Taco Pasta

What do you get when an Olive Garden receives Taco Bell's shipment of ingredients?
TACO PASTA!

There's a short little clip about the steps of taco pasta... as you can see it's pretty darn simple. It's also a great roll-over meal to have after you make tacos!

What you're going to need (for 3-4 servings)

-2 cups dry pasta (whole wheat works great)

-1/2 cup ground beef

-1/2 cup beans (can have more, this is just what I had after taco night)

-1/2 cup corn (again, give or take depending on what you have)

-2 tomatoes, chopped

-1/2 cup salsa

The steps to supper:

1. Boil pasta until nearly done, then drain all but aout 1/4 cup of the water

2. Heat the salsa, tomatoes, corn, beans and beef

3. When hot, add to the pasta and place on a burner

4. Reheat, stirring often. It may not seem like the sauce is thick enough, but it should thicken as you heat - if not you can always add a little sour cream or cream cheese to thicken

~Serve with chopped lettuce, shredded cheese, sour cream-anything you'd regularly add to a taco!

Perfect for a quick and easy (not to mention healthy) supper, and kids LOVE it!

Freaky Food Combos...

Everybody's got them! Admit it! There is probably at least one thing that you eat/do to your food or drink that is a little cooky... I know I do!

But before I get into mine... look at my dad's!

Isn't that sick? I think so anyways....

Wait! You don't even know what it is, do you? Well if you guessed a cinnamon roll, with a piece of melty cheese on top, and then drizzled with icing you would be correct weirdly psychic somehow!

So that's my dad's biggest food habit - putting cheese on EVERYTHING! Honestly. Not just cinnamon rolls... oh no-cookies, rice krispie bars, etc. etc.

Mine? Well I probably have way too many to count...

But a few are:
-ketchup on well a lot! But especially cheetos...
-Ranch on pizza
-Cheese and peanut butter
...yes I just got done making fun of my father, and I don't eat these anymore...but when I was little I used to make myself cheese and PB sandwiches. Just two pieces of American cheese with peanut butter slathered inside. Delicious, no?
-Soggy foods. I just LOVE 'em! Like cereal of course, but also soggy bread (like in french dip sandwiches), soggy cookies (after dipped in milk for way too long!) or soggy crackers in soup.
-Frozen bread. No, not the dough, like just bread that has already been cooked and set in the freezer. Cold, wet, delectable in oh so many ways!

~If you are still reading and haven't blocked my blog from your newsfeed I'm honored. And impressed.

So now that I've poured out my deepest, darkest, weirdest food combinations, let's hear yours! Best one gets a PRIZE!

Roasted Red Pepper Loaf

Who loves cheese? And spinach? And roasted red peppers? And bread?

Hopefully you said "YES" to all of these questions! 

If you did, do I have a GREAT surprise (well not really a surprise since you've already seen the photos...but oh well!)

I introduce... 

Roasted Red Pepper Loaf! 

It combines spinach (doesn't add much flavor, but a whoooole lotta moistness), roasted red peppers (which add a great bite), and mozzarella (sooo much depth!) with bread-and really what about bread is bad?

Nothing. That's what. 

So-onto the recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

3 1/4 cup flour

1/3 cup mozzarella

5 oz. cooked spinach

1/2 cups lukewarm water

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 bell peppers (roasted)

1 tsp. sugar (or the equivalence)

DIRECTIONS: 

1. Proof yeast - add 1 pkg. (2 1/4 tsp.) fast acting (aka quick rise) yeast to 1/2 cup warm water. Let sit a few minutes - if bubbles form, your yeast is good to go!

2. In the meantime... you can get started prepping your lovely bread add-ins. 

 (these may seem quite lengthy and not worth the hassle...but believe me-when you bite into a warm, soft and moist piece of this bread, you will be glad you went through the 'trouble')

-For the spinach: if you do not buy the frozen pre-cooked and shredded kind you will need to do this yourself. For fresh spinach leaves: bring water to a boil and throw in a handful of salt to flavor it. As this is heating-get a bowl of ice water ready. Toss in your 5 oz. of spinach (usually 1/2 a bag of spinach leaves) and allow the spinach to cook for 1-2 minutes. When the spinach becomes a bright green, it's done! As soon as it is done boiling, remove spinach leaves and place in ice water. After a few minutes here, drain, squeeze out ALL the water you possibly can and run a knife through the spinach a few times-or run through a food processor. 

