Stacked Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas

Recipe From: found on Pintrest, here's the original page

Ingredients & Directions: please click link above

Rating: pretty tasty
Warming Up:
Notes:

• I didn't use the poblanos, and used a green pepper instead.
• I'll probably use less cumin next time.
• I baked in a 11"x7" baking dish and got 6 servings.

WW PointsPlus*: as I prepared, 10.

Eggplant Parmesan

Recipe From: My cousin Cari

Ingredients:
Eggplant
Eggs
Flour
Milk
Parmesan cheese
Oil
Optional ingredients: pasta sauce and shredded cheese

Directions:
1. Put your oil in a shallow pan and start to heat.
2. Mix eggs, milk, flour, and shredded parmesan cheese until it is a paste like consistency.
For one eggplant I typically use 2 eggs, maybe about 1/2c of milk and 1/4c cheese. Then I add enough flour to get to paste.
3. Remove peel from eggplant and slice eggplant in to disks.
4. Set disks on a piece of paper towel, flipping to the other side after a few seconds.
5. Dredge eggplant disks in the paste-like mixture and fry in hot oil.
It is important to make sure the oil is hot before frying.
6. Flip once so both sides are golden brown.

Optional steps:
7. Cover the bottom of a pan with pasta sauce.
8. As eggplants are cooked, layer them in the pan, like lasagna noodles - alternate eggplant, shredded cheese, sauce.
I normally make an 11x7 pan out of one eggplant, with about 4 layers.
9. Bake pan until cheese is melted and everything is heated through.

Rating: SO good!
Warming Up: Warms relatively well, eggplant gets slightly soggy, but still delish!
Notes:
You can leave the skin on before slicing, it's a matter of taste.
The disks can also be enjoyed on their own, out of the pan, over pasta or just with a side of sauce.

Squash Mac 'n Cheese

My grandfather was a chef (his pictures joins mine in the header of this blog) and made the best homemade mac 'n cheese I've ever had. But, like many chefs, he didn't write down many recipes and I have been trying for years to match the recipe I had on sleepovers to my grandparents' house (his mac was SO good I'd pick at it and eat it cold all night). While the following recipe doesn't even come close to matching his, I truly believe that my appreciation of a good bowl of mac 'n cheese started with my grandpa, whose laughter and cooking I continue to miss.

(On a side note, my house smells like his would while his mac was baking - more than any other version I've made.)

Recipe Adapted From: Skinny Bitch in the Kitch

Ingredients:
1 pound wheat elbow macaroni
2 10 oz packages frozen, pureed winter squash

 

Bubbly and delicious!

2 cups skim milk
4 oz shredded, reduced fat cheddar cheese
2 oz shredded, reduced fat marble jack cheese
4 oz fat free cream cheese
1 1/2 tsp powdered mustard
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 c wheat bread crumbs
2 Tbsp Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Spray a 2-quart casserole dish.
2. In a pan, bring water to a boil, add salt, and cook the macaroni according to directions.
3. In another saucepan, over medium heat, combine squash and milk. Stir and break up the squash, eventually bringing it to a simmer.
4. Remove sauce from heat and add cheeses, mustard, and pepper.
5. When the pasta is done, drain, and add to the sauce.
6. Transfer everything to the baking dish.
7. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Top the pasta with this mixture.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, then broil for 2-3 minutes, until the top is browned.

Rating: one of my favorites!
Warming Up: warms up as well as any other pasta dish
Notes:

• I don't tend to buy the frozen squash for this recipe, and instead use leftover acorn squash I bake for a different meal.
• I have never found wheat bread crumbs, so I make my own with wheat bread in my food processor. This time I also put chunks of Parmesan in the food processor with the wheat bread instead of using shredded or ground Parmesan.
• For pasta I use rigatoni because I think it does a great job of sucking up the cheese.

Upside-Down Pizza Remix

This weekend I decided to revisit the Upside-Down Deep Dish Pizza recipe. I really liked the original way of making it, but thought I'd switch it up a little this time.

The changes I made:

• added green onions to the meat and cooked them a little before adding the sauce
• mixed low-fat ricotta cheese with the broccoli instead of using mozzarella on top
• used refrigerated crescent sheet instead of pizza crust
• added sliced tomatoes and a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan cheese to the top before baking

This version did need to bake longer - I'm not sure if it was the crescent rolls topping or the tomatoes on top, but I think I ended up baking at 375 for 35-40 minutes, just check on it while it's baking.

