Ridiculously Easy Salsa Chicken

I'll try to remember to take a picture when it's done tonight :)

So much to do today, but I want a healthy and tasty homemade dinner (the two can go together!) Everyone here LOVES Salsa Chicken and I love it because it is one of the easiest dishes you'll ever make.

You Will Need:

Salsa (no certain amount here, I probably use a regular sized jar for 6 frozen chicken breasts)
Chicken (I love that I can just throw the frozen stuff in the slow cooker because I'm feeling lazy and don't want to defrost it.)
Slow Cooker

Directions:

Throw it all in there and turn on high about 8 hours; All done.

Top it with some shredded cheese before serving. Serve with rice and beans (I'll have to post that easy recipe soon too, it's yummy.) or just rice... or beans, lol.

Everyone always raves about this dish and it is SO EASY!

Creamy Pasta Salad

This was lunch for Day Two of our dairy free, meat free week. It is not vegan, but can easily be made vegan by using vegannaise instead of mayonnaise. The beans add protein where the meat would be for some and the variety of colorful veggies makes this as pretty as it is tasty! Pair it with a side of fruit and you have a perfectly balanced meal with food from all the food groups.

I'm eating this right now.... it's good :) I made it last night and let it chill overnight. I sent some with Mike for his lunch at work and he enjoyed it too.

Ingredients:

16oz. pasta of your choice. I had a mix of misfit macaroni that I used. The ends of the bags of some large macaroni, small & whole wheat.
1 cup chopped baby spinach
1 cup diced carrots
2 tomatoes (seeded and diced)
1 can white beans (any beans really) drained and rinsed
1/2 cup mayonnaise (or vegannaise)
3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon paprika
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Mix diced veggies and beans together with pasta.

In a small bowl combine mayonnaise, vinegar and other spices. Mix well and adjust as needed.

Pour dressing over salad and mix well. Refrigerate overnight.

Vegetarian Split Pea Soup

Split peas are full of healthy fiber, helping to lower cholesterol and stabilize blood sugar. Just one cup of cooked dried peas provides you with over 60% of your daily fiber needs.

Day One of meat and dairy free week. I thought I'd try a vegetarian split pea soup recipe. I found this one on AllRecipes.com. I made some changes and ended up with the following recipe. This isn't your "traditional" split pea soup. Knowing my Father-In-Law would say "This would be great..... with ham" as soon as he looked at it I wanted to wow him with how much flavor this soup could have without ham. I looked at what I had on hand and what the recipe called for, tweaked some things around and ended up with a fantastic soup! Joshua gobbled this up with amazing speed :)

Ingredients:

2 cups dry split peas
1/2 cup barley
1 cup diced carrots (I had baby carrots on hand, this was about 15 of them)
4 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon basil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
2 cups tomato & roasted red pepper soup
5 1/2 cups vegetable broth (this makes a thinner soup. If you like it thicker start with about 2 cups less broth, you can always add more later if you want to.)
2 cups water

Directions:

Mix ingredients into your slow cooker. Turn on high for 4 hours and then low or warm until you are ready to eat!

Irish Soda Bread

This Irish Soda Bread was part of our St. Patrick's Day feast... okay it wasn't really a feast, but dinner was good :) This was my first attempt at making soda bread and although I'm sure I've had it before, it's been a very long time. I have to say I was pleased with how it turned out. Maybe not my first choice in breads, but good for what it is supposed to be. This is a very dense bread and the flavors are strong (good, but strong.) I was joking at dinner saying one piece of the bread was a meal in itself... it really is. Mike says this is what they use in an "Irish Breakfast," they pile all sorts of goodness on top of it. I will probably make this again next year.... but most likely not anytime in-between. Maybe we'll try an Irish Breakfast next year.

I found this recipe here on timesunion.com. I did a few things differently, but stuck to the recipe for the most part. Here was my final recipe: Ingredients:

• 3½ Cups flour
• 4 Teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 Cup sugar
• ½ Teaspoon baking soda
• 8 oz. Raisins, softened (soak in hot water, drain)
• ½ Teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon caraway seeds
• 2 Eggs beaten
• 1 Cup sour cream
• ½ Cup buttermilk
• 3 Tablespoons melted margarine
• Oil for brushing
  

Heat oven to 350 F.

Grease and lightly flour 9x9" pan.