-For the roasted peppers: Take 2 bell peppers (or any peppers, bell will provide a nice sweet flavor with a little bite!) wash them, and cut in half. Remove any seeds and the stem. Place skin side up on a baking sheet. Broil them in the oven on your highest setting (I had mine at 500*F) for a few minutes - they are done with the skin becomes blackened. Don't worry-you haven't burned them-this was suppose to happen! Remove immediately and place in a plastic bag, seal the bag and wait.... After about 10-20 minutes, you can remove the peppers from the bag, and the blackened skin should peel right off! Now all you have to do is chop the peppers into small pieces and you're done!

-For the cheese: remove from bag, measure out 1/3 cup, call it a day! 

3. After add-ins are ready and yeast is proofed, you will mix the add-ins into the water/yeast mixture and stir well. 

4. Add to a stand mixer (or larger bowl) and add in the sugar and salt

5. Slowly begin adding your flour. Knead for 6-8 minutes (4-6 with a stand mixing doing the kneading)

6. Dough will be slightly wet to the touch 

7. Place in a greased bowl and cover with a dry kitchen towel. Allow to rise until doubled - about 1-2 hours.

8. (If making an Artesian style loaf-if not, skip to the last half of step 9) Place a oven stone into an oven and set to 450*F. Place a cookie sheet on the lowest rack in oven as well.

9. When doubled, remove from bowl and shape into loaf - I made mine into a Artesian style loaf by forming a large ball and cutting an 'X' slit in the top. I then topped with more mozzarella cheese. But, if you'd rather-you can just form into a 9x5 loaf and place in a greased and floured loaf pan. Let this loaf rise 10-20 minutes.

...add cheese if you'd like! -and really, c'mon-who wouldn't like?!

10. Remove your oven stone from the oven and gently slide loaf onto its center. 

11. Pour 1 cup water onto the cookie sheet in oven. Place your oven stone with bread back into the oven. 

12. Let bake 30-40 minutes - crust will have a dark, golden color.

13. Remove from oven and remove from oven stone immediately - transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool before slicing. 

Homemade Pizza-many ways!

Americans LOVE pizza... actually-that may be an understatement! American's are obsessed with pizza? No, still not strong enough... Americans would give their firstborn for a slice of pizza! Yes-that is closer to reality. And what I find crazy is that we didn't even create it! We stole it from the Italians, but have overtime adopted it, and loved transformed it as our own. 

In its most unadulterated state, pizza is the perfect meal! It is full of healthy carbs in the crust, a ton of veggies (both in the toppings and sauce), protein from meats and cheese-and it's handheld! What could be better?! Well nothing... until that perfect, innocent piece of pizza becomes.... A MONSTER! :O

Just look at that! AHHHHH! Like something from a horror movie!

-this is an average nutritional info for 2 slices of pizza-close to 1/4 your daily caloric intake, 40% saturated fats, 34% sodium! But pizza doesn't have to be unhealthy-making your own at home gives you the perfect opportunity to create a healthy and delicious meal!

And there are so many variations you can do! Like what? ...well I'm glad you asked! :)

You could do BBQ chicken pizza (above) or veggie pizza (below) that has your basic marinara sauce, mozzarella cheese, and grilled veggies (I suggest grilled summer squash, tomatoes, peppers and onions)

Add you sauce and toppings and place in a 400* oven

No matter what way you choose to dress your pizza the basic recipe is the same:

Ingredients: 

~For wheat pizza dough:

-2 TBSP. oil

-1/2 TBSP. sugar

-1 cup warm water

-1 pkg. yeast

-1 tsp. garlic (minced)

-1 tsp. basil 

-1 cup white flour

-2 cups wheat flour

~For Pizza:

-Pizza sauce (or BBQ, Ranch dressing, anything your heart desires!)

