Turkey Lasagna with Zucchini "Noodles"

I've been alternating between stalling to write this post (via goofing around on the Internet) for most of the afternoon. Really, I guess I've been thinking about how to preface this post. It's not that this recipe wasn't good--it was--I just had some technical difficulties with it. I want to be truthful about my experience with this recipe, so here it goes.

I'm not sure if it was the recipe that wasn't solid, or my cooking skills last night. Either way, I had issues, man!

Okay, first the positives...The overall flavor was great, and it was SBD Phase 1 friendly. No one (read: my family) complained about not having actual "noodles" and I loved that this was a more healthful version of standard lasagna. I would give this an A+ for a flavor grade.

Now, the not-so-positives...

It. was. a. soupy. mess. Seriously, like super-soupy. (Haha! Say that three times fast...super-soupy, super-soupy, super-soupy.)

I followed the directions fairly precisely, but it is possible that I messed it up somewhere along the way. In the photo you can see the excess, watery sauce along the edges of the pan. I'm not sure how to fix that, since I did bake the zucchini slices as prescribed. Maybe my sauce itself was watery???? I don't know. The texture did not affect the flavor, but it did impede on my desire to have a clean kitchen. I had watery sauce everywhere, including bubbled over in the bottom of my oven. Once the food got on the plate, it looked pretty messy. Thankfully, we're not sticklers about presentation at my house.

Aside from the lack of neatness, this was good. I even had leftovers today for lunch, and it was still very tasty. I'm just mad that it was watery, I guess. Oh well! Like I said, that could just have been my issue and I wouldn't let my result deter you from making this yummy, filling, and very satisfying low-carb lasagna.

Turkey Lasagna with Zucchini "Noodles"
Adapted From: the Dashing Dish website
(Here is the link: http://www.dashingdish.com/2011/01/no-noodles-about-it-the-best-low-carb-lasagna/)

Ingredients:
For the Noodles:
6 large zucchini*, cut lengthwise into 1/8 inch strips, should resemble thick lasagna type “noodles”. (*SEE NOTE)

For the Meat Sauce:
1.25 lb lean ground turkey meat
1 lb. of Italian sausage (I used pork)
1 large onion, diced
2 cups fresh mushrooms
1/2 can tomato paste
1/2 (25 ounce) jar of spaghetti sauce (I used one with 70 calories per 1/2 cup serving)
5 cloves garlic, minced)
Salt and pepper, or to taste
*Optional seasoning: 2 tbs of Italian Seasoning (i.e. dried thyme, oregano, basil)

For the Cheese Layer:
1 (16 ounce) container light cottage cheese (or light ricotta cheese)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

*NOTE: If you don’t want to use zucchini for the ‘noodles’, you could also use a large eggplant, cut lengthwise into 1/8 inch strips, or 1 box no-boil lasagna noodles!

Directions:

For the noodle layer:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray, arrange zucchini slices and season with salt and pepper. Bake zucchini slices for 5 minutes on each side, then remove from oven. Set zucchini slices aside and lower oven temperature to 375 degrees.

For the meat sauce layer:
In a large non-stick skillet, cook meat until it’s browned. To the skillet, add the veggies, seasonings, garlic, and spaghetti sauce. Add tomato paste. Simmer for about 10 minutes or until veggies start to soften, stirring occasionally.

For the cheesy layer:
Mix the cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese together (skip this step if using ricotta.)

Put it all together:
Spray a 9×13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Begin by spreading 1/3 of the meat sauce in the bottom of the pan. Follow meat sauce with a layer of zucchini slices, followed by a layer of cottage (or ricotta) cheese. Repeat the layers until casserole dish is full. Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the top. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour.Remove foil and bake or broil another 5-10 minutes until cheese is browned. Remove from oven and let rest for about 10 minutes before slicing, and serve warm!



The Results:
Tasty, but moist. (See above rant.)

Flax & Parmesan Pizza

Hello, post-moving/post-going to the gym sporadically/post-holiday/post-eating free-for-all/post-2011 butt jiggle. I am not happy to see you. This is a warning: you are not my friend, trunk-junk...so don't get too comfy back there. We will not be having a long-term relationship.

