Baked Ziti with Turkey Sausage

Every Saturday morning, after weighing in, I eagerly grasp for my weekly. I rush to my seat, and flip through it to discover the recipe. The recipe in the week of January 8th-14th had a DELICIOUS sounding baked ziti meal with turkey sausage, and I thought with a few tweaks it would please my taste buds. Boy, was I right.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes / Cook Time: 35 Minutes / Serves: 8

Ingredients:

3/4 lb raw, spicy turkey sausage, casings removed

1 medium onion, chopped 

(I used around a 1/4th-1/2, and next time I'll probably use onion powder. I'm not the biggest onion fan.)

1 medium green pepper, chopped

28 oz canned diced tomatoes

(Might swap it out for half diced and half sauce, or full sauce next time.)

10 oz frozen green peas, thawed

(I didn't use those.)

2 tbsp canned tomato paste

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp dried thyme

/2 tsp fennel seed

1/2 tsp table salt, or just to taste

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

12 oz uncooked whole-wheat ziti

6 oz shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees and prepare your pasta according to package directions.

Crumble the sausage meat into a large saucepan and brown over medium heat, stirring often, about 4 minutes. Drain off any fat, then add the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring often, until softened about 3 minutes.

Stir in the tomatoes, peas, tomato paste, oregano, basil, thyme, fennel seed, salt and pepper. Bring mixture to a simmer, then reduce the heat and cook uncovered 5 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the cooked pasta and half the cheese. 

Spread evenly in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Top evenly with the remaining cheese.

Bake until the cheese has melted and the casserole is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes at room temperature before slicing into 8 pieces.

Yields 1 piece per serving.

PP: 8

Turkey Meatloaf

Turkey Meatloaf

Way back when I initially joined Weight Watchers (okay, maybe more like a little more than a year ago!), one of the first recipes I made was a turkey meatloaf. I'm unsure of it's origin, unfortunately, but, it really is one of the best meatloaf recipes I've discovered, and it is incredibly filling. The meat is cooked to perfection, the green peppers and onions add great texture, and to top it all off, the ketchup topping is absolutely mouthwatering.

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey

1 tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup onion, finely chopped*

1/4 cup green bell pepper, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced.

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tsp ketchup

1 1/2 tsp italian seasoning

1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs

1/4 cup low-fat shredded cheddar

1 tbsp brown sugar (topping)

1/2 cup ketchup (topping)

1 tsp mustard (topping)

*Could substitute with onion powder!... just no where near as much.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium to high heat.

Add in your chopped onion/onion powder, green bell pepper, and garlic.

Saute! This should only take about 3 minutes, you'll be looking for the onions to become 

translucent, fragrant, and fairly soft overall. 

Allow it to cool off before continuing.

Once your mixture has cooled off, it's time to mix them up a bit!

Combine the mix, cheese, egg, pepper, salt, ketchup, italian

seasoning and seasoned breadcrumbs in a bowl. Afterwards, crumble

your ground turkey over the mix and blend well (I use my hands).

Coat an 8x4 loaf pan with cooking spray, and pack your mix within it.

Bake it for approximately 35 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the three topping ingredients: ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard. Spread the topping mix over the loaf and bake for an additional mix.

Cut it into 8 slices.

P+: 7

Serves: 4

2 slices per serving.

Job is demanding

My job is really demanding but that doesn't mean it stops when I get to leave at 6 PM. Before I graduated college and got out in the real world I thought that jobs were something you only had to do 40 or 50 hours per week but then you have free time to decompress and not have to think about work. Boy was I wrong! My boss is constantly e-mailing me on my Westport 4g internet connection at home because he knows I check my e-mail probably more often than I should. I know I dug this hole for myself and I'm the only one who's going to be able to put up some boundaries between myself and the office but it's really hard when you know you're next in line for a big promotion. The last thing I want is for my boss or any of his superiors to think that I'm not dedicated to the job so I feel like for now I have to keep letting them invade my personal time.

Tortilla Cheese Pizza

So I'm fairly big on pizza, I'm constantly craving it in one way or another and wanted to figure a way to feel like you're eating more than just a slice, but keep the points low. That's when I pulled out the tortilla wraps.