-Protein (hamburger, chicken, ham, Canadian Bacon (oh wait-that's ham!), mushrooms, etc.)

-Cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, blue, parmesan, cream (ok...maybe not cream cheese :P)

-Crazy add-in's (as in-you're crazy if you don't add some of these!) Such as: spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, peppers, pineapple, the list goes on and on!

Directions:

1. Proof yeast in warm water

2. Add sugar and stir 

3. Add oil, garlic and basil

4. Slowly add in flour

5. Continue kneading for 5-8 minutes (can use a bread machine set on dough, or a stand mixer and knead for 3-5 minutes)

6. Allow to rest until doubled, about 1 hour

7. Shape into desired shapes/sizes 

~Can make mini pizzas, full sizes, rectangular, thick crust, thin crust-really guys-the possibilities are ENDLESS!

8. Add your toppings

9. Bake at 450* until cheese melts and crust is crispy to your likings!

a simple side of fruit rounds out this easy & quick meal!

Broccoli and Cheese Crepe (with ham!)

I am a HUGE fan (and I mean obsessively huge) of anything broccoli and cheese! I can't believe I ever hated that beautiful vegetable!

Broccoli is full of vitamins A, C, folic acid, calcium and fiber (just to name a few!). Research shows it can help control high blood pressure, prevent colon cancer, cataracts, heart disease... what am I doing? You all probably know all this and more-so I'll just get straight to the recipe!

This dish makes a great light dinner (or even a fancy brunch item!). It is full of protein to ward off hunger pangs for at least a few hours, and contains a wide varieties of colors (which is a clue to its wide variety of nutrients!)

Ingredients (serves 2) :
-1 batch of crepes
-4 ounces chopped (fully cooked) ham
-1 cup broccoli
-2 ounces Velveeta cheese (for a lower calorie and fat version make sure to use the Velveeta that is made with 2% milk)





Directions:
1. Chop and steam broccoli until it is tender-crisp
2. Chop ham into bite sized pieces
3. Drain broccoli and add your cheese
4. Melt in microwave, add ham
5. Make crepes according to recipe
6. Warm your cheese, broccoli and ham mixture again

7. Assemble crepe! You should have 4 crepes (if you followed my recipe for crepes), fill each crepe with 1/4 of mixture and fold over.

Optional: Reserve some of the cheese sauce to pour over crepes for a fancy touch :)

Nutritional Info: (1/2 of recipe)

Runzas

If you've never had a Runza, well first you obviously haven't visited Nebraska, but furthermore you are missing out! Runzas are a delicious meal-soft bread dough encasing a warm mixture of melty cheese, cabbage & onions and flavorful beef! (Don't get too put off by the cabbage part-it takes on the flavor of the cheese and you won't even notice it's in there!)

So, if you haven't decided on what to put on the table for dinner tonight, have I convinced you to make these amazing little pockets?! I hope so!

Ingredients (makes about 12 good-sized Runzas) :

-Bread dough (can be made from scratch, or a frozen loaf works too)
     ~you will want about 20 ounces of dough
-1 lb. lean ground beef
-3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
-2 cups shredded cabbage
-chopped onion (vary the amount depending on your likings)
-salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions (well...more of just an assembly but still) :

chop up your cabbage very finely (if using onion chop that up during this step as well!)

brown your hamburger

add your onion and cabbage to your browning meat (if using salt and pepper, add that during this step)

take about 1 1/2 - 2 ounces of bread dough (or about the size of 2 golf balls) and roll it out into a long, flat surface

get your cheese ready!

Add your meat mixture to the flattened bread dough (about 1/4 cup of it to each dough slab)

Add 1-2 TBSP of your mozzarella to the top of the meat

Roll up the dough like a fancy burrito- first the two shorter sides in, then one long side, and finally close it up with the other long side

Lay each Runza face down in a greased baking dish

Bake for 20 minutes on 350*

Mmmm.... look at all the gooey melted cheese, smoothering the savory beef enclosed in a warm, soft and comforting blanket of bread! 

Nutritional Info:

California Chicken Pita

Oh California... sunny skies, blue oceans, inviting beaches... Brings back memories... Oh wait, I've never actually been to California-but I'm pretty sure it's quite similar to what I've described!

