Spaghetti and "Meat" Sauce with Spinach and Cheese Muffins

If there is one food I know my son will eat all of without a fight, it's spaghetti, and there is no easier way to get that boy to eat veggies than to puree them into a sauce to go on the spaghetti! Most tomato sauce recipes call for sugar to cut the acidity of the sauce, but I use carrots instead! It gives us a nutrient boost while sweetening the sauce! If you like a chunky sauce, you can skip the puree step, but I prefer a smooth one. You can add any veggies you want, I sometimes like to add zucchini, mushrooms and spinach or kale, if I have them on hand, but this is my base recipe. Cauliflower and broccoli even go well pureed in this sauce! We aren't eating meat anymore, so I used vegetarian soy crumbles, but you can use ground beef, turkey, or chicken if you're a meat eater! I typically like to cook 1/4 cup bulgur in the sauce after I've pureed it, before adding the crumbles, adding an additional 2 cups chicken stock. However, my commissary doesn't carry it, so, unless I've gone to the closest grocery store in town, which I typically don't just because of the inconvenience, it's not always in my sauce. It adds more fiber and has a meaty texture, we really like it. This makes 8 cups of sauce! You can cut the recipe in half, if you want, or do what I did and freeze the remainder in ziplock bags in one cup portions for easy lunches later!

The way the spinach muffins were made in the recipe I used made them just okay, they weren't anything too terribly fantastic. However, when I ate the leftovers the next day, I reheated them in the microwave and drizzled with balsamic vinegar and let it soak in for a couple of minutes while I made my salad. SO much better with the basalmic, so don't skip that step!

 

Here is how I made the sauce:

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/2 cup chicken stock or white wine (I really like it with red, too, but my husband doesn't)

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juices

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1, 12 oz package soy crumbles

 

In a large pot over medium heat, add onion and garlic and cook until beginning to soften, a couple of minutes. Add in the rest of the veggies and saute until tender, about 5-10 minutes. Add in stock or wine and cook until exavorated. Stir in tomatoes, and seasonings, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes to an hour, stirring often (Cover it if you want to let this simmer longer. The longer you simmer, the more the flavors will blend). Transfer to a food processor and pulse a few times to break up large pieces, then let whirl around on low speed until pureed to your liking. Return the sauce back to the pan, add in the soy crumbles, and simmer until heated through, about 5 minutes. If you're going to add bulgur, add it with the extra water when you add the crumbles, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.

This recipe makes roughly 6-8 cups

 

For the Spinach Muffins:

1, 14 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained, or 12 oz fresh spinach

4 egg whites, lightly beaten

1/2 cup part skim ricotta cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

balsamic vinegar

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

 

If using frozen spinach, squeeze dry (I let mine thaw in the fridge overnight instead of in the microwave so I don't have to wait for it to cool). If using fresh, pulse in the food processor until finely chopped.

 

Add spinach to a bowl and stir in remaining ingredients, except for vinegar. Use your hands, it's easier to combine! Divide the mixture between 8 muffin cups and bake until set, about 20 minutes. Drizzle with balsamic and let stand for 5 minutes to let them finish setting up and absorb the vinegar (Seriously, don't skip the vinegar, it really takes these from okay to awesome!). Run a thin silicone spatula around the edges and gently lift out and sprinkle with extra Parm! Enjoy!

This recipe makes 4 servings, two muffins each!



Kale and Ricotta Ravioli with Red Wine Marinara



 I love filled pastas, they're one of my favorite foods! They, however, take forever to make, especially if you're making your own pasta! I have done that in the past, I make some rocking whole wheat fetucchini and ravioli, but I'm not always in the modd for that! This time, I was not in the mood, so I decided to use wonton wrappers! Guess what? My store was all out! My solution was to buy eggroll wrappers and quarter them! They came out the same size as wonton wrappers, and they are both made of the same kind of pasta, so there was no difference! Filling the ravioli takes some time, especially if you're like me and are particular about it lining up perfectly! If you're wanting to make this for a week day, you could make the ravioli on the weekend and either refrigerate for a couple of days or freeze if you won't be making them until later in the week! You could also make the marinara ahead of time and refrigerate, or make a huge batch and freeze in ice cube trays for future use! All you would really need to do, then, is boil the pasta and warm the sauce when you're ready to serve! These would be great for big batch cooking, so you could eat some fresh and freeze the rest for when you're too busy to cook!

