Spinach Loaded Lasagna

I decided to make a lasagna last night, but wanted to make it as healthy as possible. My family really enjoyed it. Dan said it had a little too much spinach in it, so next time I might cut out about 1/3 of it. However, my 10 month old, Audrey, wolfed it down, and I knew she was getting her veggies, so that made me feel good. Hopefully she'll continue to enjoy her spinach as she gets older and learns to talk back. :)

Ingredients:

9 whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked according to package directions
1 lb ground turkey or lean ground beef (I used beef, which is a rare occurence for us)
1 16 oz container part skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 16 oz bag frozen spinach
1 and a half jars of marinara sauce
1 T olive oil
1 1/2 head of garlic, chopped (I chopped it up in a mini food processor)
2/3 of a small yellow onion
2 cups shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Brown the ground beef, drain the grease, and set the beef aside in a bowl. Using the same skillet (just to make less mess), saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil on medium heat. Add the ground beef back in with the onion and garlic, and pour one jar of marinara sauce in with it. Simmer on low while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, and spinach. Mix until well blended. Set aside.

Grease a 9x13 inch glass dish (I use spray canola oil). Pour about 1/3 of the marinara/ground beef mixture on the bottom of the glass dish, and spread it out in a thin layer.

Place three lasagna noodles on top of the marinara mixture (not overlapping). Scoop 1/2 of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles, and spread it into a thin layer. Top with 1/3 of the ground beef mixture, and spread thin. Top with three more noodles, the rest of the ricotta, and another layer of marinara/beef.

Add the three final noodles on top, pour the 1/2 jar of marinara sauce over the noodles and spread it to completely cover the dish, and sprinkle the mozzarella on top.

Loosely cover the dish with foil (don't set it too close to the cheese or it will stick).

Bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake for another 10 minutes. When you pull it out of the oven at the end of 50 minutes, let it sit and cool for about 15 minutes.


Enjoy with a salad and some garlic bread. :)

Veggie Loaded Beef Stew

This was my first time experimenting with beef stew, and I have to say it turned out wonderfully! I made sure to add a LOT of veggies and used lean meat to make it extra healthy. I also added a side of homemade whole wheat biscuits, and the meal was a success. Dan gobbled up two bowls, and we'll be having leftovers tonight! :-)

Veggie Loaded Beef Stew


Ingredients:

1 package of Trader Joe's lean stew beef
2/3 cup flour
1 package of pre-chopped onions, carrots, and celery from Trader Joe's (quite inexpensive!)
1 bag of teenie tiny potatoes from TJ's (so cute!) :-)
2 cups of Wolfgang Puck Beef Stock
1 T Herbs de Provence
2 bay leaves
1 T onion powder
1 fresh head of garic, minced (I used a small food processor to make it quick and easy)
1 cup of frozen chopped spinach
1 cup of frozen peas
2 T corn starch (optional--use it if you want a thicker stew, skip it if you want a broth-like stew)
1 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper

I used my crockpot, but you could easily do this in large pot on the stove. You would just need to watch it closely and stir it occasionally over a two hour or so period of time.



Start by placing the stew meat into a large ziplock bag. Add the flour, salt, and pepper, and shake to coat. Place the coated meat into the crockpot. Next, add the potatoes (washed, but not peeled*) and the chopped carrots, celery, onion and fresh garlic. Pour the beef stock over everything and add the herbs de provence, onion powder, and bay leaves. Stir everything together, and turn the crockpot on high for 5-6 hours, or low for 8-10 hours.



About 45 minutes before it is done cooking, stir in the frozen peas and spinach. Place the lid back on the crockpot and finish cooking.


In order to make the stew thick, I mixed 2 T of corn starch with 2/3 cup of water, and poured it into the crockpot. I mixed it all together and let it sit for a few minutes. You can skip this step if you want.


Simple whole wheat biscuits from scratch:


Ingredients:

1 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 T butter, slightly melted
1/4 tsp salt
Slightly less than 1/2 cup of milk (3/8)
1/2 cup of flour for the table/cutting board


Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a baking pan with short edges.



Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl. Using your hands (the fun part!), blend in the butter. Slowly pour the milk into the mixture, while blending with your hands. Place the ball of dough onto the work surface (where your other flour is), and roll it out into a small circle. Use a pizza cutter (or whatever works) to cut it into 5-6 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, flatten the ball so it is about 1/2 inch thick, and place each biscuit on a greased baking pan.

Bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

I served the biscuits with a little butter and strawberry preserves.




This recipe yields about 8 servings of beef stew and 6 biscuits. You can eat leftovers one night and freeze the remainder for a night you don't feel like cooking. Your freezer is your friend. Don't throw away leftovers! :)




*I don't peel potatoes ever, even when mashing them. The peels contain most of the nutrition.*