Pasta with Sausage and Butternut Squash

If you are looking for a new and unique recipe for your family, I definitely recommend you try this.  We absolutely loved it in our house and we'll be making it again soon!  It's a great way to add some veggies and protein into your pasta for a well-balanced meal.

Find the recipe at Good Housekeeping here.  The two adjustments I made were that I used veggie pasta, so it had even more veggies in it and turkey sausage to make it a little healthier.

Healthy Turkey Spinach Meatloaf & Garlic Potatoes

Thank you to Running Away? I'll Help You Pack for these great healthy recipes! We made both of them, had a fun dinner and some great leftovers for later in the week!

See the turkey spinach meatloaf recipe here and the garlic mashed potatoes here.

Delicious Turkey Patty Melts

Hubby created this dinner for us recently and I wanted to share it with you because it was so good. I've never had a patty melt before because I don't eat red meat, so this is our turkey version.

Makes 4 sandwiches

Ingredients:
• 8 slices of bread
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 slices mozzarella cheese

In a small pan, heat vegetable oil and pour in onions. When onions start to soften, add brown sugar and grill for 5 more minutes.

Roll ground turkey into 4 patties. In a large pan, melt 1 T butter and then add turkey patties. Grill patties until meat is fully cooked.

Once patties are cooked, move them to a plate and heat 1 T in pan. Lightly toast slices of bread until golden brown and then flip to other side.

When bread is toasted, create a sandwich with turkey patty, grilled onions and a slice of cheese.

Messy, but very good! Enjoy!

Cheesy Spinach & Turkey Ziti

Well, hello! I've been MIA for a few days during the Chicago Blizzard of 2011, Hubby being sick, and getting busy with life. I apologize for accidentally posting this earlier in the day and deleting it. This is one of my favorite new pasta recipes! Definitely a keeper!

Adapted from Your Homebased Mom

Ingredients:
• 1 lb Italian sausages (take out of casing)
• 1/2 c chopped onion
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 24 oz. can of diced, peeled tomatoes
• 2/3 c pesto
• salt & pepper
• 10 oz. cooked ziti
• 4 c chopped fresh spinach
• 8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 c grated Parmesan cheese

In a large pan, cook sausage, onion and garlic until sausage is cooked through.

Add tomatoes with juices and simmer until sauce thickens slightly. Stir occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

Add pesto. Season sauce with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease 13 x 9 baking dish.

In a large bowl, mix pasta, spinach, mozzarella and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese. Add in warm tomato mixture.

Pour mixture in baking dish and top with remaining 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese.

Bake until sauce bubbles and cheeses melt, about 20-25 minutes.

So good! Seconds, please! : )

Delicious Meatball Subs

We kinda made up this recipe one day while we were at the grocery store and wanted to try something new for dinner. It ended up turning out great so I wanted to share it with you.

Ingredients:
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped pepperoni (we used turkey pepperoni)
• 3 teaspoons chopped basil
• 1 cup chopped fresh spinach
• turkey meatballs (either pre-made frozen or make your own - for super exciting meatballs, try these cheesy stuffed meatballs)
• sliced mozzarella cheese
• marinara sauce
• Italian bread or large buns

In a large pot, combine onion, pepperoni, basil, marinara sauce, spinach, and meatballs. Cover pot and heat for about 30 minutes or until meatballs are cooked. Stir every few minutes while cooking.

Once meatballs are done, spoon meatballs and sauce in buns and top with cheese slices. To melt the cheese, place sandwiches on a cookie sheet and heat in the over for a couple minutes.

A quick & yummy meal! Enjoy!







Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays

Healthy Lettuce Wraps

I've had lettuce wraps tons of times in restaurants, but I've never tried to make them myself. After trying lettuce wraps at so many restaurants, I'm happy to say that these were JUST as good as the ones you would order!

Adapted from here

Ingredients:

Sauce:
• 6 t. hoisin sauce
• 4 t. soy sauce
• 2 t. sesame oil
• 4 t. white wine vinegar
• fresh ground black pepper

Filling:
• 2 t. olive oil
• 1 t. minced garlic
• ½ t. grated fresh ginger
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 2 cups mixed vegetables (We used mushrooms, carrots, red pepper and onion)
• ½ green apple, finely chopped

Wraps:
• lettuce leaves (washed and separated)
• shredded carrots for topping
• rice noodles (optional for topping)

Combine all the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and mix.

To make the filling, heat a skillet on high heat with cooking oil. When the pan is hot, add garlic, ginger and green onions to the pan. Stir fry for a few seconds, just until fragrant.

Add the ground turkey and break into small pieces. Cook until almost cooked through.