You're trying to eat the computer,
aren't you?

This is a really great way to get kids to eat veggies, with the kale inside the pasta and the tomato based sauce! My son was convinced this was made with broccoli instead of kale. Broccoli is his favorite and he devoured them, so I just let him think that! :)



Rarely does my son clean his plate,
this night, he did!



To make the ravioli, you need:

salt and pepper

6 oz (about 6 cups if you can only get it chopped in a bag like I do), tough stems and ribs removed

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp part skim ricotta

2 Tbsp grated parmesan

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

40 wonton wrappers or 10 eggroll wrappers, quartered

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook kale until tender, about 4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a colander to cool and drain, reserving the water. When cool enough to handle, squeeze kale to get as much of the liquid out as you can and finely chop.

In a medium bowl, mash together the kale, ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg, and garlic. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble the ravioli, lay out a wonton wrapper on your board and cover the rest with a damp paper towel. Spoon a teaspoon of the kale mixture a little left (Or right, your choice!) of the middle of the wrapper. Dampen the edges with a wet finger and fold the wrapper over into a triangle, pressing the edges to seal. Transfer to a plate and repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

If necessary, add more water to the pot you cooked the kale in and return to a boil. Reduce down to a simmer and drop in the ravioli in batches (I cooked 10 at a time, then filled more ravioli while they were cooking to speed the process along). Cook at a bare simmer (Small bubbles rising and bursting slowly) until al dente, about 3 minutes, gently stirring occasionally so they don't stick. With a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper towel lined baking sheet or large plate, in a single layer, and let drain while you cook the remaining pasta. Serve topped with the marinara and extra parmesan, if you wish!

This recipe serves 10!

Do this for the sauce:

Olive oil cooking spray

3 cloves garlic, minced

1, 16oz can diced tomatoes (You can use crushed if you like, but diced don't splatter as much!)

1/2 cup red wine (You could also use white wine, chicken stock, or water)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Stevia

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

6 leaves fresh basil, torn, or 1/2 tsp dried basil, crushed between your palms

Spray a small saucepan with oil and heat over low heat and saute garlic for about 2 minutes, until starting to become tender but not brown. Add tomatoes, wine, salt, sugar, pepper flakes and dried basil, if using. Cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, 20 minutes to an hour. Transfer to a food processor and whirl around until it is the consistancy you like. If you want it thicker, add back to the pot and simmer with the lid slightly tilted (So your kitchen doesn't look like someone was brutally murdered) until it is the thickness you desire. If it's too thick for your tastes, add a little water or chicken stock to thin!

This recipe makes anywhere from 2 cups to 3, depending on how thick or thin you like it!

Baked Tilapia, Broccoli with Cheese Sauce, Steamed Asparagus, and Rice!

*For some reason, I'm unable to upload pictures from my computer, the browse box isn't coming up. I will add the images when I can figure out what's wrong. In the meantime, all of these recipes, along with the corresponding photo, are being posted to my Beachbody coach "like" page: www.facebook.com/bondgrlfit. I apologize for any inconvenience.*

Husband made dinner the night before last, and even made a pretty presentation! Our son doesn't care for asparagus, so I made some steamed broccoli with cheese sauce so he would eat his freaking vegges! He loves broccoli, won't touch aspara...gus! My husband found this awesome Uncle Ben's 90 second rice blend of wild rice, red rice, and black rice, so all whole grains! I don't usually like buying them, since they're flavored and more expensive, but he wanted them! This didn't have MSG in it, which I was adament about checking for since it swells my sinuses. It was really yummy, so I'm going to go pick up the wild, red, and brown rice blend I saw the other day which was just the rice! The asparagus was frozen, we just popped it in a microwavable container, laid the top over at an angle and nuked for 5 minutes. Simple. The cheese sauce makes more than you really need, but it's delicious on other stuff, too, or folded into a warmed corn tortilla and eaten as a quesadilla. That's what I did with the extra! :)

How Man made the fish:
5 Tilapia fillets
Mrs Dash Italian Medly
flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season fish with the herb blend and sprinkle a little flour over (It gave the fish a little crunchy topping, I would have spritzed some olive oil spray over the top to brown it.). Bake for 10 minutes, flipping halfway through.

