Veggie Loaded Mac & Cheese

It's squash season! A couple of years ago I was intimidated by these yummy things. It seemed so daunting to cook them much less figure out what to cook them with. Intimidated no more my squashy friend! I love finding ways to cook healthier versions of our favorite dishes. It's also great when its budget friendly! This week I've been playing with my friend, butternut squash, and we have come up with some fabulous yummy dishes!

 

Have any of yall seen the Bethenny show, hosted by Bethenny Frankle from the Real House Wives of New York? If you haven’t, she started out as a healthy food chef and has now made part of this a segment on her show. Last week she made a "healthy" mac & cheese. WINNER, one of the hubby's favorite dishes! Check it out here. This, of course, made me start thinking about what can I do to jazz it up just a smidge more and make it into a meal. Here is my version of a healthy mac & cheese…

 

Ingredients:

5 chicken tenders

1/2 cup bell pepper (whatever you have works)
1/2 cup broccoli florets
12 ounces whole wheat mini pasta
1 cup skim milk
1 1/4 cup freshly shredded Parmesan
1 1/2 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup butternut squash puree (don't feel like making it? It's in the freezer isle) (see notes)
1 teaspoon salt plus some for seasoning chicken
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon pepper plus some for seasoning chicken
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 tablespoons whole wheat bread crumbs
Reduced fat Monterey jack cheese, shredded

Directions:

1.       Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. On a baking pan lined with foil, lay out chicken tenders and salt and pepper on the top. Cook in the oven for about 10 minutes or until cooked.

2.        Boil pasta shells in salted water until slightly firm, according to package directions. Once cooked, drain and blanch broccoli florets in the water. Once they turn a bright green they will be cooked. Remove pan from heat, drain and splash broccoli with cool water. Return both pasta and broccoli to the pan  

3.       In another saucepan, combine the skim milk, Parmesan, cheddar, and butternut squash puree over medium heat until melted and combined. Turn off the heat. Add salt, mustard, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and chili powder.

4.       Using two forks, shred chicken to desired size.

5.        Add cheese sauce, chicken and bell peppers to the pasta and broccoli. Mix together well.

6.       Spray a shallow baking pan with cooking spray and put the pasta-cheese mixture in it. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Monterey jack cheese. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

 

Notes: For a quick and easy butternut squash puree, see my recipe here.

Squishy Squash

You’re probably thinking 'woohoo butternut squash puree…who cares', right? Well my friend, until you discover the rich, creamy, butter-y-ness this baby has to offer, I suggest you don't knock it till you try it! After looking at a couple of recipes on how "chefs" make it and noticing it took an hour to make I realized a) oh yea, you technically have and hour to make it since this is your job and b) what normal person has 1 hour available to make a puree? Not me! Off on my lonesome I went on a journey to find something suitable for the modern everyday women/ man. Here's what I found…

 

1.       Peel your squash and cut it down the center. Clean out its guts. Depending on the size (I usually get the smallest one I can find) and how much you need, generally half of a squash will be sufficient for puree. Save the rest for a yummy side dish!

 

 

2.       Cube your squash into about 1 inch cubes or something that will fit in your blender or food processor.

3.       Place your squash in a blender or food processor and chop/ puree. Using the puree button on my blender very finely shredded by squash (see below).

 

4.      In a skillet on medium heat, cook your squash with roughly 3/4 cups of water this should take 5- 10 minutes. Cover with a lid and stir occasionally. Use your judgment on how much water the squash needs. Your squash is cooked when it starts getting a mushy texture.

 

 

 

5.     Return Squash to blender/ processor and puree until there are no more chunks. There you have it, butternut squash puree in under 20 minutes!

 

 

 

P.S. This is freezer friendly recipe if you decided to make it in bulk.
P.S.S. Adding a little cinnamon, nutmeg and butter would make this a lovely side dish.

Easy Hearty Sloppy Joe's

In my house, we try to get creative for weeknight dinners to try and keep it interesting. When we know we're making something yummy, we're less inclined to crave easy takeout. Once again, this is a great recipe to hide veggies in for those picky vegetable eaters I know a lot of us have in our home. While Ive tried some finely diced red and green bell pepper and a couple of other veggies, I've been wanting to add in some fresh corn! Now before I make myself any more hungry right before we're ready for dinner, I'm going to get this typed up for you and your families.

