Easy Linguine Casserole al la Steph

So I found a magazine called "Healthy Cooking:  Comfort Food Makeovers" and found several delicious looking recipes and decided to try one.   This one looked good, but I just KNEW I could make it better.  So I changed a few things:  1.  I added chicken and mushrooms, 2. I caramelized the onions because I cannot stand biting into crunchy onions, 3.  I omitted the small green pepper the recipe called for because Jess was eating with me and cannot stand green peppers, 4.  I used the whole box of linguine instead of half so that I would have plenty of left-overs, and 5.  I added garlic -- it's not real food without garlic.  I love garlic!!.  Oh and I used a tiny bit of milk to stretch the sauce a bit.

So let's begin....

Ingredients:  1 box of whole wheat linguine, broken in half, 2 cups fully cooked lean ham, 1-3/4 cup of shredded Swiss, divided, 1 can reduced fat-reduced sodium cream of mushroom soup, undiluted, 1 cup reduced fat sour cream, 1 medium onion chopped,

Get your pot of water on to boil the linguine.  Cook it until Al Dente because you're going to bake the dish as well and you don't want mushy pasta.

Next, chop your onion -- and while you're chopping it heat some olive oil in a skillet. 

Olive oil is heart healthy!!

Cook the onions for a bit and as the start to soften add about a tablespoon of garlic and the mushrooms. cook them until the onions are translucent.

Then I added the two chicken breasts and covered them with the onions and mushrooms while they cooked.  While the chicken cooked the onions, garlic, and mushrooms added flavor and caramelized.  They were so sweet and yummy!!

While the chicken is cooking it's a great time to shred the cheese if you have to.  Don't forget to check your pasta often to make sure you don't over cook it.

When the chicken was done it looked like this.  Mmmmm

I mixed the linguine, ham, cheese, soup, sour cream, and milk in a large bowl and mixed it well.

Then I diced up the chicken.

and added the chicken, mushrooms/onions to the mixture in the bowl and tossed it all together.

Then I spread it into a 9x13 casserole dish and baked it at 350 degrees, covered for 35 minutes.  Then I took it out, uncovered and sprinkled 1/4 cup of Swiss cheese on the top and put it back in, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

We had it with some fresh steamed green beans. 

It was a very starchy meal, but delicious!! 

We had tons of left overs and had it for lunch the next day and then I cooked some Brussels sprouts and had it for another dinner.  During the week I love having left overs in the fridge because they are quick and easy. 

Was pretty good comfort food!!  If I had made it exactly as the recipe stated it would have only been 293 calories a serving, but mine was a bit more with the chicken and the caramelized onions/mushrooms.  but not much more. :) 

No worries -- I got a new exercise bike and worked it off anyway.  I'll post pictures of it soon.  It's amazing and has a computer attached that tracks speed, mileage, calories burned, time elapsed, and will take my pulse.  It also has games to play and I can plug my iPod into it.  Like I said, I'll post pictures soon.

Penne with Turkey Bolognese

So, this past weekend was closing weekend.  Saturday Jess and I went up to visit one of our hall staff's to drop off some stuff and they were eating spaghetti.  Man oh man it smelled GOOD.  So I decided to make some.  However, I HATE HATE HATE jar spaghetti sauce and will only eat it if I can make the sauce from scratch.  It's a lot easier than you think, and I wanted to health it up.  So I decided to make the healthiest sauce I know -- a Bolognese (bal-lon-nyaeys) sauce.

But Steph, why is it so healthy you ask?  Because it has a LOT of veggies in it, low sodiumish, and is very tasty!!

Ingredients:  Extra-virgin olive oil, pancetta, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, ground turkey, crushed tomatoes, Italian parsley, basil, parm/romano, and penne pasta.

Start by chopping your pancetta, onion, and garlic.  (You can substitute two - three strips of bacon for the pancetta.  It brings a smokey flavor to the sauce and bacon would be an OK substitute)

In a large pan, heat the pan and add the oil.  Just before it begins smoking add the pancetta and cook it on medium-high until the fat begins to render (5 - 8 minutes depending on how thick it's cut.  I used the shaved variety so I only cooked it about 3 - 4 minutes.  .

Then add the onion.  I used a whole medium sized onion.

Add 2 garlic cloves.  Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until the onions become very soft -- about 8 minutes.

While the onion/garlic is sauteing, chop 1 carrot and 1 celery stalk.  I had some matchstick carrots left over from the chicken salad, so I used those and just chopped them a bit and diced the celery.

Add the carrot and celery and saute for 5 minutes.

 Raise the heat to Medium-high and add the ground turkey.  Saute, stirring frequently and breaking up any large lumps.  Cook until the meat is no longer pink.

Since I used turkey instead of beef I added a bit of Worcestershire powder to add a bit of a beefy flavor.

 While the turkey is cooking, you'll want to chiffonade the basil and parsley.  That's just a fancy way of say coarsely chop, but is sounds fancy and I like it.  The easiest way to do it is to pile the parsley up, roll it up, and then chop it.  Do the same with the Basil. 

