Lazy Lasagna

I have a love/hate relationship with Rachael Ray and her recipes.  Most of them look pretty good and so easy (hello, 30 Minutes!) but I usually end up an hour and a half later, without a completed dinner, and a hungry baby helping me curse her name.  They aren't every really 30 Minute Meals.

This one, though, came close.  I'd say 45 minutes...and it might have taken less time had I turned the broiler on high and not low!  It was another magazine tear out and turned out to be a keeper.  I usually shy away from anything that calls for a bechamel sauce because I have a hard time getting it thick enough.  Or really, I'm not sure how think it should be...so I think I end up overcooking it.  This time I used skim milk and I'm pretty sure that was a bad idea.  The sauce was very thin and I ended up only using half of it, but the end result was still a winner!

I'm pretty sure this will be our new go-to lasagna recipe.

Lazy Lasagna adapted from Rachael Ray

• 1 lb whole wheat lasagna noodles, broken into pieces
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 onion, diced small
• 1-2 yellow squash, diced into small pieces
• 3-4 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 sprig rosemary, chopped fine
• ground cloves, to taste
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 cups beef stock (note: you can sub in 1 cup white wine...but I didn't want to give mine up)
• 3 T unsalted butter
• 2 rounded T flour
• 2 cups milk (I suggest using whole since my sauce never really thickened the way it should)
• nutmeg, to taste
• shredded mozzarella & parmesan cheese

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook the pasta to al dente.  Drain and set aside.  In a large Dutch Oven, heat 1-2 T of olive oil.  Brown the ground beef & add the onion, veggies, rosemary, garlic, cloves & salt and pepper.  Cook until tender, about 7 to 10 minutes.  Stir in the tomato paste and continue to cook for another minute.  Add in the broth and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes longer. 

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Whisk in the flour and then milk, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  Remove from the heat and season with nutmeg, salt & pepper.

Stir the cooked pasta with the beef mixture and pour into a greased 9*13 dish.  Pour the bechamel sauce over the top and sprinkle with the cheeses.  Broil in the oven until the cheeses have melted and browned.

Beef Stroganoff

A few weeks ago we did an inventory of the freezer to get a handle on what was in there.  A small stack of tenderized round steaks led me to start thinking outside of the "chicken fried steak" box.  Because, guess what, that's not on my diet.  A quick dig through the fridge and online, and I landed on a Weight Watchers recipe for Beef Stroganoff.  Now that I have quite a few more packages of tenderized round steak in the freezer, this will be a good stand by.  Especially since Cooper was a fan and the points value isn't bad for dinner.

Beef Stroganoff adapted from Weight Watchers

• 1 cup canned beef broth, low sodium
• 2 T flour
• 1 t dijon mustard
• salt & pepper
• 2 t olive oil
• 1 small onion, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 T light sour cream
• 2 T fresh parsley, chopped
• 3/4 pound tenderized round steak, sliced into 1/4" strips
• 8 oz whole wheat egg noodles

Cook egg noodles according to package.  Drain and set aside.

Whisk together the beef broth, flour and mustard in a large skillet over medium-high heat until blended smooth.  Continue stirring until the mixture begins to boil and thickens, about 2 minutes.  Pour into a small bowl, set aside.

Wipe the skillet clean and heat the olive oil.  Season the steak with salt and pepper and cook over medium-high heat.  Remove from the skillet and add the onion, stirring until translucent - about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and return the meat to the skillet.  Whisk the broth mixture again and add back to the meat & onion mixture.  Cook until warmed through and remove from heat.  Stir in the sour cream, parsley & noodles.

Note: we're not fans of mushrooms, so I left those out.  If you add them, saute them with the onions.  I'm not sure if it will change the points value.

WeightWatchers PointsPlus: 4 servings, 10 pointsplus

Fontina Mac & Cheese

I have a slight cheese obsession.  That turns into a cheese problem.  I constantly want to buy and try new cheese.  Then I remember I'm on a diet and really, cheese isn't the most diet friendly thing to eat.  So then it sits in the fridge.  This half-eaten block of "fancy" cheese.  Cooper gets some of it, but you can only give a kid so much cheese before you have problems.  Although he'd disagree - the boy loves cheese!
Every once in a while, I try to find a recipe that will help clean out the cheese drawer.  I've been trying to move past the fontina & havarti that have been in the fridge for a few weeks.  After doing my blog-hopping I came across a recipe for Fontina Mac & Cheese over at Annie's Eats.  I knew I didn't have the right amount of fontina, but I figured finishing it with just a little havarti would work.

Mac & cheese is usually something I'm a little afraid of because there is a fine line between it being creamy and dry.  I've screwed up plenty of batches, trust me!  This one, though, turned out to be pretty easy and tasted great.  I made a few changes to make it a little healthier, although I think that changing the cream to half & half will cause it to dry out a little bit.  It was pretty creamy the first night, but for leftovers I'm probably going to add in a little more half & half before baking in small ramekins.

Fontina Mac & Cheese adapted from Annie's Eats

• 1 13.5oz box whole wheat pasta (I went with the shells)
• 5 T unsalted butter, divided
• 1 cup half and half
• 5oz fontina, shredded
• 3oz havarti, shredded
• salt & pepper
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
• 2 T grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400.  Boil the pasta in salted water to just shy of al dente.  In a large bowl, dice 4 tablespoons of the unsalted butter.  Warm the half & half in the microwave or on the stove top and keep warm.  Drain the pasta and pour over the butter.  Stir in the half & half and the cheese until the cheese is melted.  Add in salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Pour the pasta into a baking dish.  Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter and add in the panko.  Pour over the pasta and add shredded parmesan.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top begins to brown.