 

Hearty Weeknight Sloppy Joe's

Makes 4 filled sandwiches

 

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1 small Onion, chopped

1 lbs. Ground Beef

1/2 lbs. Ground Turkey (optional)

3 tbsp Tomato Paste

1/2 cup BBQ Sauce

1/4 cup Ketchup

2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

Any Add in Veggies

Salt & Pepper

Sandwich Rolls

 

1. Heat Oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring till they turn translucent. Add beef and  ground turkey to skillet, stirring and breaking up till crumbled. Once cooked, drain excess liquid.

 

2. Stir in tomato paste, BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, pepper and salt to the skillet and mix well with meat and onion mixture. Let cook until sauce is slightly thickened.

 

3. Top your sandwich bun with your desired amount meat and top with extra goodies till your heart's content!

 

 

 

Cleaning Out Summer

The summer decor is down and the fall is going up. Not only do I love cooking for the seasons but I LOVE decorating. Now that my husband and I are fairly settled into our home of one year and all the big immediate decorating is done, not to say there aren't small touches needed here and there, but I finally feel like I can take up seasonal decorating project. I love going through magazines like Pottery Barn and Southern Living to see their decorating styles for the seasons. In fact, I have a large stack of magazine pages on my desk full of projects I'd like to do for the fall season and around the house in general. I realized that there was no way to physically, and for my husbands sake, financially going to be able to get them all done so I decided to make a fall project list, one each week till the end of fall and the rest will get filed away to potentially be done next season. The changing of the seasons also triggers a pantry, fridge and freezer clean out. My recipes this week are simple and great for a week night meal. One of them is a perfect example of how I also like to hide vegetables from my husband and trick him into eating them but shhh... don't tell him!

Red Pepper & Herb Chicken Strips

I like doing several variations of chicken strip and using ingredients that sound good to me at that time. This time we used:

-2 strips of chicken per person (you can cut chicken breasts if you don't have strips) I used 4.
-1/2 cup flour
-1 egg, beaten
-3/4 cup panko
-1 tbsp red pepper flakes
-1/2 tsp thyme
-1/2 tsp cumin
-1/2 tsp oregano
-salt and pepper
-2 tbsp olive oil
Serve with a side sauce

1. Wash and pat dry chicken strips.
2. Put 1/2 cup flour in a bowl, beaten egg is a separate bowl and in another bowl mix together panko and the next 6 ingredients. Set up your assembly line in this order.
3. In a skillet heat 2 tbsp olive oil on medium heat.
4. Now that everything is in order, one at a time coat your chicken in flour, then the egg, and lastly the panko mixture. With the panko mixture use your fork to generously cover the chicken and press firmly, flip and do the same thing on the other side. Place your chicken one at a time in the skillet and cook each side until it's a deep golden brown.



Summer Squash & Cheese Orzo

A fresh take on mac-and-cheese 

Serving Size: 2

 

1 cup orzo

3/4 cup summer squash, diced

1/4 cup Cheddar cheese, grated

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

1/2 tbsp butter

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tbsp parsley flakes

salt and pepper

 

1. Cook orzo according to package and add squash at the same to the same pot.

2. Once cooked, drain water, remove from heat and mix in  the cheese and the next 6 ingredients. Cover for 5 minutes.

3. Enjoy!  



Easter, already?

Happy Lenten season! I know, I can't believe Easter is so close! It feels like it gets earlier every year. Did you give up anything for lent? I'll be honest and say that I did not. Besides my phone I'm not really addicted to anything. Instead of giving up something I usually try and do better with something that I think I need to work on. This year it is my patience. I hate waiting and my patience is truly going to be put to the test this year as I am searching for a new job, wanting to purchase a house and will be getting married in less than 6 months. As a Catholic my family and I follow the no meat on Friday's rule. This is really hard for me as I am a true carnivore! However, Lent is a time for sacrifice and one day a week shouldn't be that hard of after 23 years of this, it has proven to be a true challenge since I do not eat seafood. I can hear the " WHAT!!!"'s and "your crazy" through the computer. So, after years of grilled cheeses and bowls of mac and cheese (note that all of my past meals were cheese based), I have decide to make my Friday's of Lent healthy and yummy! The first go at this was so incredibly yummy that i think my no meat Friday's are going easy breezy!