That was my oh-so-humorous attempt at letting you know I've gained 10 lbs. in the past few months. (Insert sad face here.) Well, I didn't have enough motivation to get rid of it before Christmas; but after a miserable half marathon performance by yours truly, I AM motivated to get rid of it now. Enter, South Beach Diet-Phase 1. Yes, I've flirted with SBD before. Yes, I had mixed feelings about it. This time, I just wanted to kick start the scale to move in the correct direction (i.e. down!). SBD is a healthy, fairly easy way to cut back on carbs and make the weight numbers get smaller.

Thankfully, Pinterest is around. There are tons of low carb food choices available on that website. We love pizza around here, and I was thrilled to find a low (net) carb version that was high in fiber. We topped our pizza with some sauteed veggies and a wee bit of bacon, but I'll get to that in a minute down in the 'ingredients' section. This was a great alternative to traditional pizza crust and one that I will make again when I need to take it easy on the carbs.

Flax & Parmesan Pizza
From: the I Breathe...I'm Hungry... blog via Pinterest

Ingredients:
1 cup flax meal (ground flax seeds)
2 eggs
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
pinch of salt

Toppings:
pizza sauce (marinara)
mozzarella cheese, shredded
provolone cheese, shredded
sauteed onions, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and zucchini
5 slices of thick cut bacon, chopped up
grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Press onto greased cookie sheet about 1/3 inch thick in a circle. Bake in a preheated 350 degree (F) oven for 8 minutes. Remove. Add toppings of your choice (see above for mine). Bake for another 15 minutes at 350. Remove from oven, cool, and eat.



The Result:
The husband and I loved this pizza, but not so much for my kiddos. I think the dark crust appearance threw them for a loop, and they poo-poo'd it a bit. Which is really just too dang bad; because kids or no kids, we (adults) really dug this version of low carb pizza and I am sure I will make it again.

Crunchy Garlic Chicken

As promised, I found this dinner on my camera. I never would have remembered we had this unless I looked through my photos! As my memory serves, this dinner was good, but pretty standard. Basically, a healthy version of fried chicken strips. My kiddos loved it, and the roasted spaghetti squash was a fun side to go with it. I should have made some sort of dipping sauce to go with it, but I think my little ones just used ketchup. Overall, I will probably make this recipe again when I need a go-to for healthy, crispy chicken strips.

Crunchy Garlic Chicken
From: Jaime Oliver via jaimeoliver.com

Ingredients:
1 clove of garlic
1 lemon
6 saltine crackers
2 tablespoons butter
4 sprigs of fresh Italian parsley
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 heaped tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic
2 skinless chicken breast fillets, preferably free-range or organic
olive oil

Directions:
To prepare your chicken:
Peel the garlic and zest the lemon. Put your crackers into a food processor with the butter, garlic, parsley sprigs, lemon zest and a pinch of salt and pepper. Whiz until the mixture is very fine, then pour these crumbs on to a plate. Sprinkle the flour on to a second plate. Crack the egg into a small bowl and beat with a fork. Lightly score the underside of the chicken breasts. Put a square of plastic wrap over each one and bash a few times with the bottom of a pan until the breasts flatten out a bit. Dip the chicken into the flour until both sides are completely coated, then dip into the egg and finally into the flavored crumbs. Push the crumbs on to the chicken breasts so they stick – you want the meat to be totally coated.

To cook your chicken:
You can either bake or fry the chicken. If baking, preheat your oven to its highest temperature (475˚), place your chicken on a sheet pan and cook for 15 minutes. If frying, put a frying pan on a medium heat, add a few good lugs of olive oil and cook the chicken breasts for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, until cooked through, golden and crisp.

To serve your chicken:
Either serve the chicken breasts whole, or cut them into strips and pile them on a plate. Beautiful and simple served with a lemon wedge for squeezing over, and a tiny sprinkling of salt. Great with a lovely fresh salad or simply dressed veggies.



The Result:
I would categorize this as solid, versatile recipe. We chose to bake instead of fry, but the directions have instructions for both methods. This is a good recipe to make if you are in the market for chicken strips. One note: I did have to double (or maybe even triple) the recipe ingredients to accommodate my hungry bunch and have enough leftovers for lunches the next day. This recipe only gives you enough to yield 2 servings. We gave it a thumbs up!

