Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Zucchini, Sausage and Feta Casserole


After seeing some good reviews on WC for this, I decided to give it a whirl. All the ingredients are things I love and it seemed simple enough for a weeknight meal. It turned out very good but DH and I both agreed that it had too much zucchini. It calls for 1.5 pounds, which was 3 medium sized zucchini. I would definitely reduce it down to 2 next time and also use more of the broth/flour combo. Perhaps use a full cup of broth to make it a bit saucier. The overall taste was very good and I would definitely try it again with the above modifications.


Ingredients

2 1/2 cups uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
8 ounces chicken sausage (I used turkey italian sausage)
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon olive oil
5 cups thinly sliced zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 cups vertically sliced onion (about 1) (I omitted as we don't like onion)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°.

Cook pasta in boiling water 5 minutes, omitting salt and fat; drain.
Remove casings from sausage. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add sausage to pan; cook until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from pan. Heat oil in pan. Add zucchini, onion, salt, pepper, and garlic. Cook 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender and zucchini begins to brown, stirring occasionally.

Combine broth and flour in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add broth mixture to pan; cook 1 minute. Combine zucchini mixture, pasta, sausage, and feta cheese in a large bowl; toss well. Spoon pasta mixture into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Yield 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup)



Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Cream Cheese Chicken....one of our faves!


I got this recipe from nestie MaryEllen several months ago, and it's been a favorite of ours ever since. I make it slightly different than the original recipe but that's the beauty of this recipe - you can adapt it to how you like it and it always comes out great! We like it served over simple steamed brown rice and tonight we had some steamed broccoli on the side. And at approximately 350 calories per serving, it is healthy to boot!

Chicken with Cream Cheese Sauce (Adapted from recipe of Nestie MaryEllen)

Ingredients

3 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1.5 cups chicken broth
4-8 cloves garlic
Red pepper flakes
4 oz reduced fat cream cheese
1.5 tbs flour
2 tsp white wine

Directions

Dice chicken into 1 inch pieces and season with salt and pepper (I usually do onion and garlic powder as well). Heat olive oil in a large pan and add chicken. After a few minutes, add crushed garlic. Cook chicken until browned on all sides then remove chicken from pan. Cover with foil to keep warm. Combine flour with wine and chicken broth, and stir until dissolved. Add to pan and scrape up any bits from the bottom. Heat sauce until bubbly and starts to thicken, then add cream cheese. Whisk until smooth. After 2-3 minutes, add chicken back to pan along with any juices that accumulated while resting. Let cook for another 2-3 minutes. This is great served over rice.

And for dessert, a bowl of delicious ripe berries with a generous spoonful of Cool Whip! So simple yet so delicoius. I know a lot of you probably aren't fans of Cool Whip, but at 25 calories per serving it's a great way for me to make my sweet tooth happy without upsetting my hips!






Sunday, July 15, 2007

I couldn't help it, I jumped on the blog bandwagon too!

I love to cook and I love to share my recipes. Most of the meals I make are relatively easy, as I am a busy wife and mom to a beautiful almost-2-year-old little girl named Sara. Here is my "baby" girl!

I have tried so many wonderful recipes from the WC girls, and I hope that I can inspire some of you to try mine! Happy cooking!