Pasta with Italian Sausage & Caesar Salad

This is such a tasty and filling meal and super affordable, especially if you can find the sausages on sale like we did!

Ingredients

• 1 medium red bell pepper, medium dice
• 5 lean turkey Italian turkey sausages, casings removed
• 1/2C low fat ricotta
• 29oz canned tomato puree
• 1 TBSP dried oregano
• 1/2C chopped fresh basil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 6C cooked whole wheat pasta

We love this dish because it is SO fast to prepare and cook!

Directions
Heat a skillet over high heat (non-stick or sprayed with a bit of olive oil cooking spray) and add your sausages. Use the back of a wooden spoon to break up the meat. You still want it to have fairly large bits. After 8-10minutes, add your diced red bell pepper with a pinch of kosher salt and cook for an additional five minutes.

In a separate pot over medium heat, add your garlic, canned tomato puree, oregano, salt, pepper, and ricotta. Cook this mixture for five minutes. Then add in your Italian sausage and red bell pepper mixture. Stir to combine.

In a bowl place 1C of the pasta and top with 1/2C of sauce.

The sauce makes 8 servings of 1/2C each, for those doing Weight Watchers, each serving of sauce is three points.

I also thought that a homemade Caesar salad would be super tasty as well!

Dressing Ingredients

• 1oz Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2C low fat buttermilk
• 3TBSP light sour cream
• 1tsp anchovy paste
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

This makes 15 servings (1 serving = 1TBSP) which is 0 points for Weight Watchers.

Salad Ingredients

• 4 pieces of light wheat toast, cubed
• 1/2oz Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 romaine heart, cut into bite sized pieces

The salad makes three servings!

Directions
In a small bowl, combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk until everything is combined. Let sit for at least ten minutes to develop the flavor. In a separate larger bowl, add your salad ingredients and top with 4TBSP of dressing.

I hope everyone tries these recipes out and enjoys them!

Pumpkin Chili

This is a really filling, affordable, delicious meal! The leftovers can be used in so many ways (if you have any leftover!) so it’s also versatile!

Ingredients

• 2 medium bell peppers, chopped
• 3 small onions, chopped
• 3 medium stalks of celery , chopped
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
• 1 cup fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 15 oz canned kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 15 oz canned black beans
• 28 oz canned diced tomatoes
• 29 oz canned tomato sauce
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 cup cilantro, chopped
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Garnishes

• Avocado tossed with kosher salt and lime juice
• Corn tortillas baked in the oven until crispy
• 2% Shredded sharp cheddar
• Light sour cream
• Chopped cilantro
• Diced red onion

Directions
In a large pot on high heat, add your celery, bell pepper, onion, garlic, ground cumin, chili powder, kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Cook until the vegetables are softened, approx five minutes.

Then add everything else except for the cilantro. Add more kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to season the new additions. Simmer on a medium heat for around twenty minutes, stirring often. Add your cilantro, and simmer for another five minutes. Then it’s ready to serve!

Each serving is 1cup and this makes 11 servings. For those doing WeightWatchers, it’s 2pts per serving. If you omit the garnish of shredded cheese, this dish is also vegan! Hope you all enjoy!

Vegetable Penne

I love this dish because it’s so quick to make, so fresh, and I am a sucker for fresh basil (and lots of cheese)!

Ingredients

• 1 pint of grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (28oz)
• 3 zucchini, quartered
• 2 balls of fresh mozzarella, cubed
• 1 cup of fresh basil, chopped
• 1 TBSP garlic, finely minced
• 2 TSP olive oil
• 2 TBSP dried oregano
• 1lb dried penne
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 C grated Parmesan

Directions

Cook your pasta until al dente. Put your cubed mozzerella into the freezer (a trick so it doesn’t melt so fast in the dish).

In a large sauce pot add your oil and crank the heat up to high. Wait until the oil is really hot and add your zucchini, do not stir as you want the vegetable to get a bit golden brown. After a few minutes add some salt, pepper, and the garlic and stir. Again wait a few minutes to get the other side golden brown.