When the turkey is cooked -- salt and pepper the veggies/turkey.  Not a lot, but it helps to salt it before adding the sauce because you can see it easier --at least I think so.  Then add a 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes, and the basil and parsley. 

Stir it all together, reduce the heat to low and cook until the sauce thickens -- about a half hour. 

Trust me -- make it from scratch IT'S WORTH IT!! You'll never eat jar sauce again.  you can make a lot and freeze it and pull it out as you need it. 

While that is cooking, put on your pot of water for your pasta.  I always use a HUGE pan -- my biggest one.  So that the pasta can move around freely.   You know how to make pasta.

I use whole wheat penne. I love Penne Rigate because it's easy to eat.  Spaghetti noodles are messy and make you look silly while you try to eat so I almost always use penne instead.  Plus with a bolognese, the meat and veggies settle inside the penne and it's amazing. 

Your sauce will thicken and look like this.

Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of Parmesan.  I really like Trader Joe's grated parm. It has a stronger flavor than the Kraft grated parm.  Mix it in and let it cook about three minutes longer to meld the flavors.  Remove from heat and let it sit while you finish cooking your pasta. 

Drain the pasta and then put it back in the pan, add the bolognese, and cook it for a tiny bit longer all mixed together.  It melds the flavors and lets the sauce coat and get up all in the penne's business.  YUMMM!!

I served it with these little garlic/Parmesan puff pastry things I got from Trader Joe's.  They were AMAZING!! 

We also had salad with the pasta. 

Was a delicious meal!!  

Seriously, though, make your pasta sauce from scratch.  It's SOOO Much better.  It's pretty easy as well.. you can make a pretty simple sauce with just onion, garlic, basil, and crushed tomatoes.  It just gets fancier from there.  It is fresh and yummy and tons TONS better for you than the sodium they add to the jar sauces so that they don't spoil.  

Plus -- canned tomatoes are awesome.  They come low to no salt added and are often canned at the peak tomato season so they are delicious!!

OK that's all -- see you soon!!

Lunch To Go: Pineapple Chicken Salad Pitas

So I'm always struggling with what to take for lunch.  I want to eat a balanced meal, but it's tough.  So I bought a new book for Lunch ideas.  It's below.

One of my secret favorites is Chicken Salad.  It's horribly bad for you most of the time, but this delightful little book has several different varieties.   The one I tried tonight is "Pineapple Chicken Salad Pitas. 

Ingredients:  21/2 cups of chopped chicken, 1/2 cup matchstick-cut carrots, 1/3 cup sliced almonds -- toasted, 1/3 cup light mayo, 1/4 cup finely chopped green onions, 1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 (8oz) can crushed pineapple in juice (not syrup), Whole-Wheat Pitas and Romaine.

I was going to use a de-boned rotisserie chicken because our local store usually has already de-boned meat available, but they were out today so I just bought a lb of chicken breast tenders and decided to poach them.  So I put them in the pan, covered them with water, salted the water a tad, and added about a tablespoon of chopped garlic to add some flavor.  I lightly simmered them for 15 minutes -- don't boil them it will make the meat hard and gross. 

While the chicken was cooking I put the almonds in a dry pan and toasted them.  Be careful -- they burn fast.. mine got a little too brown and I had to pick some of the darker ones out.

While that was going on, I started measuring out the remainder of the ingredients starting with 1/2 cup of carrots.

The carrots and the almonds -- notice some of them were a bit browner than I planned -- they didn't taste bad though.

1/3 cup of light mayo. 

add the green onions, finely minced.

1/4 cup of plain fat-free yogurt.  I used Greek Yogurt here.  It's creamier and not as runny as regular yogurt because it's strained.

 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.  (Wersh-ter-sheer)  My family always struggles with how to say it.. that's how I say it. :)

 1/2 teaspoon Garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of both salt and pepper.

1 (8-ounce) can of crushed pineapple in juice not syrup.  It says in the recipe to drain it, but with the Greek yogurt I decided not to and it worked out well and added to the creaminess without adding more mayo.

Then I gave it all a stir so that the ingredients could begin to meld while I dealt with the chicken.

When the chicken was done cooking I drained it and rinsed it in cold water to let the cool off before I chopped it.

Here it is all mixed together.  I gave it a quick taste to see if it needed anything and it was PERFECTLY YUMMY!!

Here is a whole wheat pita, with a leaf of Romaine, stuffed with the salad.  YUMMY!!!

You could, of course, use whole wheat bread, or even a whole wheat wrap.  I chose pita because with chicken salad, it tends to fall off the bread and the pita serves as a little chicken salad cup.  I hate getting my hands messy so it's perfect for me!! :) 


Note:  Comparing Whole wheat bread and Whole Wheat pita:

Whole Wheat Bread = 120 calories, 250 Milligrams sodium, 4 grams of fiber
Whole Wheat Pita = 140 calories, 130 Milligrams of sodium, 3 grams of fiber.

In my head the sodium is the one that scares me so I go with the pita-- 1/2 the sodium makes the extra 20 calories and the 1 gram less of fiber well worth it.