Slutty Low-Carb “Pasta”

Slutty Low-Carb “Pasta”

 

I have been seeing recipes all over Pinterest that require the use of a tool that cuts veggies into spiral noodles. I gave in and bought one months ago, yet it sits in my kitchen in the original packaging begging to be used. Well…until tonight that is! I was inspired by a recipe I pinned on my Lighter Fare board. I went to the grocery store with my weekly menu in hand and when I came home, I couldn’t wait to get started on my creation.

 

This is a low carb, sugar free, delicious meal that combines delicious veggies, ground turkey and a little bit of heat. The outcome ….. I can’t even tell you how good this was.  The name for this recipe is pulled from the inspiration recipe on pinterest. Spaghetti alla Puttanesca is an old school Italian recipe that translates into “spaghetti a la whore”. The name works and it’s catchy so I decided to keep it.

 

So let’s get started. This was enough for me to have dinner and lunch the next day.

2 ripe zucchini’s

97% fat free ground turkey (I used ½ pound)

Olive Oil

½ cup diced red bell pepper

¼ cup diced yellow onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon capers

Pine nuts

Lemon juice

15oz can of fire roasted tomatoes, diced (not drained)

Seasonings

 

To start, brown your ground turkey in a pan (add a touch of olive oil if the meat sticks to your pan). Season with sea salt, pepper, dehydrated onion and garlic powder. Add in red bell pepper and onions and cook until turkey is cooked through and veggies are translucent. Toss in a handful of pine nuts and cook for a few minutes to sort of toast them. Add in garlic and capers, cook for a few more minutes.  Add the can of tomatoes and turn up the heat to medium high. Once the skillet is pretty hot, squirt some fresh lemon juice around the inside edge of the pan and stir. I love adding lemon to tomato sauces/mixtures because it really brightens up the flavor of the veggies. Turn down to medium and let simmer while you cut the zucchini noodles.

 

Use your spiral veggie cutter to cut 2 zucchinis (wash and dry them first). Once the sauce is hot and bubbly, I add just a pinch of red pepper flakes and toss. Put your “noodles” in a bowl, top with a few ladles full of the tomato sauce and garnish with parmesan cheese.

 

You could add other veggies as you see fit. Mushrooms would be delightful, other bell peppers, asparagus even. The possibilities are endless. Then you could change up the spices to make the flavor completely different.

 

 

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Easy and Delicious Roasted Cauliflower

Prior to finding some inspiration on Pinterest for roasted cauliflower, I had only eaten those delicious white trees raw. My mom makes a very lovely cauliflower salad and we had it at picnics and such growing up. But I had never before eaten cooked cauliflower. I was browsing Pinterest a few months back and saw a lot of recipes for roasted cauliflower and curiosity struck. It was, by fate, because I had ribs cooking and was looking for a side dish that was delicious and easy. This fit the bill.

We wer delightfully surprised at how wonderful this was. And it really is simple and quick. When a recipe is delicious AND easy, it's a winner in my book.

I hope you enjoy this!

Garlic Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

*yields 4-6 servings when served as a side dish

1 medium sized head of cauliflower, rinsed and bulb removed, cut into bite sized florets

3 large cloves of garlic, thinly sliced

1/3 cup olive oil (maybe a tad less)

3 T fresh lemon juice (about half of a large lemon)

1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

4 T grated parmesan cheese

1) Heat oven to 450* and put cauliflower into a large bowl that you can mix in.

2) In a small bowl, mix together the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and better and whisk until combined. The lemon juice will turn the olive oil into a thicker consistency.

3) Pour mixture over cauliflower and stir until it is all coated.

4) If you wish to, line your baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lay the cauliflower in a single layer on the sheet and top with parmesan cheese.

5) Roast at 450* for 25 minutes, stir half way through.

When it comes out, I like to sprinkle a little more cheese on the top of it and serve immediately while it is hot for the best results!

If you have leftovers (which I highly doubt you will) to reheat, place under the broiler for a few minutes, stirring often to avoid burning.