Cheese and Pesto Chicken

Yes, there has been a serious lack of recipes on here lately. I need to check the photos on my camera, because it's been so long since I've cooked anything new I can't even remember what new stuff I have made in the recent (or maybe not-so-recent) past. So in the interim of me getting my act together and uploading some new recipes and photos, I decided to pop on the old blog and at least post this easy, yummy dinner. I threw this dish together the other night out of necessity (I was missing some main ingredients for what I had planned to make originally...duh) and it turned out great. I didn't take a photo, but this was one tasty dish!

Cheese and Pesto Chicken

Ingredients:
cooking spray
4 chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 container of herbed soft cheese (I used Allouette brand)
1/2 jar of pesto
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Spray baking dish with cooking spray. Place chicken breasts in bottom of dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. With a spatula, spread the herbed cheese over the seasoned breasts. Then top with pesto and cover dish with foil. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until breasts are cooked through. When time is up, remove foil and sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top of cooked pesto chicken mixture. Switch oven over to broil and cook uncovered for another 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted, slightly browned and bubbly. Serve and enjoy!

The Result:
This was easy, fast, and delish! Also, we've started Phase 1 of South Beach Diet over again to lose some extra holiday pounds. This chicken recipe fits in nicely with the SBD repertoire; especially with our sides of salad and roasted asparagus. Yum!

Italian Club Sandwiches

I loosely based this recipe off of a Rachel Ray appetizer that I spied in the Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats cookbook. Normally, I'm not RR's biggest fan, but I wanted something unique for dinner that we hadn't tried before. I must say, she came through with this one! These sandwiches jumped off the page and caught my attention. I modified it to accommodate my family's tastes and a hearty dinner-sized portion. Big, stacked sandwich for dinner??? Yes, please!

Italian Club Sandwiches
Adapted From: Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners cookbook

Ingredients:
whole wheat sandwich bread
garlic-herbed spreadable cheese (I used Allouette brand)
sliced tomatoes
sliced avocado (splashed with a little lemon juice and sprinkled with salt)
salad greens (I used a baby spinach/arugula blend) OR fresh basil leaves
sliced radishes
deli turkey meat
prosciutto
cooked, crispy bacon strips
sliced low-fat provolone cheese

Directions:
Use three pieces of bread per sandwich. Smear spreadable cheese on one side of the top and bottom slices. Smear spreadable cheese on both sides of the middle bread piece. On the bottom slice, stack greens, tomatoes, and prosciutto. Top with sliced radishes and put middle bread piece over it (i.e. bread with cheese on spread on both sides). On the top of the middle piece of bread, stack avocado slices, turkey deli meat, bacon slices, and more salad greens. Top with remaining bread top, cheese side down. Cut the sandwich in half and serve. Repeat the process for however many sandwiches you need.



The Result:
I'm not really sure why she dubbed this as an Italian club??? It does have some Italian ingredients, but I wouldn't consider it to be "Italian" food or even "Italian" style. All issues with naming this sandwich aside, this came together quickly and easily. Oh, and did I mention we loved it??? Yeah, we loved it!

By the way, here is a wacky reference for you...

Do you remember the Thanksgiving episode of the TV show Friends? The one where Ross had the leftover Thanksgiving sandwich and he called the middle bread piece dipped in gravy "The Moist Maker"???? That totally just popped into my head and made me giggle! Maybe because this sandwich has a middle piece of bread, too. Anyway, there is no "Moist Maker" here, but this is still one good sammie.

Skillet Rosemary Chicken

We had this meal with a simple side salad for dinner last night and we (kids & adults) all gobbled it up. My baby girls actually screamed for more chicken, so I definitely count that as a check in the "win" column. Best of all, this entire meal was basically done in one pan--the cast iron skillet. Okay, so I had to boil some potatoes in a different pot, but that was it! Clean up was pretty easy for this delish all-in-one dinner.

Skillet Rosemary Chicken
Adapted from: Food Network via the Minimally Invasive website

Ingredients:
3/4 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved, or quartered if large
Kosher salt
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, plus 1 1/2 tablespoons leaves
2 cloves garlic, smashed
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Juice of 2 lemons (squeezed halves reserved)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4-6 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (6 to 8 ounces each)
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450. Cover the potatoes with cold water in a saucepan and salt the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook until tender, about 8 minutes; drain and set aside.

