Quick Alfredo Casserole

So I'd love to make my own white sauce and all, but it's 4:00PM, I'm tired and everyone is hungry.... NOW.

This is a pretty inexpensive dish, easy and quick to prepare and hey, it's pasta. I Love pasta :)
Most of the sauce is cooked up, but if you use the milk in the recipe there is just enough to drizzle over the pasta as a sort of dressing.

**Tastes EVEN BETTER cold the next day! Yum!

Us grown ups thought this was delicious. The crunch of the veggies against the pasta, the flavor of the different veggies with the Thyme.... good stuff. It is very filling too!

As for the kids: Thomas loved it and even ate what his brothers didn't. As soon as I put Michael's plate in front of him he said "You want us to eat this?" and pushed it to the center of the table. Joshua ate the noodles out of it and that was it. But that's okay.... the smoothie they drank up seconds before was full of spinach, hahaha. Mommy wins.

Ingredients:

2 small zucchini
1 head cauliflower
1 Bell Pepper ( I used about 4-6 mini ones because it's what I had on hand)
1 16oz. package pasta (whatever noodles you happen to have)
1 jar Newmans Own Alfredo sauce
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup almond milk (you can leave out the milk if you prefer, see note above)
1/2 cup parmesan
2 teaspoons Thyme

Directions:

Heat oven to 350F and grease a 9x13" pan

Wash all your veggies and cut into bite size pieces.
* I like my veggies barely cooked so they stay kinda crunchy. If you prefer softer veggies steam them first.

Cook pasta 7 minutes in boiling water, drain (don't rinse)

Mix all ingredients except cheese and 1 teaspoon Thyme.

Pour into greased 9x13"pan. Top with cheese and Thyme.

Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Let sit 10 minutes and serve.

Serve with a green salad or fruit salad, yum!

Quesadilla Casserole

This came about as I was standing in line at the grocery store buying new pinto beans to make the Last Minute Pinto Bean Dip. A magazine boasting many casserole recipes was taunting me because I love the ease of one pot meals. The front page showed a picture of a Quesadilla Casserole with peppers, olives, chicken, red beans and cheddar..... yum. I made it out of the store without buying the magazine, yay me :)

I got home and was disappointed that we didn't have olives.. or many of the other ingredients for that matter. But a quesadilla can be filled with so many different things, why not a Quesadilla Casserole? So while this was delicious, it could be equally good or even better with some added ingredients like avocado, olives, sharp cheddar or a Mexican cheese blend, onion or even beef or no meat at all.

This was so easy and fast, just what I was looking for because I was so tired last night.

Ingredients:

5 tortillas
1 can chicken
1 large tomato (chopped)
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
3/4 cup salsa of desired heat (we used mild)
1 cup mozzarella cheese (shredded)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease a 9X9 pan.

Layer two tortillas along the bottom of the pan so they cover the entire bottom (they will go up the sides a bit)

Mix all ingredients except for the cheese and tortillas.

Top the tortillas with half of your filling mixture and top with some cheese (a little less than half)

Layer two more tortillas on top of the cheese and top with the remaining mixture and some more cheese (leave just a little for the very top)

Lay last tortilla in the middle of the casserole on the top and top with the remaining cheese.

Lightly grease any uncovered pieces of tortilla on the top of the casserole to help it brown rather than burn.

Cook for 18-20 minutes at 350 F

Slice this into 6 pieces and each one is under 200 calories (using whole wheat tortillas)!

You can top it with salsa, guacamole or sour cream. Serve with Pinto Bean Dip & chips.

Rice & Black Bean Casserole

This turned out so good! We ended up with no leftovers, but this would make excellent leftovers wrapped up in a tortilla, yum! I recently bought a case of canned black beans to try and get them into our diet more. I have dried as well, but I rarely plan far enough ahead to soak them overnight... something for me to work on I guess. I love when a recipe full of healthy ingredients turns out so super tasty.

We were hungry and this was gone in a flash... before the flash actually, so no pictures for now, but it's full of color. I love pretty food that tastes good.