Combine wet ingredients in one bowl (not oil) and dry ingredients in another.

Mix wet and dry ingredients together.

Add to greased, floured 9x9” pan and brush with a little oil.

Cut an “X” in the top.

Bake 50 minutes at 350° F **I covered the top loosely in foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent the top from browning too much.

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!

Breaded and Baked Zucchini

We used this as a side dish for a veggie casserole on Meatless Monday this week. It was a huge hit with most everyone (Michael (3) and Joshua (2) preferred to just eat the ranch dip with their fingers instead.... can't win 'em all.

Thomas however begged us to save some for his lunch the next day. Baking is a great, healthy alternative to frying and was much safer for someone like me who hates cooking with hot oil, ouch!

Ingredients:

2 medium zucchini (sliced into 1/4" thick slices)
1 egg
1 Tablespoon milk (I used soy)
3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup ground flax seed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F

Grease a baking sheet well.

Dip zucchini slices in egg mixture and then cover in crumbs and place on your baking sheet.

Bake at 450F for 10 minutes, flip and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

Serve with some ranch for dipping!

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.

Last Minute Pinto Bean Dip

I just got the dry blade attachment for my VitaMix so I was searching for flours to make and other recipes where I could grind stuff up :) I'm terrible about remembering to soak my beans overnight so a recipe using dry pinto beans jumped out at me.

After my first attempt it stayed gritty, the beans just wouldn't cook as I thought might happen. The beans were just too old. So I tossed our old beans and went to the store for some new ones. At the store I was attacked by Girl Scouts who forced cookies upon me. Thin Mints and Samoas... there's really no substitute for either, but I'm tempted to try some day.

Second try with fresh beans this time and some changes to the base recipe and we had a great bean dip to go alongside our Quesadilla Casserole.

Last Minute Pinto Bean Dip:

3/4 cup dry (fresh) pinto beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock (I actually used chicken because it's what I had & the original recipe called for water)
1/2 cup salsa of desired spiciness

You could always garnish with sliced olives, tomatoes, jalapenos or whatever you'd like.

Directions:

Grind dry ingredients in your food processor (or new VitaMix dry blade container!)

Place in a large saucepan and whisk in stock.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Cook an additional 15 minutes or so. Taste it to be sure the beans are done.

Remove from heat and stir in salsa.

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.

Almost Vegetarian Shepard's Pie

I say almost because I'm not entirely sure if there is any actual beef product in beef seasoning... but other than the seasoning it is vegetarian and very good. A wonderful comfort food with tons of texture and flavor.

The ingredients made enough for two casseroles so you can either make two and freeze one or do what I'm going to do and make another casserole in two days (I'll keep the topping and filling separate until then.) I love cooking breakfast on the weekends so having dinner already made makes life easier. And since there were no leftovers of the one I made this will work out nicely.

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 package dry beef stew mix (Bear Creek and some other companies make these).
1 cup barley (soak for 8 hours prior)
1 can chunky tomato sauce
1 cup carrot juice
3 cups beef or vegetable broth (I actually used chicken because that's what I had)
About 3-4 cups Vegetables of your choice - Whatever you have on hand; we used carrots, mushrooms, kale and red bell pepper. I'll leave out the Kale next time as it was really tough, but could've just been that particular bunch.
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon basil

Topping:

6 large yukon gold potatoes (peeled and chopped into quarters)
1 8oz. package cream cheese
1 teaspoon thyme

Directions:

I had all of the filling ingredients cook in the slow cooker all day so all I had to do for dinner was make the topping and bake, but you can also cook your veggies and mix your filling that night.


Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a 2qt. casserole dish.


Cover your peeled and cut potatoes with water and boil for 20 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork. Drain and blend in cream cheese and thyme with a hand mixer.

If you enjoy simplicity like I do and used your slow cooker scoop out half of the filling and fill your casserole dish 3/4 of the way. The other half can be used to make another for freezing.

Top your casserole with half of your mashed potatoes. Use the other half for your other casserole.

Bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes.

Serve with a side of 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 :)

Pizza Night

Usually we just go down the street to our local Papa Murphy's and pick up a take n bake pizza. Tonight I wanted to get the kids involved and let them put their own toppings on... and whatdya know, it saves money too :)

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons agave (or honey)
2 teaspoons quick rise yeast
4 Tablespoons oil
5 cups whole wheat flour

Directions:

Mix water, agave and salt together until dissolved. Pour in yeast and let sit for 10 minutes.