Pile the rosemary leaves, garlic, 2 teaspoons salt and the red pepper flakes on a cutting board, then mince and mash into a paste using a large knife. Transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the juice of 1 lemon and the olive oil. Add the chicken and turn to coat.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, skin-side down, cover and cook until the skin browns, about 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan; add the mushrooms and potatoes to the skillet, place chicken over mushrooms and potatoes and drizzle with any marinade remaining in the bowl and the juice of the remaining lemon.

Add the rosemary sprigs and the squeezed lemon halves to the skillet; transfer to the oven and roast, uncovered, until the chicken is cooked through and the skin is crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.



The Result:
Um, hello crispy, tasty, chicken skin! I'm normally not a fan of skin, but oh my...this version was awesome. The potatoes and mushrooms were pretty phenomenal, as well. The lemon, garlic, and rosemary flavors all married together to make this dish soooooo yummy. It was just the right amount of tangy, garlicky, chicken-y goodness.

Oven Hot Dogs

I didn't think that a chili dog could get much better, until we had these for dinner tonight. Seriously, the chili dog is my favorite hot dog application and I was very dubious that it could be improved upon. My friend, Claire had tried these awhile back and emailed me the recipe. Even with her glowing reviews, my skepticism put this recipe on the back burner for awhile. I finally made this dish and instantly fell in love. I should've known that Claire would not steer me wrong! I was in chili dog heaven, to say the least!!!

Oven Hot Dogs
From: In the Wabe blog via the Cooking Claire blog

Ingredients:
8 hot dogs (I used turkey dogs)
8 hot dog buns (I used whole wheat buns)
1 or 2 cans of chili with beans (we like them with a lot of chili, so I used 2 cans)
1/2 an onion, diced
shredded cheddar cheese (about a cup)
mayonnaise (I used light mayo)
mustard (I used deli style mustard)
sweet relish (I used dill relish)

Directions:
Line inside of hot dog buns with mayonnaise and sweet relish. Evenly add mustard. Fill with hot dogs and squish into a 13×9″ baking pan lined with foil.

Top hot dogs with chili, cheese, and diced onion. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Carefully remove from the pan with a spatula and serve.





The Result:
So I made some adaptations to suit our family and to lighten them up a tiny bit. These hot dogs are decadent any way you cut it, but I felt the need to ease my food induced guilt with whole wheat buns, light mayo, and turkey franks. I know it's mostly faux "healthy", but it made me feel better about our dinner. Anyway, these dogs were fantastic...just don't think about the whole nutrition thing and you will love them!

Note:
Our side dish was easy and very yummy, too. I roasted a spaghetti squash by coating it with olive oil, salt, and pepper and then baking it cut-side down at 400 degrees for 1 hour. When the squash was finished, I scraped the roasted insides into a bowl with a fork, seasoned with a little more salt and pepper, and threw in about a 1/2 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. I then mixed it all together and served the squash on the side. YUM! I sooooo love a good veggie side dish!!!

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken

I'm almost caught up on my blog posting! At least I'm up to this past Saturday's dinner.

This was a Pinterest recipe that I kept circling back to over and over again. I think I must have "pinned" it three or four times. I kept seeing it and thinking I needed to try it, but then I would get busy and forget about it. Well, the stars aligned and I found it again and decided to make it this past weekend. Also, it helped that I needed a "healthy" dinner to make since I'm back on the running/working out/eating right bandwagon. Healthy or not, this meal was pretty awesome. We all loved this chicken dish, kids included, which makes it a win in my book.

Grilled Bruschetta Chicken
Adapted From: the Kraft Foods website via The Girl Who Ate Everything

Ingredients:
4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup of Sun-Dried Tomato or Italian salad dressing, divided
1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
2 tomato, finely chopped
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or 1 tsp. dried basil leaves

Directions:
Place a large sheet of heavy-duty foil over half of grill grate; heat grill to medium heat. Meanwhile, place chicken in resealable plastic bag. Add 1/4 cup dressing and seal bag. Turn bag over several times to evenly coat chicken with dressing. Refrigerate 10 minutes (I marinate it all day if I remember in time). Remove chicken from bag; discard bag and dressing.