Even if you aren't living in sunny California, you can still enjoy a delightful meal named after the Golden State. This pita is amazing! But, if you don't have any pita bread on hand, feel free to use a couple slices of bread, or a bun in its place.

Ingredients (for one pita):
-3 ounces chicken breast (cooked)
-2 Fat Free Swiss Cheese slices
-1 TBSP. Ranch dressing (or a Ranch dip, either way-if you can find a lower fat variety, get it!)
-Spinach
-Tomato slices
-1 Pita Bread


It's pretty straight forward...I'm almost certain any of you could figure it out without directions, but just in case...

Directions:
1. Slice chicken breast in half (so you have two thin fillets, not into two chicken fingers!)
2. Lay 1 slice of Swiss on top each fillet and  microwave (or broil) until cheese melts
3. Slice your pita bread in half
4. Place a layer of spinach into each pita bread half
5. Slide each chicken/cheese fillet into each pita bread
6. Slide a tomato slice in each if desired
7. Broil a few more seconds (this will warm everything and create a crispy pita crust)

I did a few things differently in the California Chicken Pita above... no tomato and I used the chopped chicken we had on hand-still delicious!

Nutritional Info:

Taco Salad

Time for a recipe makeover! Taco salads have far too long been touted as a health food but mysteriously hiding grams and grams of fat, carbohydrates, sodium and nothing in the categories of vitamins or minerals! I can hear you now... "But it's a salad!" I know...I know... but 'salad' doesn't always = healthy :(

Stop crying! I'm here to help! I've got a taco salad recipe that will knock your socks off! You won't miss any of the fat, carbs, or sodium your previous healthy salads were filled with. And, since you are such wonderful blog followers, I'll even make the salad full of vitamins, minerals AND fiber! I'm sure you're thinking something this good can't possibly be true, or at least tasty, but I promise you it is!

Still don't believe me? Alright skeptics, just try it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Makes 1 Salad:
Ingredients:
-1 cups spinach
-1/4 cup beans of choice (here I used Pinto, but black are just as tasty!)
-2 ounces ground beef (best if browned with taco seasoning)
-2 TBSP Low fat Shredded Cheese
-1/4 cup corn
-Chopped tomato, onions, peppers
-Salsa

Directions:
1. Warm beef, corn and beans
2. Top spinach with beef, corn and beans
3. Top with cheese
4. Add tomato, onions, and/or peppers
5. Top with salsa

Additional Ideas:
-Eat with  my Homemade Pita Chips
-Top with low-fat sour cream
-Make a 'Ranchero' sauce for your salad (2 parts salsa, one part low-fat Ranch dressing)
-Add various vegetables: different beans, chopped carrots, different peppers, jicama, etc.

Nutritional Info:

Easy Peasey Cheesy Veggie Soup

Eat your veggies! I'm sure all parents have told this to their children more than once, and chances are the children did not listen. In fact, I'm sure many adults could benefit from a few more vegetables too. Why don't people eat enough vegetables? Well there is a simple answer, they don't taste good! But I have a simple solution for that! This recipe is full of vegetables, but they are so good that you don't even feel like you're eating 'healthy'

This soup is a hot meal that can be thrown together in a matter of minutes and keep even the strictest diet on tract!

It is full of vitamins (especially vitamin C), protein, low in fat and carbs!

Makes 6 Servings~

Ingredients:
-3 cups vegetables (What I find the easiest is to use the frozen, pre-cut 'California Blend' - it has broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)
-2 cans Cream of Cheddar Soup (Look for the 'heart healthy' kind, it has lower fat & sodium)
-1 1/2 cups lowfat milk
-3 ounces ham (chopped)

Directions:

1. Thaw (or steam, if fresh) your vegetables
2. Mix soup and milk in large microwavable bowl
3. Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes
4. Add vegetables and ham
5. Microwave an additional 2-3 minutes
6. Serve and ENJOY! :)

Above: The soup served in a whole wheat bread bowl, the perfect way to round out this healthy meal! Another great addition would be to eat these with my Homemade Pita Chips! Delicious!

Nutritional Info: