lasagne

If any of you eat lasagne at a restaurant, I hope you know you're ingesting at least 1500 calories. However, I do know that many of you care more about the authenticity of the dish as opposed to the caloric content. On the other hand, if you read this blog, you're reading because you want healthier versions of food than the ones you are currently eating, for the most part. Anyway, I really enjoyed this meal. I'm not a huge fan of lasagne, but my hubby likes it so I wanted to change things up and make it for him.

Ingredients:
GF brown rice lasagne noodles, about 14 oz box
1 pkg of grass-fed ground beef
1 28 oz can of tomato puree/sauce
4 garlic cloves, at least, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
big handful of spinach, fresh
1 onion, chopped
mushrooms and whatever else you want in the dish
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 T chopped basil
salt
pepper
red pepper
1 small carton reduced fat ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 small bag mozzarella cheese, part skim

For the sauce:
Brown the meat and drain the fat, if any. Add garlic and all veggies and saute until onions are clear. Add the tomato sauce and herbs, salt and pepper.

For the cheese:
Whisk the ricotta cheese and the egg along with a pinch of pepper.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil the pasta according to directions. Layer sauce on bottom of 13x9 inch glassware, thinly. Layer noodles. Layer ricotta cheese, then sauce, then mozzarella. Continue in this order, finishing with mozzarella cheese. Spray aluminum foil with zero fat cooking spray and cover the dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 minutes.

I seriously completely winged this recipe. I have never made lasagne before, but I've eaten it before and I definitely liked this dish. So, if you have some kind of disagreement with the preparation because it's not the way Italians do it or whatever, just remember my goal is to make a healthy meal, not to make an authentic Italian dish. :)

bbq chicken sandwiches

I hate barbecue, and Jake isn't a fan either. However, I remember back when I was kid, we would always go to Sonny's BBQ in Florida, and I loved their barbeque chicken. Omigoodness it was soo delicious. However, I've never had good barbeque outside of that, besides the barbeque at our wedding, which was served by Shane's Rib Shack, which was also quite delicious. The other day, I got a hankering for some tasty barbeque sandwiches. I used my handy dandy "Now Eat This" recipe by Rocco Dispirito for bbq sauce, and poured it over some roasted chicken. Yum! Next time, I will puree some jalapeno into my onion puree before mixing it into the sauce for a little extra kick.

For those of you who aren't familiar with roasting chicken, you simply buy a whole chicken from the store, about 2.5 pounds, rinse it out and off, dry it off with a paper towel, salt and pepper it slightly, stick it in the oven preheated to 425 degrees, and set the timer for 50 minutes. Pull the chicken apart with your fingers and toss the carcass.

Sauce:
1.5 cup Heinz all natural ketchup
1/2 cup onion-garlic puree
   *1 onion roughly chopped, 9 garlic cloves chopped, 1/2 cup water, microwaved for 10 minutes covered in saran wrap, then pureed with food processor until smooth.
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 T dijon mustard
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1 T molasses
2 tsp cane sugar
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp powdered garlic
pinch of pepper and salt
2 T liquid smoke

Combine all ingredients in small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to simmer then reduce the heat to low. Simmer, stirring occasionally until sauce is thick, which will be about 30 minutes.

Pour the sauce over the pulled chicken. Pull out some gluten free buns (I used The Flourless, Grainless Baker which are great) and put some shredded lettuce and whatever else you want on the sandwiches. Pile on the chicken and you've got a wonderful, healthy, low sugar, almost non-fat bbq chicken sandwich. Yum!

home-made granola "bars"

I have this friend, Sam, who is probably one of the most talented athletes I've ever known. Well, he came up with a recipe for his "energy bars" and they were so delicious I had to make them. I simply changed them from white chocolate to dark chocolate and changed up the nuts and seeds and cereal in order to fit my preferences a little more. These are so healthy. I have so many people ask me what the healthiest protein bar is or the healthiest energy bar or granola bar. My answer? None you can find in the store. Sure, there might be some healthy boutique bars at health food stores, but all the ones I've tried I've had to spit out and rinse my mouth out with whatever I had on hand to get the terrible taste out of my mouth. These on the other hand, are all-natural, natural protein, yumminess, and they're so easy!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 bananas

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1 cup almonds slightly crushed

1/2 cup craisins

1/2 cup gluten free cereal, I used brown rice cereal

1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/8 cup pine nuts or sunflower seeds

1/8 cup ground flax seeds

1/4 cup peanuts

1/4 cup walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix banana, egg, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt until banana is pureed.

2. Mix in almonds, craisins, cereal, and all seeds and nuts.

3. Mix in oats and let the mixture soak into the oats for 5 minutes.

4. Fill in a cupcake sheet patting each down until level with the top.

5. Bake in oven at 325 degrees for 12 minutes.

Frosting:

3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

2 heaping tbsp peanut butter

1. Microwave chocolate and peanut butter in glass or porceline bowl for 90 seconds ( make sure to check it and stir it a couple times). Mix to make it smooth and melt.