Grill chicken on uncovered side of grill for about 6 minutes. Meanwhile, combine remaining 1/4 dressing, balsamic vinegar, tomatoes, cheese, and basil.

Turn the chicken over and place cooked-side up, on foil on the grill. Top with tomato mixture. Close lid. Grill 8 minutes or until chicken is done.



The Result:
Sooooo tasty and pretty easy to make! I used an indoor grill pan with a lid and it came together perfectly. We love, love, loved this dinner!

(Note: This is South Beach Diet phase 1 friendly as long as you keep the side dishes to legit SBD approved items. I wanted to get rid of a box of prepared stuffing, so ours was not SBD friendly. However, if I would have stuck to the veggies and chicken it would have been.)

One Pot Penne with Turkey-Feta Meatballs

We normally have a big, Italian food feast on Christmas Eve, but this year was more low-key and we almost skipped our Italian dinner all together. Most of our family was out of town, so it was basically my immediate brood and my mom visiting for Christmas. I thought I would miss the crowd, but as great as it is to have everyone over, I really liked the small intimate, informal group this year. It was so relaxing to just have us. Anyway, I almost decided not to do any type of Italian meal and then changed my mind at the last minute. I found this recipe in a brand new, never-used cookbook from Pam Anderson (NO, not THAT Pam Anderson!) and decided to try it. I was even more pleased when I discovered that I had everything on hand for it, and I didn't have to make another trip to the store on Christmas Eve!!! As it turned out, my little family loved this dinner and it satisfied our Christmas Eve Italian food criteria. The recipe itself was a bit involved; but since it was a holiday, I really didn't mind so much. (Also, I've made it since and it get's easier to put together with practice.) I can't wait to explore more recipes in this cookbook, that's for sure!

One Pot Penne with Turkey-Feta Meatballs
From: Pam Anderson's Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need For Easy Get-Togethers cookbook

Ingredients:
8 garlic cloves, peeled, 3 left whole, 5 minced
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (94 percent lean)
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese, plus more for topping
1/2 cup crumbled saltine crackers (about 12 crackers)
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 3/4 teaspoons salt, divided
1 large egg
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup olive oil
4 thin slices prosciutto (about 2 ounces), minced
1 cup dry red wine
2 cans (28 ounces each) crushed tomatoes
1 pound penne pasta (I used whole wheat penne)

Directions:
Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add 3 whole garlic cloves and toast until spotty brown, about 5 minutes. Remove garlic from skillet, smash and mince.

Meanwhile, break up ground turkey into a medium bowl. With a fork, mix in feta, cracker crumbs, oregano and ¾ teaspoon salt. Mix egg, minced toasted garlic and tomato paste together; stir into turkey mixture with fork until thoroughly combined. Using a 2-tablespoon measure, such as a coffee scoop, form mixture into about 36 cylindrical drum shapes.

Heat oil over low heat in a large heavy roasting pan set over two burners. A couple of minutes before frying meatballs, increase heat to medium-high. Add meatballs and cook, turning once, until browned on both sides, about 5 minutes total. Transfer to a plate.

Add remaining 5 minced garlic cloves, along with prosciutto, to roasting pan and cook, stirring, until garlic is golden. Add wine and simmer to reduce by half, about a minute. Add tomatoes and enough water to make a sauce-like consistency. Bring to a simmer, add meatballs and cook, loosely covered with heavy-duty foil, to blend flavors, 10 to 15 minutes.

Still on medium-high heat, add 6 cups water and remaining 1 teaspoon salt to pan and return to a simmer. Add penne, cover loosely with foil and cook, stirring gently and frequently, until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes. Remove foil and continue to simmer until sauce is thickened to your liking. Once cooking is completed, spoon pasta and meatballs into serving bowls, sprinkle each portion with feta cheese, and enjoy.



The Result:
No one in my family seemed to mind that this wasn't our typical traditional Christmas Eve Italian feast. As I said above, I've actually made the meatballs a few times since we originally tried this dish (for spaghetti and meatballs) and they are a hit without exception. I love that this preparation makes the ground turkey so flavorful and delicious. This is a keeper!