My New Favorite Recipe Site

SkinnyTaste.com!

If you haven't checked it out, you should! She takes regular old recipes and adapts them to be healthy (or healthier). She includes all the nutrition information on each of her recipes and she has TONS of stuff. Seriously, I could cook something from her site every single day.

The best part? Its delish!

So delish that I'm making one of her recipes for dinner tonight.

I am a big fan of stuffed cabbage rolls, but they are a pain to make because you have to cook everything, then steam the cabbage and then roll it all up and cook it again. I'm making Stuffed Cabbage Casserole. Sure, I still have to cook everything and wilt the cabbage, but after that, you dump it all into a baking dish and skip the tedious rolling process altogether!

Here's the recipe, straight from SkinnyTaste.com.

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Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Ingredients:
• 2 tsp olive oil, divided
• 1 lb. 95% lean ground turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 1 tbsp finely minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 heads green cabbage, coarsely chopped
• 1 can (14.5 oz.) petite dice tomatoes with juice
• 1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 cups cooked brown rice (I used instant)
• 2 cups low-fat mozzarella cheese (Sargento)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat; add ground beef and cook until it's browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as it cooks. Remove ground beef and set aside.
In the same pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, chopped onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes more. Then add the diced tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, and ground beef. Add water to the pan. Simmer until it's hot and slightly thickened, about 15-20 minutes. While it simmers, cut cabbage in half, cut out the core, and remove any wilted outer leaves; chop the cabbage coarsely into 1 inch pieces.

Heat remaining olive oil in a large frying pan or dutch oven; add the cabbage and cook over medium-high heat until the cabbage is wilted and about half cooked, turning it over several times so it all wilts and cooks. Season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper. When the meat and tomato sauce mixture has cooked and thickened a bit, stir in the 2 cups of cooked rice and gently combine.

Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray and the layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, remaining cabbage, and remaining meat mixture. Cover tightly with foil and bake 40 minutes, or until the mixture is just starting to bubble on the edges.

Remove foil and sprinkle on cheese (if using.) Bake uncovered an additional 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to slightly brown. Serve hot.

Freezer friendly if you have leftovers. To reheat, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then either microwave until hot or heat in the oven in a glass dish covered with foil.

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I made a few changes, namely, I used ground turkey instead of beef and I didn't remove the meat after it cooked (because I'm lazy). I just dumped the onions and spices in and then added the tomatoes and water after the onions were cooked. I used instant brown rice, also because I'm lazy.

Lastly, I made two casseroles, one for dinner tonight and one to put in the freezer for another time, like when D is gone at training or something and I don't feel like cooking.

For the nutrition information you can go to SkinnyTaste.com and search for this recipe, or you can click on the recipe name above.

Enjoy!

Veggie Stir Fry with Peanut Rice Noodles

I'm not usually a huge stir fry person, but we got back from a trip and I didn't make it to the grocery store before I needed to start dinner, so I decided to try this recipe because I had all the ingredients on hand. We both really loved it. I had all of the ingredients in my pantry already because I make a lot of Asian food, but if you don't, all of these ingredients were found at my crappy, local grocery store in the Asian food aisle (other than the produce and frozen stuff, obvs).

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Veggie Stir Fry with Peanut Rice Noodles*

1 package Ty Ling Cellophane Rice Noodles
House of Tsang Bangkok Padang Peanut Sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp powdered ginger (or fresh)
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 head broccoli, shredded
1 package Bird's Eye Frozen Pepper Stir Fry**
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1/4 c dry roasted peanuts

Boil a pot of water to prepare Cellophane Noodles according to package directions. Drain and toss with peanut sauce to coat.

In a large pan or wok over medium heat, heat sesame oil and add garlic and ginger. Cook for approximately 30 seconds, then add carrots, broccoli, and frozen vegetables. Increase temperature to medium-high and cook vegetables for about 5-10 minutes, until carrots are softened.

Combine noodles and vegetables in a large bowl and toss. Top with fresh lime juice and dry roasted peanuts. Serve immediately.

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This was a quick and super easy meal and it was very filling. We had tons of leftovers! I was afraid that it would be enough for a full meal since there was no meat, but the noodles really cooked up and we had enough left over for both of us to have it for lunch this week. I should also mention that it was just as good reheated for lunch, so don't be afraid to make lots!

I'll definitely be making this again.

*I should mention that I adapted this recipe from another I found somewhere else (can't remember now) but I changed it so much that this is basically a whole new recipe!

**I've literally had these in my freezer for months, possibly an entire year. Its kind of like the pizza crust.

Greek Chicken Pitas

This is a delicious and fairly healthy recipe that I made last night for dinner. I blogged on my main blog about how one of my goals for 2012 is to eat healthier and use more portion control in my meals. I found this recipe a few months ago and never made it. I wish I had made it sooner! Its fantastic, and easy.

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Greek Chicken Pitas

Ingredients:
1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
2 Tbs each fresh mint and dill leaves, chopped
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
4 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1 lb chicken-breast tenders
1/2 English cucumber (seedless)
1 large ripe tomato
4 whole wheat pitas, cut in half

Combine yogurt, mint, dill, 1/4 tsp cumin, one-third of the garlic, and 1/4 tsp salt.

Mix together 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 tsp oil, oregano, 1/4 tsp salt, remaining 1/2 tsp cumin, and half of remaining garlic. Coat chicken tenders. Grill or pan fry chicken for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through.

Cut cucumber and tomato into chunks. Toss with 1/8 tsp salt and remaining lemon juice, oil, and garlic.

Grill pitas, if desired, until toasted. Serve all together!