Yummy Winter Pasta

My good fiend told me (and made it for me first) about this very yummy, customizable-perfect-for-winter pasta.  I just made it again this week and had to share!

What you need:

It's customizable because you can use whatever veggies, cheese and meat you want!  But here's how I made mine.

Start with your choice of noodles.  I boiled whole wheat rotini pasta.  Drained 90% of the water once finished, but kept a bit (to help create a sauce later).

Pick your veggies.  I chopped up carrots, used a can of beats, and sliced up zucchini.  I cooked them in a pan with about 1-2 tbls of olive oil.  Then throw them in the pasta pot.

Add sweet potatoes (or meat, or regular potatoes) - cut into chunks, boiled in separate pot and then added to pasta/veggie pot.

I even added a can of butter beans to this mixture for some protein.

Turn stove to low, to warm everything up.  Stir and mix.  Once it's warm - add your choice of cheese.  I use goat cheese.  This melts and with the pasta water, helps add moisture.

A great meal of whole wheat, veggies and protein. I make a lot so I can have for left overs for days to come!

Low Fat Wednesday: Bethenny's Site

I am LOVING Bethenny Frankel's site.  My favorite part is trying the recipes (and knowing they are healthy is makes it so easy)!

See that amazing looking dessert above?  I made that for a co-worker's birthday today... and it tastes, smells and looks as amazing in person as you'd think:

Still in spring-form cake pan - which I didn't have before wanting to make this, so ran to Walmart and picked up this light green one for $8.

And then last night hubs and I also made Bethenny's Ultra Healthy Mexican Chili...

 
Hubs added some extra spice (red pepper flakes and Tabasco sauce), but otherwise get the full recipe here.

You might remember the creamy low fat mushroom pasta I made a few weeks ago... yum! 

Have you tried any of her recipes?

Bethenny's Low-Fat Creamy Pasta

Mrs. Bethenny Frankel posted a yummy looking recipe to her website and I tried it out for dinner last night!  I made a few edits and the results were amazing!  Definitely a must do-again.

Get the recipe over at Bethenny's site, here.

The changes I made:
- I added chopped up asparagus (cooked them with the mushrooms and shallot)
- Left out the truffle oil and just used gourmet mushrooms instead
- Left out the parsley (didn't feel like making the effort to get this), which went unnoticed.

It was good!  Try it!

Recreation of my favorite dinner!

I went to college in Lawrence, KS.  For four glorious years I lived there with some of the best foods walking distance away.  My absolute favorite Lawrence Local Gem is LaParrilla.  This restaurant is filled with Latin American Cuisine, and my go-to dish - Veggie Rice Bowl. 

After eating there a few weeks ago, I decided to recreate this dish at home (or at least try).  I liked it.  It was quick, easy and good.  No perfect LaParrilla bowl, but it'll do for a good at home weekday meal.

Make it Vegetarian or add Meat:

Secret Tactic - cook the rice in broth (veggie broth for vegetarian, chicken broth for not):

I used Minute Brown Rice with Organic Veggie Broth and followed the directions on the rice box!

Get all the veggies roasting.  Chopping is what takes the longest, and use whatever veggies you have or want!  

I used zucchini (pan on the left) and carrots, onions and a bit of squash (pan to the right).

Roasted with some spray butter (classy), Oregano and Basil Leaves.

Peppers would be good, though I didn't have any on hand.  And if you want meat, get that cooking.

Warmed up a full can of black beans:

Mix it all together and add some salsa on top:

Pretty good home-LaParrilla!

Low Fat Wednesday: Squash Risotto

Easy-peasy microwave dinner or side dish that I am uber loving.  Healthy rissotto, with some added umph - Squash!

What you need:

1 1/4 Cups uncooked Arborio rice (or another medium-grain Rice)
2 tsp olive oil
12 ounce package of frozen pureed squash
2 1/2 cups veggie broth
6 tablespoons of shredded Parmesan Cheese
Not photoed: 1 cup water, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

In microwave safe bowl, mix uncooked dry rice with olive oil - mix well to coat the rice.  Put in the microwave, uncovered for 3 minutes on high.

Mix in the broth and water and put back in the microwave for 9 minutes on high, uncovered.  Stir and then back in the microwave for another 6 minutes on high.  Remove from the microwave and let sit for 5 minutes.

While rice mixture is sitting, microwave the frozen squash on high for 2 minutes.  Stir and then put in for another 2 minutes, or until warm and looks like this:

Time to combine the two bowls, cheese, salt and pepper:

I poured the squash and cheese into the rice mixture and stirred up.  I then added salt and pepper to taste.

Waaaa-La:

And the left overs have been great!

Low Fat Wednesday: Light Veggie Fettuccine

Want to spend less than 30 minutes on a meal?  Want to use only a few ingredients, things you most likely already have?  Trying to stay healthy, but want something yummy, too?  This recipe/dinner idea might be for you!