Stir in oil and slowly add flour, mixing one cup at a time until dough forms a nice ball.

Add water or flour a little at a time to reach desired consistency.

Place ball of dough in a well oiled bowl and coat in oil. Cover and let sit for one hour.

Punch dough down and separate into 12 little balls. I made 10, but a few were too big so I'll be making 12 next time. You could spend the extra minute and make them prettier than mine, but you're going to flatten them out anyway right?

Oil and place in an oiled baking sheet to rise for another hour, covered.

On a floured surface use your hands to make each ball into a flat little pizza. Now lets get to the fun part!

While I'd prefer to make my own pizza sauce I had a can of it I needed to use up so to make myself feel better about all the sugar in the canned pizza sauce I added a can of pureed sweet potato (nobody even noticed). Mikes hates sweet potatoes and he loved the pizza. Spread each pizza with 1-2 Tablespoons of sauce.

Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and your favorite pizza toppings... and then a little more cheese because it's good.

Thomas added turkey pepperoni, pineapple and tomato. Michael added turkey pepperoni and pineapple, but later picked off the pineapple. Joshua had turkey pepperoni, black beans and pineapple.

My pizza had spinach,tomato, black beans, bell pepper and turkey pepperoni. It filled a small salad place perfectly and I was stuffed after eating 3/4 of it, probably should've stopped at half.

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 :)

Polenta Pizzas

This recipe came about when I was using a pre-cooked roll of polenta for the first time. I had NO idea what in the world to do with it... but I'm pretty proud of my creative yet simple end result. I made this awhile ago and took pictures because it was pretty, but I don't remember how much of everything I used, so bear with me on the guessing here.

Ingredients:

1 roll of pre-cooked polenta
1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce (homemade usually being healthier and jarred being more practical I went with organic jarred)
Shredded mozzarella cheese.... uhhh let's say 1 cup?
Tofurky sausages OR a topping of your choice
3-4 tomatoes

Okay, a note on the Tofurky sausages..... This was also my first time using them and I will say that while I did eat them, I will not use them again (yuck). I would suggest another topping of choice, maybe spinach, real sausage, bell pepper, mushrooms... or just stick with the tomato.

Directions:

Pre heat oven to 350 F

Slice polenta into circles about 1/4-1/2 inch thick.

**Now I didn't do this the first time, but I think this dish (while it was good) would be better if the polenta was fried a bit first. What dish isn't better by frying it right? So I suggest frying the polenta in very little olive oil on a skillet first to crisp it up a little.

Lay the polenta on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or foil.

Slice the tomato into thin slices (as thick or thin as you prefer). I um... like tomato if you can't tell. Top each circle of polenta with a slice of tomato.

Here is where I sliced the Tofurky sausages and placed two pieces on each slice of tomato. Top the tomato with another topping of your choice or leave as is.

Top each creation with a Tablespoon of tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Place in the oven at 350 F until cheese is melted and golden brown... I really don't remember so set your timer for say.. 20 minutes and come back to check on it :)

Serve with salad and a fruit for a cute and healthy dinner that even the kids will eat. Seriously.. call it pizza and they'll eat it.

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

Chili is an amazing comfort food that CAN be packed full of nutrients. It's a great way to use up leftovers and often tastes better the second day.

Another highly adaptable recipe, I love adaptable recipes. I am NOT going to run out to the store for one item I don't have. I want a recipe that will accept a substitution, chili is great for that.

Ingredients:

1 box organic tomato/roasted red pepper soup (this MADE the chili, use it)

1 can tomato with green chilies

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained

1 scallion, chopped

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

1-2 cups cooked turkey, chopped or use ground

1 Tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon fresh Thyme

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Optional - 1 Tablespoon crushed red pepper I'm not a fan of hot, but if you are that should do it :)

Optional for garnish:

sharp cheddar cheese, grated

avocado <- great source of healthy fats

sour cream

Directions:

Saute mushrooms and onion in the oil until cooked well.

Mix spices with your soup in the slow cooker until well combined. Mix all ingredients in your slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Garnish and enjoy, this is SO GOOD! And so EASY.

Hey look... another fancy video :) I'm so cool.