*photo and recipe (slightly altered) from www.oneperfectbite.blogspot.com



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Lightened Up, Kicked up Baked Pasta

If you're like me, a simple pasta dish is always a great meal to have on deck for those busy week nights. But all too often for me, I have hopes of something being delicious and it falls short of my expectations. I adapted this recipe from one I saw on a recipe site that I frequent...a lot. It's probably considered stalking at this point lol. But it looked delicious and easy and I just needed to give it a try. From start to finish this dish took about 35-45 minutes (and most of that time was in the oven

The verdict: IT WAS AWESOME!!! It simply was awesome. And even better for leftovers the next day. And since its lightened up, you won't find yourself having to run 121 miles to burn it off. I hope you enjoy!!

Lightened Up, Kicked up Baked Pasta

 

1/4 C. Parmesan Cheese

8 oz. Fat Free Ricotta

8 oz Part Skim shredded Mozzarella Cheese

13 oz Hot Italian Sausage, casings removed

Box of high fiber Penne Pasta

Olive Oil

3 Cloves of Garlic, chopped

6-8 Cups fresh Kale, stems removed and roughly chopped

Salt and Pepper

1 1/2 jars of your favorite Marinara Sauce

1) Preheat your oven to 375 Degrees. Using your Misto (or favorite cooking spray), spray a glass casserole dish

2) Cook your noodles according to package directions, but remove 4 minutes before they would be Al Dente

3) In a medium bowl, combine together the Ricotta and half the mozzarella cheese and half of the parmesan cheese.

4) While your noodles are cooking, heat a deep skillet on medium high heat. Add the sausage and break up into rough pieces until it is cooked. Remove from pan and set aside. Using a little bit of the grease from the sausage, sauté the garlic for a minute or two. Add in the kale, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 8 minutes. If you use spinach you will only need to cook it for a minute or two. Add the sausage back into the pan and add the marinara sauce. Cook on low for about 5 minutes to incorporate all of these wonderful flavors.

5) Once the noodles are done, drain them and place half of them in the glass casserole dish. Use a little less than half of your sauce mixture and coat the noodles then top them with the ricotta mixture. Then add in the remainder of the noodles and use the rest of the sauce to coat those. Top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese that you set aside and cover with aluminum foil.

6) Bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 8-10 minutes to melt the cheese.

When I serve this, I garnish it with a little bit more parmesan cheese and some red pepper flakes.



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Lightened Up Corn and Potato Chowder

When it comes to soup, I like very much prefer broth based soups over its cream based competitors. I love the comfort of soup but I don't think you need to load a soup with calories and fat for it to be delicious. This is the reason I've never had a love affair with cream of _____  or  _____ chowder or ____bisque....you get my drift.

But I was inspired by a lightened chowder recipe that I got in one of my Weight Watchers Weekly's that I got from a meeting last fall and thought I'd use it as a starting point.

I made it my own by switching up a few things and the end result was a delicious, hearty soup that didn't add inches to my waist line. That's a win-win in my book!!  (Picture courtesy of this website)

Fall Harvest Skinny Corn Chowder

2 medium potatoes (for ease, I opted for the microwavable ones)

1 medium sized Zucchini

1/3 cup chopped onion (i used a Vidalia onion but white would work too)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 c. Roasted Red Bell Peppers, diced

1/3 c. celery, chopped

1 Bag frozen corn (regular sized bag)

6 Strips thick cut bacon, diced

2 C. Skim Milk

1 c. low fat chicken broth (more or less depending on how thick/runny you like your soup) 

Sea Salt and Pepper, to taste

Hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper, to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

1) Microwave potatoes per directions on the package. If you use regular potatoes, pierce them with a fork and cook in the microwave on high for about 8 minutes, or until tender. Move on to step 2 while this is cooking.

2) Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Cook bacon until it is crispy. Place on paper towel to allow oil to drain off of it. Drain oil from the skillet but reserve 1 T or so to cook vegetables in. Place celery, onion and zucchini in skillet and cook in oil until tender but slightly crisp. Add frozen corn and roasted red peppers during the last two minutes to bring to temp.

3) In a soup pot on medium heat, pour milk, chicken broth, garlic, bacon, cooked veggies, salt and pepper, and hot sauce. Cut cooked potatoes in spoon-sized chunks (really a preference thing). Reserve 5-6 chunks, and add the remaining potatoes to the pot. Mash the reserved potatoes and add mash to the soup pot. Simmer for 30-40 minutes to allow all the flavors to marry. Do not bring to a boil (you don't want to ruin the milk).
4) Bowl it up and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese and enjoy!!

(soup is so hard to judge how much it makes because bowl sizes vary. This recipe makes 3/4 of a normal size pot)

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