Italian Mac and Cheese

This pasta bake is creamy cheesy macaroni shells topped with a beefy marinara sauce.  It's a very hearty dish that boasts a lot of veggies and warms you up on a cold night. 

Ingredients:

2 lbs ground beef                                         7.50
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes                           .94
6 oz can tomato paste                                    .50
26.5 oz pasta sauce                                       1.03
2 carrots peeled and shredded                     .20
1/2 onion chopped                                          .25
1 green pepper chopped                                .80
1 cup chopped frozen spinach                       .50
    (fresh baby spinach works great too)
1 lb box of medium shell pasta                    1.16
16 oz reduced fat cottage cheese                2.19
16 oz shredded part skim Mozzarella        4.39
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese                   .50
1 tsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper and sugar to taste

Directions:

Fill a large pan with water and set it over medium high heat to boil.  Brown the ground beef and drain.  Add 2 tsp of oil to a large pan and saute the carrot, onion and green pepper until just tender.  Add the spinach and heat through.

Once the water is boiling in the other pot add the dry shells and stir.  Boil the pasta to the least amount of time recommended on the box.  To the large pot with the veggies add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste and the tomato sauce.  Mix well.  Add a tsp or two of white sugar if the sauce tastes too sour.  Sprinkle in t tsp Italian seasoning.  Add the browned ground beef into the tomato sauce mixture and stir well.  Remove from heat.

This is a very thick sauce (I like a chunky sauce).  If you have a picky eater at your house you can cut the veggies very small or even puree them. 

Once the pasta is cooked, drain the shells and return them to the pot.  Add in all the cottage cheese, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese.

 Ricotta cheese works well in this dish as well.  You can thin the Ricotta with a little skim milk.  I never eat cottage cheese so this is a great way to squeeze a little in.  Now lay out three 8x8 pans.  Put 1/3 of the shells and cottage cheese mixture into each pan.

Now add 1/3 of the beefy marinara sauce to each pan.

Top each pan with 1/3 of the shredded Mozzarella cheese. 

Now cover each pan with foil and label.  Put one pan in the oven to bake for dinner.  Since all the ingredients are fully cooked you can bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes.  The other two pans go into the freezer for later use.  Once thawed in the fridge for two days you can bake the these pans at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. 

This makes a very tasty dinner. It has all your veggies, protein and carbs in one dish.  I was able to make three meals for $6.65 each.  I was even shopping at a different store so this is a higher than normal price for me. 

I hope you enjoy this meal as much as we do!
Christie aka Keeza

Taco Pasta

I was wondering how to make tacos ahead of time and I experimented with a few different pasta ideas.  This one is by far the best that I was able to come up with.   I started with spicy cheese soup, but was unhappy with all the added calories and fat.  So now this recipe has a tomato based sauce with a little sharp shredded cheese on top.  Much better! 

Ingredients:

2lbs lean ground beef                        7.50
1 lb penne pasta                                1.00
2 pkg taco seasoning                         1.00
2 cans diced tomatoes                       1.88
1 can diced green chilies                      .78
1/2 onion chopped                              .15
1 green pepper chopped                     .60
1 bunch cilantro chopped                    .74
8oz sharp cheddar cheese shredded  2.04

Directions:

Put a large pot of water on medium high heat for the pasta.  When the water is boiling cook pasta to lowest recommended cooking time on the box.  Meanwhile in a large pan cook the ground beef and drain.  Add chopped onion and green pepper, cook until just starting to get tender.  Add two packages of taco seasoning and two cans of diced tomatoes (don't drain the liquid from the tomatoes).  Also add the can of chopped green chilies.  Stir well. 

Colorful huh?  I like a lot of color in my food.  Once the pasta is cooked, drain and add to the meat mixture.  Once thoroughly mixed, remove from heat and stir in chopped cilantro to desired taste.

Now pour the pasta into three different 8x8"pans.  Top with one third of the shredded cheese. 

Cover with foil.  Put one pan into the oven for dinner and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes just to melt the cheese.  Put the other two meals into the freezer for a later date.  Once thawed the freezer meal bakes at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to warm all the way through. 

This pasta tastes great just like this, but feel free to top with sour cream, fresh salsa, shredded lettuce or extra cilantro.  If you want to pack more veggies in this meal you can chop celery and carrot very small and stir in with the meat.  Sweet corn is also a nice addition to the meat sauce.  Yum!
I was able to make three meals for $5.23 each.  This is an easy way to have taco flavor any night of the week.  Just throw them in the oven to bake and no assembly required! 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza

Stuffed Chicken

This chicken looks so fancy and has a lot of flavor.  We like this for Sunday dinner.  When you cut into the chicken breasts you get lots of color. 

Ingredients:

8 medium chicken breasts (boneless skinless)    8.66
1 box chopped frozen spinach                           1.42
8 oz crumbled feta (two containers)                   4.00
1/2 C reduced fat mayo                                      .10
8 slices of bacon                                               3.18
salt, pepper and Greek seasoning to taste

Directions:

Thaw and drain the chopped spinach.  Add the spinach and feta to a medium bowl and mix well with a fork. 
Stir in the mayo.  This will work as a binder to hold the filling together. 

This picture is about half the amount you will have.  Now take the chicken breasts and carefully cut each one along the side to open them up like a book.  They wont always turn out perfect, but no one will notice.  Just try your best. 

Now sprinkle the outside and inside of the breast with salt, pepper and Greek seasoning.  If you don't have Greek seasoning you can use some thyme and oregano.  Then take two large spoonfuls of feta & spinach mixture and place it on one half of the chicken breast.

Then fold the other side of the breast back over top of the cheese.   Wrap one slice of bacon around the breast.  This will help hold the cheese in while the chicken is cooking.

Now repeat this process with the other chicken breasts.  When you finish you will have 8 stuffed chicken breasts.  I put two breasts on a foil lined baking pan for dinner and place the other 6 breasts into two labeled freezer bags.  Make sure when you place the breasts into the freezer storage bags you lay only three side by side in the bags to prevent them from freezing together into a solid brick.  Then when you would like to thaw them for dinner, only take out as many as you need for that dinner and place them on a plate in the fridge to thaw for two days. 

When you are ready to bake, place the desired number of stuffed chicken breasts on a foil lined baking sheet and bake in the middle of the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Then place the pan under the broiler for 2-5 minutes to crisp up the bacon on the outside of the chicken.  This is how mine looked with a side of wild rice.

I was able to make 8 stuffed chicken breasts for $2.17 a breast.  If you do not want the added calories and fat from the bacon you can omit the bacon and secure each breast with a toothpick or two to help keep the filling in.  If you do not care for goat cheese you can easily substitute 8oz of shredded mozzarella.   In the summer we sliced heirloom tomatoes (thanks Alicia) and baked them along side of the breasts.  Then when the chicken was cooked we slid the roasted sliced tomatoes on top of the breasts and it made an awesome sauce.  Mmmmm mmmm!   This chicken looks so fancy you can serve it to guests. 

Enjoy!
Christie aka Keeza