turkey lasagna

Tonight I was really craving lasagna, but I wanted something healthy. So I found this recipe for a lighter take on lasagna. It is different than what I was expecting, but still very yummy. It isn't as saucy and gooey as a typical lasagna, but it is also a little healthier than a typical lasagna. Serve it with some french bread and a salad, yummy!

Turkey Lasagna 

(serves 8)

(slightly adapted from HERE)

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey breast
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 (26-ounce) bottle fat-free Italian pasta sauce (my joke of a grocery store didn't have ANY fat-free. oh well)
• 3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
• 2 cups 1% low-fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 9 uncooked lasagna noodles

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Cook the turkey in a large saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add water and pasta sauce; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Combine 2 cups mozzarella, cottage cheese, and next 3 ingredients (cottage cheese through pepper) in a bowl.
• Spread 1 cup turkey mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Arrange 3 noodles over turkey mixture; top with 1 1/2 cups turkey mixture. Spread half of cheese mixture over turkey mixture. Repeat layers, ending with the remaining turkey mixture.
• Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Let lasagna stand 10 minutes before serving.

coconut crusted chicken tenders

I found this recipe on pinterest a couple weeks ago and I have made it twice since! It is so yummy and so easy!!

recipe and photo {via}

Coconut Crusted Chicken Tenders
(serves 4)

• 1 lb chicken tenderloins or chicken breasts, sliced into long, 1″ thick strips
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Preheat oven to 400°F. Create an assembly line for easy coating of each tenderloin: Place all chicken strips on one plate. Next to that, place flour in a wide, shallow bowl. Lightly whisk eggs in another wide, shallow bowl. Combine panko, coconut, salt, and pepper in a fourth and final wide, shallow bowl. Now, take one chicken strip and toss it in the flour, shaking off the excess. Then, dredge the floured strip in the egg bath. Next, gently toss the chicken strip in the panko/coconut mixture, pressing to coat on each side. Place the coated strip on a plate or cookie sheet until you have finished coating all of the chicken.

Next, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat on your stove top. Add one tablespoon oil, swirling to coat. Add half of the chicken strips in a single layer, leaving space between each one. Cook for about 3 minutes, then flip and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Remove the chicken to a foil lined baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Add the remaining one tablespoon oil to the pan and then the second half of the chicken strips and cook for 3 minutes per side. Remove that second batch and place on the baking sheet. Set it in the oven for 10 minutes, so that the chicken tenders can cook through.

I made some honey mustard to dip them in, and it was perfect! For the honey mustard just mix equal parts mustard and mayo or miracle whip and however much honey you want, depending on how sweet you want it.

Enjoy!

Teriyaki Stir Fry

I am so sad I didn't take a picture of this dinner. It was so pretty!

It was really easy and SO yum. Probably one of my favorite dinners lately, and I didn't even use a recipe!

My inspiration was these pineapple teriyaki meatballs we got at costco a few weeks ago. The first package we ate with umm nothing because I was lazy and all I had to do was pop them in the oven for a few minutes. But last night I decided they would be good with veggies. So here is the stir fry "recipe" I used. 

1 Japanese eggplant (the long skinny kind)

1 medium carrot

1 small-medium head of broccoli

1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms

1/4 purple onion

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

teriyaki sauce

cooked rice

Chop up all your veggies into bite size pieces. Heat some oil in a large skillet then add the onions. After the onions have started to cook, add veggies in order of cooking time, you don't want anything over done! Once the vegetable are pretty much done, add however much teriyaki sauce you prefer. Stir around and make sure it coats all the veggies. 

Thats it! Super easy and way better than dumping the frozen ones in a pan (which is what I usually do). Serve the vegetables over rice! I cooked up some of the yummy costco meatballs and put them on top of everything. It was really really good. 

You can add whatever meat or other vegetables you are feelin!

 

Salsa Chicken

This little meal was going around pinterest like crazy so I tried it tonight. I paired it with rice and it may be my new favorite meal. SOOO easy, and so yummy!!HERE is where I got the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup (I used the cream of chicken)
1 cup salsa
1 package taco seasoning
1 cup sour cream
cilantro, for serving (optional)
I also added black beans
Directions:

Put chicken, soup, and salsa in slow cooker. Sprinkle taco seasoning over everything. Cook on low for 6 hours. If shredding the chicken, pull the breasts out and shred; return back to slow cooker. Stir in sour cream and heat just until everything is combined.

Source: Fake Ginger

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

I googled a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that only used 1 stick of butter (because that's all I had) and this is one of them that popped up. They turned out SO yummy!! I didn't use espresso powder like the recipe HERE calls for, I think i'll try it next time.

•1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
•1 cup light brown sugar
•3 tablespoons granulated sugar
•1 large egg
•2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
•1/2 teaspoon baking powder
•1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•1/2 teaspoon salt
•1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

broccoli

{via}

I bought a huge bag of broccoli at costco last weekend, and then realized there is no way we could eat all that broccoli. I steamed it one night with dinner, and it was good, but how many times can you eat broccoli?? So I searched for a good broccoli recipe and decided to try this one (kind of). I didn't have a few ingredients, so here is my version, with no measurements.

a bunch of broccoli
olive oil
garlic powder
salt
pepper

I cut up the broccoli into bite size pieces, but not too small. Then spread it evenly on a baking sheet. Drizzle some olive oil over the top. Then I kind of just tossed it with my hands to get the oil evenly coated over the broccoli. Sprinkle the seasonings on top and roast in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes.

I'm sure the original is way better, but this was seriously so good!! Chad kept saying "this is sooo good" "oh my gosh..mmm" haha it was really yummy.

orange chicken and fried rice

Last night I made this super easy orange chicken. Super easy like all you do is dump it out of the bag, bake it, then pour the sauce over it. haha It is from Costco, and it's pretty good! I did have to actually make the rice though... here is the recipe:

3 cups cooked rice, cooled (I used white, but brown would be healthier!)
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup frozen veggies, thawed (whatever you have, I used a mix of peas, carrots, corn and edamame)
4 tablespoons soy sauce
4 tablespoons water

-Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in large skillet, then scramble the eggs, until just done. Don't over-cook.

-Add the veggies, rice and remaining oil and cook for about 5 minutes. (Don't worry if it get dry and crispy, thats good!)

-Mix the soy sauce and water together in a small bowl and pour over the rice.

-Cook, stirring occasionally until the moisture is absorbed. (about 5 more minutes)

-Season with salt and pepper to taste!

You can really add whatever you want to this, leftover chicken or beef, onions, whatever you feel like!