Spanish Rice Casserole

I've always been a big fan of the boxed Spanish Rice, but since my whole goal here is to get away from processed/boxed foods, I decided it was time to attempt my own. I wouldn't say this is anything like the boxed type, but we definitely will be making it again! I forgot to take a picture the night we ate the rice alone, so you'll have to settle for a picture of the leftovers served as a side dish to our tex mex chicken fingers!

Spanish Rice Casserole

Ingredients:
1lb Ground Meat (we used turkey)
4 Cups Red Sauce of your choice (we used homemade)
2 Cups Brown Rice, cooked and cooled
1 Cup Onion, Chopped
1 Cup Green Pepper, Chopped
1 Cup Zucchini and/or Summer Squash (I used half and half)
2 Cups Cheddar, Shredded

Directions:
Mix Meat, Sauce, Rice, and veggies in a large mixing bowl until evenly coated with sauce. Place in a 9x9 or 9x13 baking dish. Sprinkle cheese over top and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Baked Ziti

One of our favorite meals in our house is pasta. We love it all sorts of different ways, but one of our absolute favorites is baked ziti. We tend to change the recipe here and there, but for the most part we use this recipe. I apologize that I have a lack of pictures today. My camera battery died and I have to wait for it to charge up before I can take some more pics!

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ziti, cooked al dente
• 1 lb ground turkey (or lean ground beef)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 Cups Pasta Sauce
• 1 Cup Low Fat Cottage Cheese
• 1 Cup Sour Cream
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
  
• 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

In a large skillet, brown ground meat and diced onion until meat is cooked through and onions are softened.

In a large bowl, add meat mixture, pasta sauce, cottage cheese, sour cream, and garlic. Add pasta and mix until pasta is well coated. Pour pasta mixture into a 9x11 casserole dish.

In a medium bowl, combine mozarella and parmesan cheese. Pour cheese mixture evenly across the top of the pasta in the casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Hawaiian Turkey Meatballs

Our plan for tonight was baked ziti from the freezer, but I forgot to take it out to thaw this morning so I had to come up with another plan. I had one package of ground turkey in the fridge so I decided to search through some of my cookbooks for something I could use it for. We had mexican food the past few days, so I was craving something sweet. While flipping through a cookbook that we got from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the hospital our children stayed at for so many weeks after their births, I found a recipe for Hawaiian Meatballs. I did a lot of modifying to make the recipe a bit healthier, and the result - absolutely delicious!

Hawaiian Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs Ground Turkey
• 2/3 cup Saltine Cracker Crumbs
• 1 tsp Onion Powder
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Salt
  
• 1/4 tsp Ground Ginger
• 1/4 Cup Milk
• 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 Can Pineapple (reserve juice)
• 1/3 Cup White Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 4 Cups Cooked Rice
  

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix together ground turkey, cracker crumbs, onion powder, egg, salt, ginger, and milk. If mixture is too wet, add more crumbs, if too dry, add milk as needed. Form meat mixture into 1 inch balls (will make approximatley 24 meatballs) and bake for 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees.

Mix cornstarch and brown sugar in a small bowl. Stir in reserved pineapple juice, vinegar, and soy sauce until mixture is smooth. Pour mixture into a skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture begins to thicken and boil. Continue to boil and stir for one minute. Turn off heat and add meatballs and pineapple to the sauce. Stir to coat meatballs and pineapple evenly. Serve over rice.

Weight Watchers 1 Point Chili Recipe

At one of my weight watchers meetings, I was telling my leader that I was having a really hard time finding lunch options that allowed me to stay within my points range for the day. She then told me that while she was losing her weight that someone shared this wonderful chili recipe with her that was only 1 point per cup. The next week, she brought the recipe in and shared it with us...it has been the secret to my weight loss success and I make it once a week to pack for lunches.

Ingredients:
10 oz. extra lean ground turkey
1 medium onion diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 28 oz cans diced tomatoes (I use mexican style w/ green chiles)
2 medium zucchini – diced
2 medium yellow squash diced
15 oz can black beans – rinsed & drained
2 cans fat free low sodium beef broth
4 celery stalks diced
1 or 2 packages dry chili seasoning or to taste

Instructions:
Saute turkey, pepper, and onion in the bottom of a large stock pot until browned. Add remaining ingredients and simmer over medium heat until veggies are tender (about 30 minutes). I like to simmer mine for a while longer to help the flavors blend, but it's definitely not necessary.

Makes approximately 20, one cup servings.

Giving Up The Goods...

Canned goods that is!

One of our very first steps in our journey to rid ourselves of processed foods was giving up canned soups. Not only are canned soups full of sodium, they are super expensive. We are big soup eaters, especially during those cold New England winters! After the first few soup recipes we tried, we decided that we'd never buy a can of soup again!

One of our favorite soups to make is Cheeseburger Soup. We are big cheeseburger fans, and what better way to warm up on a cold winter day than with a bowl full of hearty soup (maybe we should call it cheeseburger chowder?). Since our first attempt at making cheeseburger soup, we've tried a few different things and all of them have been delicious!

Cheeseburger Soup - Modified from Taste of Home

• 1 pound ground beef or turkey (I like to use turkey)
  
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots (optional)
  
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups diced peeled potatoes (1-3/4 pounds)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (8 ounces) Velveeta
  
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Directions

In a 3-qt. saucepan, brown beef; drain and set aside. In the same saucepan, saute onion, garlic, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. Add flour; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from the heat; blend in sour cream. Yield: 8 servings (2-1/4 quarts).

Optional Modifications:

• Add 1/2 cup chopped hamburger pickles
• Add 1 cup iceburg lettuce, chopped
• Add 1 can diced tomatoes
• Garnish with crumbled bacon
  
• Note, if you add all of these vegetables in addition to those in the original recipe, you may want to add one cup of chicken broth and extra velveeta so the soup isn't too thick (unless of course you'd like it to be a stew, which is also super yummy!).