Ingredients:

* 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
* 1 cup Carrot Juice
* 2 cups fresh baby spinach
* 1 cup Cherry Tomatoes (cut in half)
* 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
* 1 cup Mozzerella Cheese (shredded/part skim)
* Canned Chicken, 1 can
* Cayenne
* Thyme
* Cumin
* 1 cup cooked Brown Rice (I cooked mine in chicken broth for extra flavor)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F and grease a 9x13" pan.

Mix spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, black beans, carrot juice, cayenne, cumin and 1/2 cup of cheese in a bowl. Lay in casserole dish.

Top with chicken and remaining 1/2 cup of cheese. Sprinkle Thyme over cheese.

Cook on 350 F for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Enjoy as is or in tortillas!

Nutrition Facts User Entered Recipe
6 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories		228.4
Total Fat		8.6 g
	Saturated Fat	4.1 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	0.7 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	2.5 g
Cholesterol		34.7 mg
Sodium		381.3 mg
Potassium		344.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		21.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	4.2 g
	Sugars	4.8 g
Protein		17.0 g

Vitamin A	258.2 %
Vitamin B-12	1.1 %
Vitamin B-6	9.1 %
Vitamin C	22.0 %
Vitamin D	0.0 %
Vitamin E	1.3 %
Calcium	4.8 %
Copper	6.0 %
Folate	16.2 %
Iron	13.2 %
Magnesium	12.4 %

Quinoa Casserole With Pesto

What's the best way to use up veggies before my SPUD! order? Chop 'em up and throw them in a casserole! I got some red quinoa from Whole Foods the other day. There are three kinds; black, red and white. I decided to use some of the red in my casserole tonight, I really can't tell you if they taste any different since I really can't taste much right now (being sick.) I've been told this was good so I'll just take their word for it :)

This is a great protein packed dinner or even breakfast casserole. It's very versatile and a great way to use up leftovers. Feel free to leave a comment with what you added :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup uncooked white quinoa
1/2 cup uncooked red quinoa
3- 4 cups chopped veggies of your choice. I used leftover hashbrown potatoes from breakfast over the weekend, a red bell pepper and 2 very tiny zucchini. I chose veggies that I wouldn't have to cook first: The potatoes were already cooked, I love a slight crunch to my bell peppers and the zucchini did not need to be pre-cooked. I left onions out so that if it didn't turn out we could always give it to the dogs :) I was going to add carrots, but thought they might not cook enough so I used carrot juice instead. I was also going to add spinach and mushrooms, but I got lazy because I feel miserable today.
1/2 cup carrot juice
1/2 cup milk
2 heaping Tablespoons pesto sauce
5 eggs
1 cup shredded smoked sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease 9x13" baking dish

Soak and thoroughly rinse your quinoa, cook according to directions. (1 1/2 cups water or broth to 1 cup quinoa for about 20-30 minutes in a rice cooker)

Chop your veggies and mix all ingredients together.

Spread into the prepared casserole dish and bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve with topping of your choice; pesto, tomato sauce, salsa (my choice) or ketchup (kids pick).

Serve with a side salad or fruit.

Baked Spaghetti

We were walking through Costco and one of the samples happened to be spaghetti. The kids played "baby bird" all the way through the store, so naturally, we had spaghetti for dinner. Tomato sauce is an excellent opportunity to add additional healthy ingredients. Most kids will eat tomato sauce no problem and there are plenty of healthy additions you can use that nobody will even know are in there.

