Baked 'Sghetti

I am actually eating spaghetti as I type tonight. It isn't the baked spaghetti recipe I will share with y'all, but non the less it is a delicious bowl of turkey spag. Turkey spaghetti has been a long time staple in the Chiles' household. It is pretty cheap and fills up my hubs (who has 2 hollow legs).

This dish is a revamp of Paula's original Baked Spaghetti. Hers is made with lots of full fat and canned items. Of course I nixed those and added my own lower fat, fresh options.

Initially, I combined all of these beautiful ingredients in a large sauce pan. The original recipe calls to simmer the recipe for 1 hour. Well by now y'all should know, Laura and I do not sit around to let things simmer. I pretty much let this cook for about 20 minutes before I added the ground turkey.

I will say, the main downsides to this recipe was the amount of prep work involved and the number of pans/dishes needed. I prefer to use as few dishes as possible simply because I HATE doing dishes.

Now one major flavor change I made to this dish was omitting the cheddar cheese. I don't find cheddar to be the best flavor match for spaghetti. My mouth was screaming "Mozzarella or Parmesan please!" My answer? Kraft 2% Italian blend. A great lower fat/calorie cheese with the yummy creaminess that a typical mozzarella would provide.

What are some of your favorite low calorie substitutions?

I layered all of the spaghetti and beautiful sauce in a medium casserole dish. I did cut Paula's recipe in half because I did NOT need 10 servings of pasta just hanging out in my fridge. The recipe below represents the 6 serving final product.

How did it taste? I loved it! It had the great twice baked flavor and texture with creamy cheese scattered in between the layers. Rusty didn't hate it, but he didn't love it either. I think he is just not used to me using less salt in our recipes. His heart will thank me later :)

Here are the stats:

Baked 'Sghetti

Sauce:

1 cup diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups no salt added tomato sauce

1 cup water

1 onion, diced

2 tbsp green bell pepper, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves, chopped

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp FNF seasoning (recipe here)

1 tsp no-salt seasoning salt (recipe here)

1 bay leaf

1 cup mushrooms

12 oz extra lean ground turkey, browned

Casserole:

6 oz whole wheat spaghetti, dry

1 cup Kraft 2% Italian blend

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot, combine the ingredients for the sauce except the turkey. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and let simmer for at least 20 minutes. Add the ground turkey and continue to simmer for another 20 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and set aside.

After adding the turkey, begin to cook the spaghetti. Cook according to package instructions, drain and set aside.

To assemble, spray a medium sized casserole dish with non stick spray. Put half of the noodles in the bottom. Cover with 1/2 the sauce and 1/2 the cheese. Then layer the remaining pasta and sauce. Bake for 20-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the remaining cheese. Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Enjoy!

Makes 6 servings.

Turkey Spirals

Writers block!!!

I actually cooked this recipe a few weeks ago, and even though it was delicious, I don't remember much about the experience (aka I don't have a very cool and cheeky story to open this blog).

Anyway, I made some delicious turkey spirals that weren't exactly what Paula was planning with her original recipe, but I think it worked great!

I had a really hard time finding the pasta shells that Paula recommended in whole wheat. I figured if we were going to have a pasta dish I would at least add some fiber. Instead I found whole wheat lasagna noodles which lead to my spiral idea!

Once I had the noodles cooked and the stuffing prepared, I layed the noodles down on wax paper and started spreading the stuffing. I left a little room on either end to make for a clean roll.

I then set the rolls up in the casserole dish and topped them with the spaghetti sauce. They baked in the oven for about 45 minutes and came out as delicious little single serve turkey rolls!

Even though this recipe took several pots and pans....and minutes, it was worth the work.!

Paula's recipe said it feeds 6-8 but I couldn't imagine 3 lbs of meat and 1 lb of noodles, plus the extras feeding only 6-8 people! I went ahead and calculated the old recipe facts based on her recipe feeding 13. That means there would have been almost 1300 calories per original serving!!!

Here are all of the facts:

Taste: Seconds...Actually Thirds Please!

Waist: Tighten Your Belt A Notch (pair with some vegetables and a small starch)


Turkey Spirals
30 oz chopped spinach (thawed and drained well)
2 lbs 95% fat ground turkey
1 package fat free cream cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan + 4 tsp for topping
2 lg onions, chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup egg substitute
13 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked al dente
1 1/2 cups pasta sauce
1 cup chopped tomato

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Brown turkey in large frying pan, drain. Mix turkey with spinach, cream cheese, seasoning, Parmesan (minus topping), onions, egg substitute.

Lay noodles flat on wax paper. Spread turkey mixture evenly across noodles, leaving 2 inches on each end empty. Roll noodles into a spiral and stand up in a casserole dish. Top the spirals with the pasta sauce, tomatoes, and Parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Enjoy!

A Very Tardy Simple Sunday

We have Turkey Spaghetti every single week. Rusty and I have found that it is very inexpensive, and very delicious. Often we will pair it with baked zucchini. Sometimes we will drizzle the sliced zucchini with olive oil and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Lately we have really enjoyed slicing the zucchini, dipping it in egg whites and dredging the slices in Italian bread crumbs. Both recipe bake very well.

For the Turkey Spaghetti I will typically start out heating about 2 tsp of canola oil in a skillet. I will typically put a dash of seasoning in the oil before adding the turkey. Lately, we have been using a great Garlic and Wine seasoning from the Melting Pot. I am sure that it is full of salt, but it is delicious.

I had a really big afternoon snack before I cooked dinner. So this photo shows my smaller portion. I have set up the nutrition facts for my typical portion size, 1 cup of spaghetti noodles and ½ cup sauce.

Here are the facts:


Turkey Spaghetti
1 lb 97% fat free ground turkey
1 can Hunt’s pasta sauce
1 box whole wheat pasta
2 tsp Canola oil
Seasoning of choice

Boil 4-5 cups water in a medium pot. Add pasta and cook for ~10 minutes or until cooked to desired texture. Drain and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, heat oil and seasoning in a large skillet. Add ground turkey and cook thoroughly. Drain meat and return to skillet. Add can of pasta sauce. Cook until heated through.

Serve warm sauce over bed of pasta. Enjoy!

More Cheese Please!

Are you tired of mac and cheese yet? I guess Laura and I love cheese and pasta so much, we keep choosing similar recipes! Today's recipe is a modification on Paula's Cheese Noodles. The recipe sounded super yummy and wasn't quite like mac and cheese so I thought I would give it a try.

There weren't too many strange ingredients in this recipe. I am a huge fan of the texture of egg noodles, so I was excited to make this dish.

The end result of this recipe looked very delicious. You have the oh so yummy egg noodles with this crispy and toasted brown crust on top. The flavor did not disappoint either! There was a beautiful hint of onion in every bite that finished with the creaminess of the different dairy products.

On the plate, on my new place mats!

A little closer...

On a side note, my hubby HATES cottage cheese. I didn't tell him there was any in here and he actually ate it! He wasn't too pleased when I gave him the news. Either way, this side dish was pretty good. As far as the nutrition value a whole lot didn't change. It is at least a little better.

Is there anything you wish you could sneak into a meal?


Here are the facts

and the new recipe:

Cheesy Noodles

Ingredients:
1 cup 1% Cottage cheese
½ cup low fat sour cream
¾ grated onion
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp garlic powder
6 oz No Yolk egg noodles, cooked
¾ cup grated Parmesan
Canola oil spray

In a saucepan, melt the cottage cheese and sour cream together until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients except the Parmesan cheese and stir to coat. Put mixture in a 2-quart casserole dish sprayed with Canola oil. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the mixture. Bake for 45 minutes.