WW PointsPlus: 8 pts for 10 servings

Lesson: How to get your baby to eat his vegetables

Cooper likes most vegetables, but he can be pretty picky.  Like with green beans and broccoli...not going to happen.  He'll take one bite and spit it right back out.

He does, however, have a passion for cheese.  My child has eaten more varieties of cheese in his 14 months than I did the in the first 14 years of my life.  If he sees the package of cheese come out of the fridge, he starts reaching and grunting until I hand it over.

This weekend I bough some fresh broccoli and was looking for something different (but healthy) to do with it.  We usually roast it, tossing the broccoli in a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar first.  Or we just steam it topped with a little salt and pepper.  I like it steamed but I wanted something different.  Cue the cheese sauce below.  It is actually a Cooking Light recipe, so score!  I have a love/hate relationship with cheese sauces that start with "stir milk into flour over medium heat."  I usually end up with clumpy flour and non-melted cheese.  This time, though, was a success!  We loved the sauce and it was so easy.

But the best part - Cooper ate his broccoli!  We were hesitant to let him try it, but he was a fan.  Lesson learned.  If you want your baby to eat his vegetables, then cover them in cheese.

The only downside to this recipe is that it makes quite a bit and leftover broccoli isn't that great. 

Broccoli with Cheddar Sauce adapted from Cooking Light

• 1/2 T flour
• 1/2 cup skim milk (I ended up adding a little more than 1/2 a cup)
• 1/4 cup fresh shredded 2% cheddar cheese
• 2 T grated parmesan cheese
• about 1/2 t Dijon mustard
• salt & pepper
• a pinch of ground thyme
• steamed broccoli

Place flour into a sauce pan and gradually stir in milk.  Over medium-high heat, stir until milk is smooth and it begins to bubble and thicken.  Continue to heat for an additional minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from the head and stir in remaining ingredients.  Pour over steamed broccoli.

WW PointsPlus: 2 PP per serving

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

I've made a butternut squash soup before that is pretty good, but this one was much easier!  And it had a different taste to it. 

Curried Butternut Squash Soup from Weight Watchers

• 3lbs butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
• 2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
• 29 oz chicken broth
• 1 1/2 t curry powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425.  Place squash, onion & broth in a large dish and bake for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.  Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes. 

In a small skillet, toast the curry powder over medium heat until fragrant, about 15 minutes.  Add the curry powder, salt & pepper to the veggies and puree.  I used an immersion blender to puree the vegetables, but you can also use a food processor or a blender.

We served this over light 4 cheese ravioli (Cooper was a fan!) with a salad.  You can also add a little sour cream and green onion.

WW Points: 3 (without ravioli) for 3/4 cup soup and 2 t fat free sour cream

Pumpkin Pasta

A few weeks ago I flipped through a magazine at my mom's house.  I came across a recipe for Pumpkin Pasta and it sounded pretty good.  To me.  Jason made this gagging noise when I told him about it.  But, being the good boy he is, he agreed to try it...and order pizza if needed.

Last week I picked up the stuff at the grocery store and...it was approved.  We adjusted the recipe a little bit, but next time I make it I'd really like to try sticking with the way it was written.  I doubled the amount of sausage and added more pasta, so it wasn't quite as pumpkiny.  And the second night I added in more seasoning - mostly pepper and a little oregano.

Pumpkin Pasta

• 8oz Italian Sausage (I used 16oz sweet Italian turkey sausage)
• 1 can pumpkin
• 5 sage leaves, chopped
• 8 oz rotini pasta (I used whole wheat)

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.  Saute the sausage until brown in a little oil.  Add in the chopped sage leaves, saute for another minute.  Stir in 1 cup of pasta water and the pumpkin.  Drain the pasta and toss everything together.  As mentioned, I added in some salt & pepper, plus a little oregano, for some added flavor.  It has a creamy texture - almost like penne a la vodka without the tomatoes.

WW PointsPlus: 8 PP per serving, 4 servings

Chicken & Spinach Pasta

When I joined WW last week I spent some time looking for easy recipes to cook and plugging the ingredients into WW to get a points value.  This was the first recipe I tried and all three of us loved it.  Yes, I gave Cooper a few bites both nights we had this for dinner.

Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake adapted from MyRecipes.com

• 8oz uncooked whole wheat penne
• 1  T  olive oil
• 1  cup chopped onion
• 1  10oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 3  cups cubed cooked chicken
• 1  14.5oz can Italian-style diced tomatoes
• 1  8oz container light chive-and-onion cream cheese
• 1/2  t salt
• 1/2  t  pepper
• 1 1/2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375.  Cook pasta according to the package.  Saute onions in olive oil until tender.  I actually cooked the chicken & onions together.  Transfer chicken & onions to a bowl.  Drain spinach and add to chicken.  Stir in pasta, cream cheese, tomatoes, salt & pepper.  Stir well and spoon into a 9*13 baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.  Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese, cover and bake for 30 minutes.  Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.

Next time I will make a point to spread the spinach out a little more.  Some bites were all spinach and others...not so much.  I think I could also add another can of tomatoes to add a little more veggies.

6 Servings, WW points: 7 UPDATED 3/2011 - 9 Weight Watchers PointsPlus