2. Spread chocolate on top of bars while bars are cooling.

3. Let them cool for a few hours until chocolate is hard.

I like to keep these on hand, in the fridge at home or at work, so that I don't let my energy crash. These will stay good, tightly covered for about a week or a little more. Or, you can freeze them and take out however many you will eat for the next few days and keep those in the fridge so the rest don't go bad. Give these a try, I guarantee you will like them!! Healthiest granola bars you will ever eat!

healthier mac and cheese

Adapted from: Rocco Dispirito's lightened up mac 'n cheese

I have tried many lightened up versions of recipes, and am disappointed with the way the food turns out, more often than not. However, I bought the book, Now Eat This, by Rocco Dispirito. This guy can seriously make bad-for-you food better for you, and actually maintain the good, comforting taste. One of his recipes I tried last night is his macaroni and cheese, and it was pretty delicious. I won't lie, I haven't eaten macaroni and cheese since before I was a teenager, so I'm not much of a connoisseur on it, but this was pretty darn tasty.

Ingredients:
nonstick cooking spray
8 oz. rice macaroni noodles
1/2 cup onion garlic puree (recipe follows)
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
    (cabot 50% less fat to be healthier)
1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
salt
1/4 cup GF breadcrumbs
     (GF panko to make it crunchier)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

onion garlic puree:
In a microwaveable bowl, place 1 roughly chopped yellow onion, 9 cloves of garlic, and 1/2 cup of water. Cover tightly with saran wrap and microwave on high for 10 minutes. Remove wrap carefully, and puree in a processor until smooth.

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 8x8 inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2. Boil rice macaroni noodles according to directions.
3. While pasta is cooking, bring onion-garlic puree, mustard, and cayenne to simmer in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often. Whisk in the cheddar until it has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the yogurt.
4. In medium bowl, toss macaroni with the cheese sauce to coat thoroughly. Season with salt to taste. Pour the macaroni into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the panko or breadcrumbs over the top, along with the parmigiano reggiano.
5. Bake until cheese has melted and macaroni is hot throughout, about 10 minutes.

steak chimichurri

I'm a big fan of steak. No, I don't really like it because red meat for some reason just doesn't taste very good to me... but I'm a fan of the protein and iron that steak is packed with. This recipe is also loaded with antioxidants and doesn't have much sodium at all since it is topped with cilantro and parsley. As usual, the more spices and herbs added, the less salt necessary to make the dish taste good. This recipe only takes a few minutes... 3-4 minutes per side for the steaks on the grill and during that time, you can make the topping for them so that's pretty much 8 minutes! Now tell me you don't have time to make dinner! That's right, you can't.

Sauce: (this will be enough for about 4 steaks)
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup parsley
3 T olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 T red wine vinegar
1 T water
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Blend all sauce ingredients together in food processor and put on top of steaks, once steaks are off the grill.

Steaks:
Season steaks with salt and pepper and grill for about 3-4 minutes per side, or to desired doneness.

Curry me happy

As you all know since I say it all the time, I hate veggies. I can't eat artificial crap because I just can't digest it. I have a super busy life. I love foods so hot they set my mouth on fire. Because of all this, I love this curry.

My mom used to make me Golden Curry pretty often, since she could disguise the veggies and meat with the thick and tasty sauce. This jar of curry is my grown up, healthy version of that box of curry my mom would make for my brother and I. This jar was only $4.29 at Farm Fresh, and you can prepare it in 10 minutes. You simply add the veggies and meat or whatever you want. I use shrimp or chicken and add mushrooms, spinach, onions, garlic, red peppers and carrots. You can do whatever you want with this. I am so happy I stumbled across this jar of goodness, mostly just to show you guys something wonderful you can make in a hot minute when you really don't feel like cooking because you've worked a 15 hour shift and need to go work out for an hour. You can even cut all your veggies up the night before, put in the fridge, and pull it out and dump it in when you get home from work. Walah. Easy! I believe this brand also comes in coconut, and a mild version... if you have a gluten intolerance, make sure to check the other labels because this is the only one I know for sure to be gluten free.

peanut butter crispies

I LOVE peanut butter. I also love rice crispy treats. I found a recipe for these treats in a Woman's Day magazine, and just spruced them up a tad. Enjoy these because there is almost no sugar, being sweetened with molasses and honey, and they also have protein and fiber!

Ingredients:
1 11.5 oz box crispy brown rice cereal (I use Koala Crisp)
2/3 cup natural Peanut Butter- remember, no extra stuff, just peanuts in the ingredients!
2/3 cup honey
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips, melted

Combine the peanut butter, honey, vanilla and chocolate in a saucepan then add to the cereal and mix. Spread into a 13x9 pan or smaller. Cut and enjoy!