Add the vegetables to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Mix in the sauce and cook for about 1 minute until thickened slightly. Add the apples to the pan and toss to coat.

Remove the pan from heat.

Serve the filling in lettuce “cups” and top with shredded carrots and rice noodles.

Make sure to have extra napkins...it's very messy! But VERY good!

Here's Hubby's lettuce wrap after he took a big bite : )

Whats on the Menu Wednesday

BSI - Healthy Turkey & Spinach Meatloaf

This week I was introduced to a little contest called Blogger Secret Ingredient over at Debbi Does Dinner. She picks an ingredient (ground turkey) and bloggers can enter their recipes for the contest. Here are the rules for BSI if you're interested.

Anyway, lucky for me, we eat a lot of ground turkey in our house because I don't eat red meat. I pulled out this yummy recipe from last summer to enter...and now I'm remembering that I need to make it again because it was SO good!

Lowfat Spinach & Cheese Meatloaf

Meat mixture:
3 slices bread, crust removed
1/2 c. milk
1 lb. ground chicken
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 egg white
1 tsp. oregano
Fresh ground pepper

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.

Tear bread into 1 inch pieces. Put in a bowl, pour in the milk and mash the bread with a fork until all the milk is absorbed.

In another bowl, mix the chicken, mustard, egg white, oregano and pepper.

Add in the bread mixture and mix well, until creamy.

Press the meat mixture onto the baking sheet so that it covers 1/2 the baking sheet.

Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour (up to three hours).

Filling:
1 10 oz. package of frozen spinach
3 green onions, chopped (green part only)
1 egg white
Fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp. olive oil
Parmesan cheese, grated, about 1/3 cup

Thaw and drain spinach. Press out all the water.

Heat olive oil in a skillet. Add the spinach and onion and cook until mixture is somewhat dry and the onions begin to wilt, about 5-6 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool. Mix in egg white and season with lots of pepper.

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove baking sheet from fridge and spread the spinach mixture over the meat, leaving 1 inch border all the way around.

Sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Starting at the end closest to you, use the foil to lift the meat and roll jelly roll style, pushing forward a little bit at a time.

Bake at 350 for about an hour.

Serve with tomato sauce. We also made some mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it and it worked perfectly together.

Also, I want to say Happy Anniversary to Hubby! We've been married for 3 years today! Love you!

Tasty Tuesday
Tuesdays at the Table
What's on the Menu Wednesday
What's Cooking Wednesday

Healthy Spinach Meatloaf and Steamed Broccoli

We've been trying to eat healthier lately, so I'm always looking for healthy recipes that still taste good. And I love anything that's great leftover so I have a quick and easy meal for later in the week.

I also got a chance to pull out the vegetable steamer that's been in hiding for almost 6 years. I completely forgot about it until we went to make this!

Spinach Meatloaf
Ingredients:
• 1 t salt
• 1/4 c low-fat parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c feta cheese
• 1.5 lbs ground turkey
• 1.5 c breadcrumbs
• 1/2 t pepper
• 8 oz. can evaporated milk
• 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 3/4 T minced garlic
• 1 T onion powder

Heat oven to 400.
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.

Using your hands, shape into a loaf and pour into a lightly greased 1 lb loaf pan.
Bake for 45 minutes.

Steamed Broccoli
Ingredients:
• 1/2 T garlic powder
• 1 t black pepper
• 1 t salt
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 t butter
• fresh broccoli

Cut broccoli into small pieces.

Pour broccoli and other ingredients into steamer.

Set timer for 12-14 minutes and steam until soft.
(This also works with a pot steamer on the stove.)

Super easy and very healthy! Enjoy!

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Cheesy Stuffed Meatballs

A few weeks ago, we were at the grocery store and Hubby noticed a sign with a picture of meatballs stuffed with cheese and thought they looked good. Fast forward a few days and I ran across a recipe on a blog for something similar...score! The perfect surprise for Hubby! So I combined a few different recipes and created our own for this tasty dinner idea.

Ingredients:
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, diced
• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1 T Italian seasoning
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce

Preheat the over to 350 degrees.
Combine the turkey, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, and seasoning in a bowl.

Cut mozzarella cheese into small chunks.

Flatten a small amount of meat in your hand and place a piece of mozzarella cheese inside. Form the meatball around the cheese. Make sure all of the cheese is covered by meat so the cheese doesn't come out while it's cooking.

Place meatballs on a greased baking pan and cook for 30 minutes.

Quickly take the dish out of the oven after it has cooked for 30 minutes. Pour the jar of spaghetti sauce on top and put the pan back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Serve with pasta and enjoy!

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