Healthier Three Cheese Beef and Ziti

(This is actually a picture of the original recipe, I didn't think to take a picture yesterday when I healthified it!!)

 

 

 

Right now I'm doing the 60 Day Body, Mind and Spirit Challenge (you can find details on it here on April Kennedy's blog).    I love this challenge!!!The challenge includes exercising, clean eating and random acts of kindness every week.  It also has bonus challenges every week, and one of this week's bonus challenges is to make a healthier version of a favorite recipe.  I'm excited about trying this with a lot of our favorite recipes, but today I started with an oldie but a goodie, Three Cheese Beef and Ziti.  It was so easy to healthify it!!  (I made up that word and I don't care if it's not proper English!!)  I swapped out whole wheat pasta for the regular stuff, fat free ricotta for the part skim (I guess low fat cottage cheese could be used also, but YUCK, I hate cottage cheese!!) and ground turkey for the ground beef.  I also put less ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheese in one section of the pan where I got my portion from, but I don't even think that was totally necessary.  It tastes exactly the same as the regular version to me, EXACTLY!  This is a super easy meal that the whole family loves and makes A TON. 

 

**  The original recipe can be found here.

Healthier Three Cheese Beef and Ziti
Recipe from some old Reader's Digest Cookbook from about twenty years ago!


Ingredients:

8 oz. ziti, macaroni, or other small whole wheat pasta (any shape will work!!)
1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (of course I don't add this, are you kidding?  I HATE ONIONS!!!)
1 jar spaghetti sauce
10 oz. frozen french style green beans, or whatever kind you like, partially thawed
1 cup fat free ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded low fat mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese


Directions:

Boil the pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, saute the turkey and onion(bleh) in a large skillet over moderate heat, stirring frequently to break up any clumps, until the turkey is browned - about 5 minutes. Drain off the excess fat. Stir in the pasta sauce and bring to a simmer. Add the green beans, reduce the heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

*** Let me just take a second to confess that I don't ALWAYS add the green beans. I would love for them to be in it, but I get a lot of complaints when I do, and sometimes, I just don't want to deal with that.

Stir in the cooked ziti, then place large spoonfuls of the ricotta on top but not touching. Sprinkle the mozzarella in between. Cover and cook just until the mozzarella melts and the ziti and beans are heated through - about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Sausage Breakfast Casserole

Sausage Breakfast Casserole


Ingredients:

1 1 /2 lb. ground pork sausage
1 package crescent roll dough
2 cups mozzarella cheese
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk

Directions:

Cook the sausage. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease 9X13 pan. Press crescent rolls onto bottom of pan. Cook for 5 minutes. Combine eggs, sausage, cheese, milk, salt and pepper to taste and pour over crescent rolls. Bake for 20 minutes. Check to make sure eggs aren't still runny. Yummy!

Easy Italian Chicken

This is a great Sunday meal!  Put everything in the pan, take a nap, when you wake up dinner is ready!!  Obviously, I don't have very many green beans, but since I'm the only person who is going to eat them, I didn't see the point of cooking up a ton of them.  My kids are potato eaters, so I made a ton of those instead.  I think next time I make this, I will cut the potatoes smaller, so they don't take as long to cook, but other than that I thought this was an easy, delicious meal!!


Easy Italian Chicken


Ingredients:

3 large chicken breasts, cut into halves
8-10 red potatoes, quartered (depending on the size of the potato I would cut these smaller next time)
a bunch of fresh green beans
1 packet Good Seasons Italian dressing mix
1/2 cup butter, melted

Place chicken in the middle of a 9x13 pan. Place potatoes on one side and green beans on the other. Sprinkle dressing mix over everything in the pan. Drizzle melted butter over the top. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour at 350.  (I had to cook this longer because the potatoes weren't done).

Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole

This is another super easy meal for me to make on days I work.  Everybody loved it!!!  It is basically what I call Mormon Potatoes (and everyone in this state morbidly calls Funeral Potatoes), with ham!


Cheesy Hash Brown Casserole
Recipe from Mommy's Kitchen


Ingredients:


1 (26 oz) bag frozen, shredded hash brown potatoes
1 (8 oz) container sour cream
1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup butter, melted
onion, chopped fine (about 1/2 a small onion)(yuck, I skipped this)
1 (16 oz) package cubed ham
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (or a bit more if you like)

Directions:

Stir all the ingredients together. Place into a lightly greased casserole dish (9 x 13 in). This is optional but you can add a bit more cheese on top if you like. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min - 1 hour. Let cool a bit and serve.

Tater Tot Casserole

The kids love this.

Ingredients:

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 soup can of milk
1 lb. hamburger, cooked and drained
1 tbsp. minced onion
Salt and pepper to taste
8 oz. grated cheddar cheese
Tater tots
Green beans (I try adding these every once in awhile)

Mix cooked and drained hamburger with soup and milk. Add onion, salt and pepper. Put in a greased 9X13 pan. Sprinkle with 1 cup of cheese. Layer entire pan with tater tots. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Take out of oven and put 1 more cup of cheese on top, then bake for 5 more minutes.

Jambalaya

This is a recipe passed down from my mom that I LOVE!!! The kids love it too, lucky for me. Thom likes it, not love like the rest of us, so it's not in heavy rotation on our menu. Jambalaya day is such a good day, I will smile non stop the rest of the day!!!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. cooking oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 bell pepper, chopped
Garlic (however much you like)
Small pork sausages, cut up (little smokies)
2 cups cooked, cubed chicken
2 small cans tomatoes
2 cups chicken broth
Parsley (however much you like)
1 tsp. salt
Cayenne pepper (a little bit, or a lot if you like spiciness)
3/4 tsp. thyme
1 1 /4 cup rice

Saute onion, pepper, garlic and sausages until vegetables are tender. Add the chicken and stir. Then add the remaining ingredients and put into a greased 9 X 13 baking pan. Bake covered with foil at 350 for 1 hour or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. WHOO HOO!! JAMBALAYA!!! I LOVE YOU!!!