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!

Grilled Pizza

Even though summer is almost over... (tear) we still have a few more days to fire up our grill and head outside to make a delicious dinner! 

So what should we do to celebrate our last few days of summer? Grill pizza! 

It's very simple! 

1. Just make your pizza dough-or buy from store... then prepare your veggies by adding a little bit of oil or salad dressing to the pre-choped veggies and throw in a grill basket. 

2. Season the veggies with some salt, pepper, and whatever spices you like!

3. Grill veggies for about 10 minutes before throwing your rolled out pizza dough on the grill.

4. Let the pizza dough grill for a few minutes on each side

5. Remove dough and veggies and take back inside to prepare pizzas!

6. Fill pizzas as you like... sauce, veggies, meat, cheese, etc.

7. Throw back on the grill for 3-5 minutes-or until cheese is melty!

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!

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: