Corn Bread Taco Bake

This is definitely the most delicious recipe I've made in the last 4 days since I've started this.  I've never even really been a fan of corn bread, but this, it was GOOD.

Here's the original recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 pkg taco seasoning
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
8 oz can tomato sauce
8 1/2 oz pkg corn muffin mix (1/3 cup milk and 1 egg)
2.8 oz French Fried Onions
1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
In a skillet, brown the meat, then drain.

 

Return the meat to the skillet.   Stir in the taco seasoning, water, green peppers, and tomato sauce.

 

Pour into a 2 quart casserole dish.

In a separate bowl, prepare the corn muffin mix according to the directions on the box.
Mix in half of the french fried onions.

Spoon the corn muffin mix on top of casserole and spread to the edges.

 

 Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Top corn bread with the remaining french fried onions and the cheese.  Cook for 3 more minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

Spoiler alert!! If you look closely you can get a sneak peak at my invites in the works sitting on the table!   And there's my lovely Cricut =]

Nutritional facts for 1 serving: 363 cal, 14.7g fat, 589.5mg sodium, 28.4g carb, 1g fiber, 20.5g protein

Pot Roast Stroganoff

From our dinner tonight.... original recipe found here.
It was good, but not as good as the last two nights.

Ingredients
1 Tbs butter
2 cups water
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 small can of mushrooms - sliced
10 oz extra wide egg noodles
1 package fully cooked pot roast with gravy
1/4 cup light/fat free sour cream

 

 Directions

In a skillet over medium-high heat, place butter, noodles, onions, mushrooms, and water.

Cover and bring to a boil.
Uncover once it's boiling.  Continue boiling for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, separate the gravy and remove meat from the package; cut into bite size pieces.
Stir roast, gravy, and sour cream into noodle mixture.
Cook uncovered until thoroughly heated.  About 3-4 minutes, or until noodles are ready.
Makes 6 servings.

My plate.  I'm realizing what looks like a little, can be really filling!

We topped it off with another romaine/spinach salad.  I added a glass of Moscato to the meal....yum!  I was actually able to squeeze two glasses into my daily calories today.  What a nice treat =]

Nutritional facts for 1 serving: 426 cal, 1.4g fat, 369.1mg sodium, 37.2g carb, 1.5g fiber, 23.8g protein

Enjoy!

P.S.  I've lost 4 pounds since starting this healthy eating/calorie counting on Saturday night!

Chicken Zucchini Marinara

Here's another delicious recipe for you, coming from our dinner tonight!  You can find the original recipe here.
And here's the way I did it.

Ingredients
1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
4 chicken breasts
2 cups tomato and basil spaghetti sauce (most jars are 2 1/2 cups, so just use it all)
2 cups zucchini - thinly sliced
4 oz mozzarella
2 egg whites

Side note: We do all of our shopping at Aldi's.  I don't know if you have one around you or not, but they're super cheap and the food is just as great.  They've really made improvements from when I was little.  Their produce is fresh and the meat is delicious.  Mr. T and I can usually get away with spending about $60 for 2 1/2 weeks worth of groceries.

Directions
Mix the bread crumbs and half of the grated parmesan.

 

 Coat the chicken breasts in the egg whites.  Then coat both sides with the bread crumbs/cheese mixture.

Spray a large skillet with nonstick cooking spray and heat until hot.

Brown the chicken on each side.

 

 Pour half to 3/4 of the sauce over the chicken.

Arrange the zucchini slices over the chicken.  Sprinkle with the mozzarella and the rest of the parmesan.

 

Top with the remaining sauce.

Cover.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

All done!  Makes four servings.

Mr. T's plate.  He gets pasta, I don't.  And a freaking huge piece of chicken.

There's my little chicken, with a nice side salad.  Don't let the size fool you, I was stuffed!

Nutritional facts per serving: 314 cal, 8.1g fat, 1,015.9mg sodium, 28.3g carbs, 4.4g fiber, 35.2g protein

Creamy Broccoli and Meat Lasagna

I think at one point I said this blog would be mostly wedding, with a little extra thrown in.  Well here's the extra!

You might remember my non New Year's resolution; well since then I've only worked out like 3 times! ha so I've decided that instead of working out to get the weight that I want off, I'm going to go back to eating healthier and counting my calories.  I don't remember if I talked about it or not, but last spring I lost 20 pounds by cutting my daily caloric intake to just over 1,000.  I kept track of everything I put in my mouth with an app on my iPod touch called Lose it!  It lets me search foods or enter in my own nutritional facts and keeps a running tally of my daily calories.

So last night I searched and found recipes for dinner for every night for the next week and a half.  They're all under 400 calories per serving.  I went shopping this morning, spent more than usual because it was a lot of fresh produce, and tried out my first new recipe tonight.  And it was a success!

I made a small change to the recipe I found here.  When I told Mr. T what I was making his first question was if it had any meat in it.  Well it didn't, so I added it in.

Ingredients

6 lasagna noodles cooked

1/3 cup chopped onion

2 Tbs olive oil

1/3 cup flour

¾ tsp garlic powder

2 ½ cups milk

3 cups fresh broccoli chopped

3/4 - 1 lb ground beef 

1 ½ cups low fat cottage cheese

 Directions

Brown the meat, drain and set aside.

Boil water, cook the lasagna noodles until they are firm to the bite.

In a large saucepan, saute the onions in oil until they are tender

Add the flour and garlic powder.  Stir until blended.

 

Gradually add the milk.  Bring to a boil.  Cook for 2 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

Add the broccoli.  Cook for 3 minutes.

Add in the meat.

Stir in the cottage cheese.

Coat a 13x9x2 glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Layer 3 cooked noodles and 1/2 of the sauce.

 

  

 Repeat for the next layer.

Cover and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until it is bubbly and the broccoli is tender.

Makes 8 servings.  As in I cut it into 8 pieces.

The first couple of slices came out a little messy, but it was delicious and creamy and good!

I paired it with a salad of spinach leaves, romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots.

And water, because it has no calories!

Nutritional facts: I entered in all of the ingredients into my Lose It! app and here is the following per serving.

236 cal, 7.4g fat, 9mg cholest, 242.3mg sodium, 21.8g carb, 1.7g fiber, 20.1g protein

Enjoy!