What you'll need to make light veggie (or just add chicken if you want some meat) fettuccine:

- 8-12 oz of Pasta Noodles: Fettuccine or Linguine (the noodles, not the mouse) - I used whole wheat
- Veggies of choice - I used asparagus and green bell peppers - all chopped up (I had about 3 1/2 cups)
- 1 1/2 cup Low fat cream cheese - I used Philadelphia
- 1 (or even a half of a) lemon
- 2 tsp Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Boil the pasta noodles with the asparagus (optional, but a good little trick a friend told me about)

2. While pasta is cooking, in a sauce pan melt the light cream cheese and mix it with the olive oil and the juice from half of a squeezed lemon.

3. Drain the water from the noodles and Asparagus, then put back into the pan it cooked in and keep warm on low.  Add in any other veggies (here I added in green peppers because they didn't need to cook as much as the asparagus).
4. Once the sauce is melted, pour over noodles and veggies and toss to get a good coverage.
5. Eat!

 Includes lemon zest on top - for fun. :)

Seriously Healthy & Super Good

I was soooo pleasantly surprised how good my latest meal was. A-MAZ-ING.

First, Brussels Sprouts. I always shyed away from these tiny heads of lettuce look-a-likes and scoffed at the name. Brussels Sprouts? ew. But NO, not ew. oooooooo YUM!

They first made their way into a meal I had at a restaurant and thought, hmm, these are pretty good! After I looked into how healthy they are, I was at the store and grabbed some. I Googled recipes and chose one from AllRecipes.com.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts:

I mixed in a few slices of zucchini that were left over from the below recipe!

To go along with my roasted Brussels Sprouts, I made Cream of Zucchini Soup. I follow Gina's WW Recipe's Blog, and besides this soup, she has some AMAZING tried and true recipes.

But on to the soup:

You boil all the ingredients on the stove, and then transfer to your blender to puree. Little tip...


Make sure to hold the lid on TIGHT when puree-ing. Mine flew off (because I was basically just resting my hand atop) and HOT soup went flying everywhere. Thankfully, just a bit got wasted, but the splatters sure did hurt and make a mess...


After this yummy dinner, I got to making a birthday treat for my co-worker. I made a chocolate cake with an interesting twist. Found this recipe from Gina's WW Recipe's Blog, as well.

Chocolate Cake without the oil! Instead? Diet Dr. Pepper! I used Organic Cake mix:


The batter was a lot more liquid than usual and I was afraid I really messed something up...


But I didn't! Just came out super moist:


You don't even need frosting on top - this cake is so moist, but if you wish, fat free Cool Whip would be a good alternative and then topped with Strawberries, or any other fruit. I was really impressed. It was good and almost brownie-like!

Cold Weather Yummy Food: Warm Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Well - If I'm going to be stuck inside because of the snow...might as well make some warm snackies and try all these recipes I've been starring in my Google Reader!

A friend of mine found this glorious recipe from For the Love of Cooking and shared it with me. I made a few tweaks (as noted below) and made Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. I'm eating one right now...

What you will need:

• 1 3/4 cup flour (I used Wheat Flour)
  
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (I used sea salt)
  
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used baking Splenda, next time I want to try it with Agave)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (I used baking Brown Sugar Splenda)
• 1 egg (I used egg beaters)
  
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt (I used Greek yogurt - make sure to use yogurt without High Fructose Corn Syrup)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large, very ripe bananas (my bananas weren't overly ripe, just mushed them a little harder)
  
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (next time I want to try with dark chocolate chips/pieces)
  

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and coat your muffin tins with cooking spray. Then, in a bowl mix together the dry ingredients (from Flour all the way to Brown Sugar) and then set aside.

In a separate bowl or mixing bowl, mix the wet ingredients together (eggs to mushed up bananas). Mix mix mix. If using a mixer, mix on high to really whip it and get it smooth.


Get the bowl of the dry ingredients and pour slowly into the mixer of we stuff and mix on slow while pouring.

All doughy.


Dump in the chocolate chips and fold them into the dough.

Fill up the muffin cups about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way full and plop into the oven:


Bake for 20-22 minutes. They should be golden brown, but if using wheat flour, they'll be a little darker.


Cool and then enjoy!

Easy Pizza Dinner

Quick and easy, not to mention, really good Personal Pizza for dinner:

You need:
1 mini pre-made pizza crust. I use Boboli.
1/2 cup, divided 2% shredded mozzarella cheese. I use Kraft.
1/8-1/4 cup (depending on how cheesy you want it!) of feta cheese (or Gorgonzola). I vary between what I have on hand.
1 pear, sliced thin (as possible).
1 cup Romain lettuce, or any leafy green.

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
Put pre-made pizza crust on a pre-sprayed cooking pan.
Cover crust with 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese.
Lay sliced pears on crust, over cheese (as many as you can fit/want, eat what's left).
Sprinkle rest of the mozzarella cheese over pear slices.
Mix in the feta cheese on top of pears and mozzarella.

Bake for 8-10 minutes - until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.



Cut personal pizza into 4 pieces. Top with lettuce. Depending on how hungry you are, this can serve 2 or save for left overs (just make sure to rewarm pizza sans lettuce and put the lettuce on after it's warmed up).


Try it! Let me know what you think. I love how the pear and cheese taste together. Something you wouldn't expect.