoes that I bought last week, soup seemed to make the most sense to go with the salad.

Caesar Salad

2 big handfuls of greens, I used sweet baby spring mix which has romaines, spinach, arugula and some other greens

2 tbs parmesan cheese

1 tbs pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds

½ hard-boiled egg

½ cup croutons

¼ cup diced chicken

Dressing

2 tbs Greek yogurt

2 tsp olive oil

½ tsp malt vinegar

1 tsp mustard, something spicy like whole grain or Dijon

Salt and pepper to taste

You can make this a meal on its own or as a side, depending upon how much protein you add to it.  I didn’t want this to be the whole meal so I only used ¼ cup chicken so we could have something to go with it.  

As I prepared the recipe, 124 calories undressed, 200 calories and 11 g fat dressed.  If you use 2 8-oz chicken breasts that would get you up to 600 calories

So I think there are 3 really quick ways to ruin a salad.  1. Dirty greens.  Be sure to wash your greens well, grit isn’t a texture that adds much to a meal.  2.  Wet greens.  Make sure you dry the greens really well before assembling the salad, sogginess also doesn’t add much.  If you don’t have a salad spinner, which I don’t, I usually wash them, dry them and let them set aside well before I actually start cooking.  3. Dressing the salad prematurely.  You don’t want all of your dressing to sink to the bottom.  Especially if you are using an oil/vinegar mix be careful of this because the oil and vinegar will start to separate.

For the dressing I used Oikos Greek yogurt.  I usually use the yogurt of the Gods or whatever that one is called, but I succumbed to advertisements and thought I would try it and let me tell you that John Stamos was right.  This yogurt is really good, my husband didn’t turn into John Stamos, but he’s close enough for me to begin with so that's ok, I will definitely be switching to this yogurt anyway.  I also used this unbelievable mustard that my in-laws brought us back from Germany.  So I apologize you have no chance of making your dressing as good as mine because this is quite possibly the best mustard in the world.  Every time I open the jar I have to refrain from just eating it with a spoon, sounds crazy to do with mustard I know, but it is so good.

So I feel like this is already getting kind of long and I still have the soup to tell you about.  It really wasn’t that good so I will just tell you what I did briefly and you can experiment to improve upon it.

I cut up the chicken carcass, added salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and simmered for 30 minutes, the timing may have been where I went wrong in the first place but the hubs was “starving”.   Then I removed the bones and added potatoes, carrots, and celery and cooked until tender.  I took off all of the chicken that was still left on the bones and added back to the stock, seasoned again and served.  The more I ate the more used to it I got, but it was a little bland, “just tasted like soup”.

Chicken Parmesan

Today my husband requested chicken parmesan. I of course readily obliged as this is also one of my favorites and any chance I have to eat fresh pasta I take it.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin

Bread crumbs (I like the Italian seasoning flavored bread crumbs)

2 Eggs

Garlic powder

Dried Oregano

Dried Basil

Salt

Black Pepper

¼ cup Parmesan cheese
Olive oil

14 oz canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano

After pounding the chicken breasts as thin as possible without tearing, dredge in egg wash seasoned with salt and pepper then coat with bread crumbs seasoned with garlic powder, oregano, basil, and parmesan cheese. Heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a skillet over medium heat, once hot add each breast, one at a time, adding additional oil in between if needed. Just cook the chicken long enough to brown the bread crumbs on each side. I finish cooking the chicken in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes and I think the pan you use is critical. I put a cookie cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet and cook the chicken on the rack. This way the juices run out into the cookie sheet and the breading stays intact. I hate it when the breading gets soggy and comes off, this keeps it crispy.

For the sauce I cheat a little and use canned diced tomatoes with basil and oregano. I pulse it in the blender to break down the big chunks and season to taste with more basil, oregano, garlic powder and salt.

Serves 2, the vast majority of the calories in this are in the chicken, so you can set your calories based on how big of a piece of chicken you use. For 2 large chicken breasts it will be about 750 calories.

I think the most important tip you should take from today is not to be intimidated by homemade pasta. Making pasta is not that difficult and it is well worth the effort. Once every month or two I make a big batch and then separate it into 2-4 serving sizes in individual baggies and throw it in the freezer. An hour or so before I need to cook the pasta I put the baggy in a bowl filled with warm water to thaw it. This way I can have fresh pasta any time and rolling out the pasta once it’s thawed might add 10 minutes to your time in the kitchen versus using dried pasta. I promise that 10 minutes is worth it. I will post my pasta recipe another day.

To go with this I made a spinach salad with carrots, feta cheese, dried apricots, pine nuts and a red wine vinegar/olive oil dressing.