For the broccoli:
2 crowns of broccoli, crowns cut off
1/2 cup evaporated skim milk
1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/8 tsp worchesterchire
1/8 tsp hot sauce

In a steamer basket over boiling water, steam broccoli about 5 minutes until fork tender.

In a small saucepan, whisk together milk and starch, bring to a boil while stirring often. Once it has reached a boil, remove from heat and stir in cheese, hot sauce, and worchestershire until cheese is melted and completely mixed with the milk. Season with salt and pepper, if desired, and drizzle over broccoli!

This recipe serves 4!

Pasta with Broccoli Pesto and White Beans

*For some reason, I'm unable to upload pictures from my computer, the browse box isn't coming up. I will add the images when I can figure out what's wrong. In the meantime, all of these recipes, along with the corresponding photo, are being posted to my Beachbody coach "like" page: www.facebook.com/bondgrlfit. I apologize for any inconvenience.*

We decided to go vegetarian for January, and this was our first veggie meal for the month!  It was sooo yummy! In the past, I have used vegetarian recipes as side dishes, so you could cut this in half to make side dish portions, or make the whole recipe if you like bigger sides! All three of us are on high protein diets, my husband and I for building muscle, my son to boost his brain power, so my criteria for all of this month's meals was that they must have a minimum of 20g of protein, which also means the only cook books I used for inspiration are ones that included nutrition information for all recipes (Which I really wish all cookbooks and magazines would do). I plan to input my version of all of these recipes into a recipe calculator so I can post the nutritional information for the changes I make.
 

How to make it!
 4 cups broccoli, cut into 1 inch pieces (Two large heads, floretts and stems)
6 oz short cut pasta, I used rotini
5 teaspoons veggie or chicken stock
1/8 cup freshly shredded parmesan
1 teaspoon lemon zest plus 1 Tbsp juice
1/2 cup packed fresh parsley
1 small clove garlic
1 can cannellini (Great Northern) beans, or 3/4 cup dry beans

If using dry beans, rinse, cover with water and soak overnight in the fridge. Rinse and drain, add to a pot and cover with water and cook according to the directions on the bag, drain and rinse and set aside. Or, drain and rinse canned beans.

In a pot of boiling salted water, cook broccoli until tender and bright green, about 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove broccoli to a food processor, return water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 2 cups cooking liquid and drain pasta and return to pot.

Meanwhile, to broccoli in food processor, add stock, parmesan, lemon zest and juice, parsley, and garlic. Puree until smooth, scraping down sides as needed. Return to pot with pasta, stir to coat, and add reserved water as needed to make a creamy sauce (I needed it all). Stir in beans and heat over medium until warmed through. Season to taste with salt and pepper (Taste before salting, the cheese and pasta water will add a good bit of saltiness). Serve and sprinkle with additional cheese, if desired (And I desire!) and enjoy immensley! Serve with a salad, I dressed mine with a little lemon juice!

This recipe serves 4

Chicken Marsala

I love chicken marsala, but it's not always the most waistline friendly meal! After searching through a few cookbooks, I took their ideas, and used some of all of them to make the dish healthier and lower in fat!

2 whole chicken legs
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz cremini or button mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
1 cup marsala wine
1/3 cup chicken stock

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Season chicken with salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. In a large pan sprayed with olive oil, cook chicken for three minutes on both sides, then transfer pan to the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the juices run clear when pierced with a knife.

Meanwhile, in a small pan over medium heat, saute onions and garlic until tender, about 3 to 5 minutes, add mushrooms and saute until tender and juices have evaporated, about 10 minutes.

Remove chicken legs from pan and let cool slightly. Add the mushroom mixture into the pan the chicken cooked in and return the pan to medium-high heat. Add the marsala and chicken stock and cook, uncovered, until the wine mixture has reduced by half, about four minutes. Cut the leg from the thigh of each chicken leg and return to pan, turning to coat with the sauce. If necessary, cover the pan and simmer until chicken has warmed through.

To serve, top chicken with the sauce and dive in!