Cheesy Veggie "Pasta" Bake

Cheesy Veggie "Pasta" Bake

This was dinner tonight.  Let me first say, I was talking on the phone when I was putting it together.  I ALWAYS mess up cooking when I am talking.  Seriously.  Always.  Like cinnamon instead of chili powder, salt instead of sugar.... you get the picture.  So about 25 minutes into the 30 required I realized I left out the tomato sauce.  Sweet.  So I mixed it in and added more cheese (which was nice!) and finished baking it.

And...  the kids hated it.  Sorry everyone.  Not a good endorsement eh?  They are exposed to many things but spaghetti squash apparently isn't one that they will even attempt to take a bite of, never mind the zucchini and tomatoes in it.  The cheese didn't even tempt them nor did the promise of Easter candy after dinner.  Shane wasn't home for dinner and I bet that he would be in the same category above.  Ha!

I, on the other hand, loved it!  It was very filling and a portion is 1/6th of the pan.  YUM!  I'm hoping leftovers will be just as good (since there are lots!)

If you try this, please let me know!!  Original recipe found here.  She also lists the nutritional information for you.  Woohoo!

Gluten-Free Cheesy Veggie "Pasta" Bake

Ingredients

1 whole spaghetti squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red pepper, diced
1 zucchini, diced
1 carrot, shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tomato, diced
16 ounces tomato sauce
4 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Poke spaghetti squash all over with a knife and cook in the microwave for eight to 12 minutes until soft. If you don't have a microwave, place the poked squash on a baking pan and bake at 375 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. While that's cooking, add the oil, garlic, pepper, zucchini, and carrots to a pan, cooking over medium heat.
3. 1. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, and with a fork, scrape the flesh from the peel. It should flake off easily in strings, resembling spaghetti. Place the spaghetti squash flesh in a casserole dish. Add the cooked veggies, diced tomato, sauce, and most of the cheese and mix well. Sprinkle leftover cheese on top and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.
   2. Allow to cool for five minutes, serve, and enjoy!

Lentil Casserole

We are having meatless Mondays at our house. (well, that's the goal, with Shane being gone, we had a lot of PB &J Mondays! I found this recipe here . Just go to the lijit search and type Lentil Casserole. This picture is after the cheese had cooled but guess what it was good! And guess what else? My WHOLE family ate it (even Graham, even Shane!) It was good as leftovers and also super easy to make.

Lentil Casserole

Ingredients
¾ cup lentils
½ cup rice
½ tsp basil
¼ tsp rosemary
¼ tsp oregano
¾ tsp garlic powder
3 cup chicken broth (can use water)

Directions
Mix all ingredients in casserole dish. Cover and bake on 300* for 1hr. 45 minutes to 2 hrs. (I stir after 30 minutes to mix in the seasoning.)

Serve over salad and top w/ sour cream. Goes well with tortilla chips. Or serve as a dip w/ tortilla chips and a with salad.

Read more: http://www.5dollardinners.com/2010/03/lentil-casserole.html#ixzz1NNP5rIB1

this recipe came from Tasty Kitchen. I marinated the chicken all day- it was definitely dark. The soy sauce is strong in it as is the peanut butter. I'd do a little less. I also doubled the sauce recipe and it was plenty thick. I served cilantro over top, with rice, broccoli and corn. I loved it!

Shane- didn't like the smell (ha!) but said it tasted very good. :)

I used regular jif peanut butter, skipped the sesame seeds (ours were OLD- yuck) and added cilantro at the end.

Thai Honey Peanut Chicken

Added by spygirl on January 12, 2010 in Main Courses, Poultry

Prep Time 10 Minutes Cook Time 10 Minutes

Servings 3

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

• 1 pound Chicken, In Chunks
• ¼ cups Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic (approximately 1 Large Clove)
• 1 Tablespoon Natural Peanut Butter (heaping Tablespoon Even Better)
• ½ teaspoons Curry Powder
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Mix ingredients and marinate chicken for 2-3 hours.

Cook chicken in the sauce over medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes or until chicken is done. Reduce heat to medium-low and add precooked veggies if desired. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

To thicken sauce if needed: reduce heat to medium-low and add a cornstarch slurry (1 teaspoon cornstarch in 1 tablespoon water).