This time the dish was equally as delicious and I used the extra crescent sheet to experiment with appetizer options. Maybe I'll have to do a post about that sometime soon. :)

Egg Bake

Recipe From: my mom

Ingredients:
8 eggs
2 cups small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup melted oleo
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar
1 1/2 cups shredded swiss
4 oz mushrooms
1/2 cup diced onion
1 lb browned sausage

Directions:

1. In a bowl, beat eggs until foamy.
2. Add cottage cheese, oleo, flour, and baking powder. Mix well.
3. Stir in cheeses, mushrooms, onions and sausage.
4. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake, covered, at 350 for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake another 10 minutes.

Rating: Delizioso!
Warming Up: warms up well.
Notes:

• My latest variation of this recipe is to use one container of egg substitute (equivalent of 7 eggs), one small container of low fat, small curd cottage cheese, reduced fat cheddar, no mushrooms, green onions, and turkey bacon.
• I typically make this and bake it in muffin tins. Then I freeze these mini-bakes for warming up later.

WW PointsPlus*: 4 (based on latest variation, making 18 muffin-sized bakes)

Baked Penne with Chicken and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Recipe From: Everyday Food - MarthaStewart.com

Click on above link for ingredients and directions. 

Rating: Good stuff!
Warming Up: Warms up as good as any other cream & cheese based pasta dish, maybe a little better. Doesn't lose it's flavor, almost as good as day one.
Notes: I used wheat pasta (as always), pre-cooked chicken breast, a combination of fat free half-and-half and skim milk, and did not include the mushrooms. However, this time I did use regular cheese since I couldn't find the types I needed in reduced fat.
While this says you can make two and freeze one, I just cut the recipe in half and made one dish. It fit in an 8x8 glass dish.

Upside-Down Deep Dish Pizza

Recipe From: Ragu advertisement

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 jar Ragu Pasta Sauce
1 package (10 oz) frozen, chopped broccoli, thawed and squeezed dry (optional)
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can (11 oz) refrigerated pizza dough

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef in skillet, drain. Season. Stir in pasta sauce, bring to a boil. Put into a 2-quart baking dish.
2. Top with broccoli, then cheese. Press dough over dish, sealing edges.
3. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until crust is golden. Let stand 10 minutes.

Rating: Delizoso! 
Warming Up: Warms up really well, tastes just as good (if not better).
Notes:

• I used ground turkey and reduced fat cheese to make this a little healthier and lower in fat.  And, of course did use broccoli.
• I did not use Ragu sauce, I would suggest using any jar of pasta sauce you like, since this was from a Ragu ad that's why the recipe calls for Ragu.
• I couldn't find a 11 oz pizza crust (only a bigger size), so just discard what you don't need to cover your baking dish.

Chicken Strata

Recipe From: People Magazine (Art Smith - chef of Chicago's Table Fifty-Two)

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 celery ribs, finely chopped
6 oz asparagus, woody stems discarded, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 cup water
4 cups cubed, cooked chicken (1 inch cubes)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
6 large eggs (I used egg substitute.)
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped chives
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
6 cups cubed French bread (1 inch cubes)
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I used reduced fat cheese.)

Directions:

1. Heat butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and celery and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add asparagus and water and cover. Cook until asparagus is crisp-tender - about 3 minutes. Uncover and cook until all liquid is evaporated - about 2 minutes. Transfer vegetables to a large bowl.
2. Add chicken and mayonnaise, mix well. Whisk milk, broth, eggs, herbs, and spices in another bowl.
3. Lightly butter a 13 x 9 glass baking dish. Spread half of the bread cubes in dish; top with chicken mixture. Spread remaining cubes over chicken. Pour egg mixture over ingredients in dish. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 10 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350. Bake strata for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake until it is melted - about 15 minutes more. Let stand for 5 minutes, serve hot.

Rating: Pretty good.
Warming Up: Not a problem, still tastes good.
Notes: This would be a good Thanksgiving leftovers recipe to use the extra turkey and bread from the holiday.