Ingredients

1/4th Cup Hunt's Tomato Sauce (seasoned!) or Pizza Sauce

1/4th Cup Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese (I used Sargento)

2 Mission Carb Balance Tortillas

Non-Stick Cooking Spray

*In the photo, chicken is shown, which you could add but it would add to the total PP listed in this recipe.

Preheat your oven to 375.

Spray one side of one of your tortilla wraps with non-stick cooking spray and lay that side down on foil.

Sprinkle half of your cheese and cover with second tortilla. Layer it with your sauce, cheese and any other toppings you might be desiring.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until it reaches a golden brown with melted cheese.

Enjoy!

PP: 7

Taco Seasoning

I've always experimented with my taco seasoning, but I think this will be as perfect as it gets. This seasoning is not only great for tacos, but also for omelets, scrambles, pork loin, chicken, etc. Enjoy!

    

  Ingredients

2 tbsp onion powder

3 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

2 tsp crushed red pepper

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Makes a bunch. o_o

Tangy Orange Beef & Broccoli - 5 POINTS! (9 with rice)

Ever since I got into broccoli, I've absolutely adored beef and broccoli. I was skimming one of my older Weight Watchers books the other day and decided I've give their orange beef and broccoli recipe a go. Let me just start off by saying this turned out delicious, but the points are a TAD bit high, and I assure you my posts in the future will be filled with numerous low point meals. Anyways, on to the recipe:

Prep: 25 minutes / Cook: 10 minutes / Serves: 6

               Ingredients

• 1 large bunch broccoli
• 4 navel oranges (I made by with 2!)
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
• 1 (1 1/4 pound) flank steak, trimmed, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/3c water
• 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced (I did without it this time. :( )
• 3 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 large garlic gloves, minced
• 1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
• 3 bags boil in a bag brown rice

Cooking Directions      

1. Remove florets from stems of broccoli and cut into bite-size pieces. Trim, peel and thinly slice stems.
2. In a  decently sized pot, fill with water and heat until boiling.
3. Place the rice in the boiling water until cooked.
4. Grate 1 tsp orange zest from 1 orange, then squeeze *3/4 cup juice (from about 2 oranges) into measuring cup. Stir in cornstarch, pepper flakes, orange zest, and 2 tbsp soy sauce. Remove peel and white pith from remaining oranges and cut into segments.
5. Spray nonstick wok or large deep nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Toss beef with remaining 1 tbsp of soy sauce in a large bowl. Add half of beef to wok; stir-fry just until beef is no longer pink, about one minute. Transfer to plate. Repeat with the remaining beef.
6. Add broccoli florets and stems and water to wok. Cover and cook 1 minute. Uncover, add bell pepper and then stir-fry 1 minute. Stir in scallions, garlic and ginger; stir-fry until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in beef and cook until heated thoroughly through. Spoon mixture onto platter on top of your rice and top with orange segments.

(Without rice) Fat: 5g / Carbs: 19g / Fiber: 5g / Protein: 23g

(Without rice) Weight Watchers PP: 5  (Serving - 1 2/3 cups)

(With rice) Weight Watchers PP: 9 points (1 2/3c of mixture, 1c of rice)

Uh-oh! Fried Pickles

 

 I did something bad last night as a treat for my will-never-gain-weight boyfriend. I fried up some pickles.

I never deep fry anything, so this was something foreign to me, it took a while to realize what would be the perfect time to remove them, etc.

Regardless, I'm unsure of the point plus value for them. Help??

 Ingredients:

Vegetable Oil 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp pepper 

1 tsp sugar 

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

4 cups pickle chips

Serves 4-8

                                                                                     
Heat your oil in a deep fryer, or a deep pan until oil sizzles when water is flicked into it. Combine the flour,, salt, pepper, sugar and cayenne in a large mixing bowl and mix until well blended.





Toss in wet (but drained) pickles into dry mix. Shake off excess flour mix. Place the pickle chips in the hot oil. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the pickles are floating. Remove from oil and place on a plate lined with paper towel.  Repeat until all pickles have been cooked.

So how many points plus do you think that'd be? Let's say we  used 3 cups of vegetable oil.

This week I'm going to experiment with baking them to avoid the oil.