To one jar of spaghetti sauce I added 1/2 cup of carrot juice. The boys actually really liked the plain carrot juice (yuck) and the color and flavor make it combine very well with tomato sauce. I also added 1/2 cup of sweet potato puree. Too much sweet potato and you will be able to taste it (although not a bad thing if you enjoy sweet potatoes). I'm not a big fan and neither is anyone else here so I added just 1/2 cup and couldn't taste it at all. I Love spinach, can you tell by looking at my recipes? Not canned or frozen, I think those taste terrible, but fresh (especially baby) spinach has almost no real taste to it (but amazing health benefits) and mixes well with almost anything. But it's not such a bad thing to love :) I added 2 cups of fresh baby spinach. If you have family members that you couldn't pay to eat anything with spinach I suggest taking those 2 cups, or even cutting it back to one and pureeing it in your food processor. The last thing I added was flax seed for the Omega-3s. If I put a bread topping on this, which would be good but Mike would have nothing to do with it, then I would mix the ground flax into that. But I only top it with cheese so I took 2 Tablespoons of flax seeds ground in the food processor (your body can't absorb them whole, they are too small) and mixed it into the sauce. To get the right amount of Omega-3s adults should have about 2 Tablespoons of flax seed a day. Fish is the other good source of Omega-3s, but Mike refuses to eat store bought fish and he hasn't been fishing in awhile. I miss our freezer full of Halibut and Salmon :( But he did finally get the new boat floor cut so maybe, just maybe, this year?

The meatballs I used were from Costco, can you tell we made a Costco trip today? They are precooked chicken, spinach and fontina meatballs. So good.

Okay, enough rambling.

Ingredients: *this makes a lot of spaghetti, but who doesn't love spaghetti leftovers?

1 package of spaghetti noodles (17.6oz)
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (32oz.)
1 package of precooked meatballs or make your own *enough to cover the bottom of a 13x9" pan.
1/2 cup carrot juice
1/2 cup pureed sweet potato
2 cups fresh baby spinach
2 Tablespoons flax seed
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat oven to 350F and grease a 13x9" pan
Spread meatballs out over the bottom of the pan
Cook pasta according to package directions until just done, about 8 minutes. Drain and rinse.
Put anything you need to in the food processor. (flax seeds, spinach if you need to...)
Mix sauce, carrot juice, sweet potato, spinach and ground flax together in a bowl. Mix in cooked noodles.
Pour noodle/sauce mixture over meatballs and top with shredded cheese.
Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

All of us barely ate half of this casserole it was so much, but Thomas has been begging for spaghetti in his school lunch and Mike loves spaghetti sandwiches so it will save me some work throughout the week.

And the picture really doesn't do it justice. The slightly crunchy cheese and noodles at the top are the best part :)

Tomato and Broccoli Mac n Cheese

Who doesn't love mac n cheese? It's pasta and cheese, two of my favorite things. Now have you ever read the back of a mac n cheese box? Gross. I mean, at least I think it's gross because I have no idea what they are talking about in that list of ingredients, but it can't be good. Homemade mac n cheese is delicious and better for you, but don't fool yourself, it is still pasta and cheese. To make it a touch healthier and reach that five servings of fruits/veggies a day I made a tomato and broccoli mac n cheese. Even when the kids pick around the broccoli they are still getting the tomato; Victory, sweet victory.

Ingredients:

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
2 cups tomato soup *I used my organic boxed tomato and roasted red pepper soup because it rocks
2 cups broccoli (washed and chopped)
1 1/2 cups extra sharp cheddar (shredded)
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

Grease casserole dish and preheat oven to 350 F.

Cook macaroni until just barely done... what's that fancy word???? Al dente? Sounds right. Drain.

Oh! Throw the broccoli in with the pasta for the last minute of boiling.

Heat soup and milk together until boiling. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of the cheese.

Mix pasta and sauce together. Put it in a greased casserole dish and top with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Now I know it looks like noodles and soup (I was a little worried myself), but trust me here... it'll work out :)

Cover and cook at 350 F for 30 minutes, removing foil for the last 5-10 minutes.

Splitting this recipe into four servings (which are large servings) they are each under 400 calories!

This was good, but would be excellent with the right herbs. If only I knew what those would be..... Mom? are you reading this? What would those be?

Rainbow Quinoa Casserole

Quinoa (keen-wa) is a wonderful grain that doesn't get near enough credit. Full of protein and fiber, easy to cook and tasty! We all know whole grains are part of a healthy diet and I am happy to use quinoa as my whole grain of choice. We use it in many dishes in place of rice.