Once the zucchini is golden, add all of your tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper, and Parmesan cheese. Cook for around 10 minutes, add your basil, and cook an additional 3 minutes.

Toss with your penne, add the cubed mozzarella cheese and let sit for 2 – 5 minutes. Serve with garlic bread if you have it.

So delicious!

Recipe: Steak Stirfry

I saw the steaks during our grocery shopping trip and immediately thought of stir fry!

This meal was easy to prepare, quick to cook, and affordable!

Ingredients

• 2 top round steaks, trimmed of fat
• 2 medium red bell pepper, sliced
• half of a large red onion, sliced
• 2 limes, juiced
• 2 TBSP garlic, minced
• 1 pint of grape tomatoes
• 3 TBSP fresh ginger, grated
• 1/2 C soy sauce
• 1 carrot, julienned
• 1/2 C cilantro, chopped
• 1 bunch of scallions, chopped
• 1/2 C bean sprouts
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 C water
• 3 C cooked white rice (or you can use brown if you have it!)

Directions
Have your warm cooked rice on standby, we do it in our rice cooker which is a fantastic device!

In a bowl, mix together the garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and lime juice. This is your sauce for the stir fry.

Season BOTH sides of the steak very well with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, turn your pan (I used our non-stick pan sprayed with olive oil) on high heat and get the pan SUPER hot as you need to sear your meat.

Once the pan is very hot, carefully place both steaks in the pan and DO NOT touch the steaks. Cook on the first side for 4 minutes, flip the meat and cook an additional 2 minutes. Take off the heat to your cutting board and let rest while you cook the veggies.

Toss in the still hot pan your onion, bell pepper, and carrot. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for about 2 minutes. Add the water and using a wooden spoon, scrape up the brown bits from the meat (FLAVOR!). Add the tomatoes, bean sprouts, and cilantro. Cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables are still a bit crisp but no longer raw.

Add your sauce and scallions to the vegetables and cook for an additional 3 minutes. During this time slice your meat against the grain VERY thinly. A serrated edged blade works best for this.

To assemble per serving, put a few scoops (1/2 C or so) of rice into your bowl, top with the vegetable mixture (1/2 C), and 5 – 7 strips of steak.

To veganize this dish, eliminate the meat and use firm tofu marinated in some extra sauce (garlic, ginger, lime juice, and soy sauce) for about 10 minutes before cooking it.

Recipe: Keith’s Banana Bread

This is the ultimate banana bread that my awesome boyfriend bakes often. My oldest son and I just can’t get enough! So delicious!

This recipe will make 3 loaves of fantastic banana bread.

Ingredients

• 6 C unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 C sugar
• 4 1/2 TSP baking soda
• 1 1/2 TSP kosher salt
• 14 bananas, mashed (he uses a potato masher as you want lumps)
• 3 sticks of butter (oh yes, real butter!), melted
• 3 TSP real vanilla extract
• 1 TSP rum extract (he says this is optional)
• 1/2 TSP ground cinnamon
• 9 TBSP sour cream (which is 1/2 C + 1 TBSP)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the largest mixing bowl you have, mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt) using a whisk to aerate and combine. In the second largest mixing bowl you have, mix your wet ingredients (melted butter, bananas, vanilla extract, rum extract, and sour cream), until just barely combined. You want those tasty banana lumps!

Pour the wet ingredients into the “dry” bowl, stir to just combine, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl often. Let batter sit for ten minutes then pour into your greased loaf pans.

Bake for one hour at 350 degrees, test with a toothpick. If it comes out gooey, bake for an additional 5 minutes until the toothpick comes out 95% clean as the bread will continue to bake internally as it cools.

After bread is done, remove from the oven, and release bread from the pan onto a cooling rack. Cool for thirty minutes before slicing and topping with butter. Awesome butter.