Italian Pasta Primavera

Servings: 5 servings

Ingredients
1 lb. Ground Chicken or Turkey Breast
2 c. dry Penne Pasta (I used Dreamlands brand)
1 Onion, chopped medium dice
1 Red pepper, chopped medium dice
2 cups broccoli (I used thawed organic frozen broccoli from Costco)
Olive Oil
Garlic (I use 2 pre-cubed frozen garlic, see pic below) or you can use a teaspoon of Garlic powder
1 t. Salt and Pepper
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 cup Marinara sauce, divided (I used Kirkland Marinara)
1/2 cup Grana Padano Cheese (you can also use Parmesan cheese)


Directions:  Cook pasta according to package directions, set aside.  Drizzle small amount of olive oil in pan over medium heat, saute onions, red pepper, broccoli and garlic , cook veggies for 3-5 minutes,  remove from pan, set aside.  Add ground turkey breast to same pan and brown and crumble until no longer pink, add back in veggies, season with salt, pepper and italian seasoning, after 3-5 minutes, remove from heat.  Now it is time to assemble:   Arrange 5 containers for pre-portioned lunch servings.  I place 1/2 cup of cooked pasta at the bottom of container, sprinkle some cheese, then layer turkey/veggie mixture on top of pasta with 1-2 tablespoons of marinara topped with small amount of cheese.  Cover each container, place in fridge for the week.  Voila! Healthy meals to eat throughout the week.

frozen cubed herbs

 

Veggies

my fave cheese

Pasta with cheese

Pasta layered with turkey/veggie mix topped with marinara and cheese

Yummy Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal

As some of you may or may not know, I have a couple of early morning clients, the earliest client I train is at 4:45am.  This is one of my favorite times to work, believe it or not.  I am a morning person, always have been.  I rise about 4am and fix myself a cup of coffee and heat up some of this yummy baked pumpkin oatmeal and it is a comforting and nourishing start to my day.  It has a nice balance of protein from the cottage cheese and carbs from the rolled oats, along with just enough sweet from the Stevia and cinnamon spices.  This morning I topped it off with a little whipped cream, it was a tasty way to start the day. 



So here is the recipe I adapted it from a recipe I saw on  http://jen-fits-playground.com/2010/10/pumpkin-pie-baked-oatmeal/  I changed mine up a bit to reduce the sugars from the dried fruit, feel free to use either recipe.  Either way, it is quick and easy to prepare, the longest part is the time in the oven, give it a try, its yummy!

 

Here are the ingredients:

1 c. canned pumpkin

1 c. rolled oats (I use Bob's Red Mill)

1 c.  cottage cheese (low sodium if possible)

1 c. water 

1/2 t. ground ginger

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/2 t. ground cloves

1/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. salt

Stevia or sweetener to taste I put half a dropper of the liquid stevia, but I don't prefer it to be real sweet (you can always add more sweetener, a few drops of maple syrup? after it has baked).

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place all ingredients in a baking dish (like a Pyrex dish or pie dish) and stir ingredients together.  Place in oven for 30 minutes and serve with a hot cup of coffee or tea, enjoy!

I love this cottage cheese, instead of a ton of sodium, they replace a portion of it with potassium!

 

This is what I use for baking and in my coffee, liquid stevia, I love it! Purchased on amazon.com

Light Fiesta Casserole Lunch Recipe

Today is Sunday, it is a day that I start with worship time in the morning and fellowship with my church family. It is also the first day of the week, and that includes prepping my meals for the week. My meals for the week are similar from week to week when it comes to lunch, the reason being it is easy to reheat or if I am on the road, eat cold from my cooler, it may not sound appetizing eating a cold lunch that is intended to be hot, but my end goal is nourishing my body in a timely matter.  When preparing my lunches for the week, I go with a lean ground poultry meat, whether it is chicken or turkey, no preference, I just go with what is available in the stores. I am careful to choose the leanest option, check the back nutrition label to be sure, one time I did not check and it was 8 grams of fat per serving! I want the fat in my food to come from primarily monousaturated fat in sources such as almonds, flax oil and avocados. I also incorporate a vegetable for my lunch which is either green beans, spinach (or both) along with a complex carb or starch such as brown rice or half a sweet potato. I divide the cooked lean meat into 4-5 servings along with the rice and veggie and voila! I have my meals made for the week.

So this week, I was making a casserole for a church potluck and decided to make a healthier version (it wasn't unhealthy to begin with, I swapped out a leaner meat, brown rice instead of white, and greek yogurt instead of sour cream) for my own lunches during the week. I usually go through my fridge and try to use up any veggies that need to be used and incorporate those for the week. I had some organic baby spinach that I needed to use up so that is included in this recipe but is completely optional.

I made what tasted like a stuffed pepper without the pepper "shell."

Light Fiesta Casserole Lunch

1 whole red or green pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
2 cups of fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
1 lb Ground chicken or turkey breast
1 can diced tomatoes with liquid
1/2 t. Oregano
1/2 t. Cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste
Garlic powder
1/4 cup Grana Padano cheese (or fresh parmesan)
2 cups brown rice, cooked as directed
1/2 cup Greek yogurt


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saute pan, pour a small amount of olive oil in the pan over medium heat. Add onions and peppers and saute in oil for a few minutes. Add baby spinach to pepper and onion mixture, stir until spinach wilts. Add ground poultry to pan and brown meat until cooked. Add seasonings and can of diced tomatoes and thier juice. In a separate bowl, mix greek yogurt with cooked rice, set aside. In a 9 X 13 pan, spread rice mixture on bottom of pan, pour contents of saute pan over rice and sprinkle with cheese. Place pan uncovered in preheated oven for 30 minutes and cheese is melted. Makes 6 servings. For make-ahead lunches, place in 6 individual glass containers for easy reheating. Serve with small spinach salad or cup of steamed or roasted vegetables such as broccoli or asparagus.