I love having a refrigerator full of fresh veggies, it just makes me FEEL healthy looking at them. I also love making casseroles. When cooking for so many people a one pot meal is a welcome option.

My casseroles are always made based on what I have on hand, I suck at planning :) First I like to use a rainbow of veggies. To make sure your body is getting all of the proper nutrients it is important to eat a diet diverse in colors (colors that grow, not like fruit loops.) Then I pick a grain, usually quinoa or brown rice, but pasta is not to be ignored in my house. Sometimes I choose a meat or meat substitute to add and sometimes I just leave it out all together. And then for the sauce. The sauce is usually where most the calories come from in a casserole, full of cream, cheese.... and more cream and cheese (cheese is yummy). Using my casserole creating method this is what I came up with for tonight's dinner and it turned out delicious, I love it when that happens :)

Rainbow Quinoa Casserole

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups organic tomato/roasted red pepper soup (I love this stuff and I can buy it at Costco!)
1/2 cup tofutti cream cheese (AKA: fake cream cheese)
1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
2-3 cups spinach
1 zucchini
1 yellow bell pepper
4 small (or 2 large) carrots
2 tomatoes
1 package fake burger stuff..... not bad, I had it in the fridge (feel free to use real meat; beef, turkey, chicken)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 13 X 9" pan.

Soak quinoa for 15 minutes. Drain and rinse thoroughly. Cook as you would rice using 1 1/2 cups water for 1 cup quinoa.

Wash and chop your veggies into bite size pieces. Put them in a bowl and look at how pretty they are! Some people might saute their veggies here, but I prefer not to cook the crap out of my vegetables most of the time, a little bit of crunch does wonders for a dish like this.

Mix 1 cup soup and fake cream cheese into your veggies.

Cook meat, fake meat... whatever you are using and mix it into your veggies.

Mix cooked quinoa into your veggies.

Put your bowl of goodness into your greased casserole dish and spread it out evenly. Pour remaining cup of soup over the top and top that with the 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar.

Cover with foil and put it in the oven at 350 F for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and cook for 5-10 more minutes.

Serve with a side of fruit.

*I always salt & pepper my food after it's cooked, I add less that way if any.

Kale Gnocchi Casserole

Once again I needed to use up some stuff before my SPUD! delivery. To save $25 on your first four SPUD! orders enter code CR5-3495048 at checkout. First on my list to use up was some Ricotta cheese. Kale is another super healthy green we should all eat more of, but it can be bitter plain. This is an excellent way to eat it and get your kids to eat it too!

Ingredients:

For the gnocchi:

2 cup ricotta
2 egg yolk
squeeze of fresh lemon juice ('cause the stupid grater wouldn't give me any zest)
1/2 cup finely chopped kale (I put it through the food processor)
dash o salt
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup shredded cheese (i used a Mexican blend because that's what I had, but Italian would've been better)

For the casserole:

8 Morning Star veggie sausage patties
1 can diced tomatoes with garlic and oregano
1 can mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom (I have a crazy amount of this in the pantry.. seriously)
1/2 can kidney beans
1/2 cup shredded cheese
1 jar Newman's Own marinara sauce

To make the gnocchi:

Preheat oven to 350F

Mix ricotta, egg yolks, salt and cheese. Mix in half of the flour. Put the dough on a floured surface and knead the rest of the flour into the dough. When well blended (don't over knead or it will be sticky) cut into four equal parts. Roll one at a time into 1 inch rolls, slice into 1 inch pieces. Do this with all four pieces of dough.

Place the gnocchi on a lightly greased cookie sheet and brush with olive oil or melted butter. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Eat a few....

To make the casserole:

Lay the veggie sausage patties on the bottom of the casserole dish. Mix the tomatoes, beans, mushrooms and cream of mushroom together and put on the patties. Put the baked gnocchi on top of that. Spread marinara over the gnocchi and top with cheese. Put it back in the 350F oven for 25 minutes.

This kinda sounds like a lot of work, but it's really not....

The kids even loved this! I could've just snacked on the baked gnocchi and been perfectly happy, but this made a good meal :)