Substitutions: replace chicken with tofu; replace peanut butter with tahini or another nut butter; if using regular peanut butter (i.e. Skippy) instead of natural peanut butter, reduce honey by 1 tablespoon.

2

Prep Time 10 Minutes Cook Time 10 Minutes

Servings 3

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

• 1 pound Chicken, In Chunks
• ¼ cups Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic (approximately 1 Large Clove)
• 1 Tablespoon Natural Peanut Butter (heaping Tablespoon Even Better)
• ½ teaspoons Curry Powder
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Mix ingredients and marinate chicken for 2-3 hours.

Cook chicken in the sauce over medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes or until chicken is done. Reduce heat to medium-low and add precooked veggies if desired. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

To thicken sauce if needed: reduce heat to medium-low and add a cornstarch slurry (1 teaspoon cornstarch in 1 tablespoon water).

Substitutions: replace chicken with tofu; replace peanut butter with tahini or another nut butter; if using regular peanut butter (i.e. Skippy) instead of natural peanut butter, reduce honey by 1 tablespoon.

3

Prep Time 10 Minutes Cook Time 10 Minutes

Servings 3

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients

• 1 pound Chicken, In Chunks
• ¼ cups Soy Sauce
• 2 Tablespoons Honey
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
• 1 teaspoon Minced Garlic (approximately 1 Large Clove)
• 1 Tablespoon Natural Peanut Butter (heaping Tablespoon Even Better)
• ½ teaspoons Curry Powder
• 1 teaspoon Sriracha (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Mix ingredients and marinate chicken for 2-3 hours.

Cook chicken in the sauce over medium-high heat for 7-8 minutes or until chicken is done. Reduce heat to medium-low and add precooked veggies if desired. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

To thicken sauce if needed: reduce heat to medium-low and add a cornstarch slurry (1 teaspoon cornstarch in 1 tablespoon water).

Substitutions: replace chicken with tofu; replace peanut butter with tahini or another nut butter; if using regular peanut butter (i.e. Skippy) instead of natural peanut butter, reduce honey by 1 tablespoon.

Spaghetti Bake

Here was dinner last Sunday. I got it from Gretch YEARS ago. Not even sure the exact recipe but here's what I do

Ingredients:

1 box spaghetti

1 lb sausage

1 jar spaghetti sauce (your fav)

1 jar alfredo sauce (your fav)

1 egg

pepperoni

mozzarella cheese

Cook 1 box of spaghetti- whichever kind you like. I use whole wheat.

While that is cooking brown 1 lb of sausage, drain well (you don't want greasy spaghetti)

Drain the spaghetti and then let it cool. Once I put it in a bowl and add the jar of alfredo sauce and mix well. Then I add 1 egg to make it stick together (the spaghetti must be cool-ish or it will cook the egg!) Once mixed in well press into bottom of 9x13 pan

layer sausage over top then spread about 3/4 jar of spaghetti sauce (your preference how much). Layer pepperoni on top of that and then top all with mozzarella cheese. Bake 350 degrees until bubbly (35 min or so)

I made this before church and then popped it in the oven when we got home. Served it with garlic bread. We all like it!

Stuffed Peppers

I made stuffed peppers last night for dinner. Shane= not loving it. He didn't eat a pepper but he did eat some of the stuffing part. (again= not loving it, but he did eat it!) Me? Love. I could have eaten a lot of it.

Ingredients-

3/4 lb lean ground beef, browned (I used the whole pound)

1 small pkg frozen corn (I think I had a med/large package so I used half)

1 1/2 cup salsa

1 1/2 cup cooked brown rice (we had white so I used it, need to get some brown!)

1 c. shredded cheddar/jack cheese

one of each- red, yellow, green pepper, tops cut off and seeds cleaned out

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Brown meat and drain. Put back in pan. Add corn and salsa and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in rice and 1/2 cup cheese and spoon into peppers. Pour 1/2 cup water int0 13x9 baking dish and add peppers. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and bake with foil off for 5 more.

This makes a lot of "stuffing" so you can add more peppers or just eat it as is. I love it!

the "stuffing"

a blurry picture but the finished product