Slow Cooker Vegan/Vegetarian Sunday Sauce

This had my meat loving coworkers drooling! 

Ingredients:
-pasta of choice
-1/2 green pepper chopped
-1/2 yellow onion chopped
-1 small package of mushrooms chopped
-1 large can of crushed tomatoes
-olive oil
-1 package of beyond meat meatless crumbles
-3 cloves of garlic chopped
-2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
-1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
-a generous sprinklings of nutritional yeast

To make:
Sautee chopped garlic, onions, peppers and mushrooms in oil until onions are translucent and add beyond meat crumbles.  Cook until defrosted and slightly browned.  In a slow cooker add a layer of sauce and then 1/2 of the veggie mix on top.  Top this with seasonings and nooch.  Add another layer of sauce and top with the remaining veggies and more sauce.  Cook on low for a minimum of 4 hours.  I cooked mine for 8 hours. 

Sauce in the crock pot after being cooked for 8 hours.

I used Banza pasta with the sunday sauce and it was amazing!  It tastes great and has a ton of fiber and protein.  I found some at Fresh Market and I will definitely be back to get more!

 

Healthified mac n cheese

I was trying to figure out what to eat for dinner one day when and I opened up the Home and Garden's that came that day and I came across a healthier version of mac and cheese. I am a big mac n cheese lover so if you can make a healthy mac n cheese taste good - you are my best friend! I thought I would try the recipe with a few adaptations:

Ingredients:

-Whole wheat pasta 1 and 1/2 cups - I used whole wheat shells

-1 and 1/2 broccoli florets and finely chopped carrots

-1/4 cup finely chopped onion

-4 tsp olive oil

-3/4 cup 75% reduced fat white cheddar cheese

-1/2 cup 75% reduced fat pepper jack cheese

-1/2 cup of parmesan cheese

-1 and 2/3 cups fat free milk

-1 tbsp all-purpose flour

-crushed red pepper and italian seasonings to taste

-some panko bread crumbs to sprinkle on top

Steps:

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees...while the oven is warming up cook pasta and add broccoli and carrots in the last 3 minutes of cooking...drain pasta and veggies and set aside.

2. While the pasta is cooking heat 2 tsp of olive oil in pan and cook onions until soft and translucent. Remove pan from heat and stir in parmesan cheese...stir until blended.

3. In a medium bowl whisk together milk and flour until smooth...add to onion mixture...cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly...reduce heat to low and add the rest of the cheese...stir until melted...add cooked pasta mixture and stir to coat.

4. Transfer pasta mixture to a cassarole dish...in a small bowl toss panko breadcrumbs with remaining oil and sprinkle on top of pasta...sprinkle with crushed red pepper and italian seasonings...bake for 15 minutes or until top of browned.

This mac and cheese is probably the best mac and cheese I have ever had...it had so much flavor and it was a much healthier option...until I ate almost all of it...and saw it was supposed to feed six...whoops!

If you want to see the original recipe it was in the March 2010 Better Homes and Gardens.

Some pictures of the finished product:

Eggplant and Ziti Casserole

At work we get all types of free samples of produce for various reasons. Last month I got a few eggplants and had to think of some creative ways to use them. I also had some non-fat ricotta cheese that I needed to use up. I decided to try to make a casserole. I had seen something similar on a recipe website a few months before. I love casseroles! Not alot of work or clean up, plenty of leftovers and the food is so hearty!

I cut the eggplant up into long slices about 1/4 inch wide and fryed until brown on both sides. I lined the bottom of a casserole dish with the eggplant and set aside.

I used Ronzoni smart taste penne rigati- its suppose to have vitamins and be healthier for you. I used 3/4 of the box of penne - boiled some water and cooked the pasta until tender.

While the pasta was cooking I mixed the carton of non-fat ricotta cheese with a little parmesan cheese, cracked black pepper, italian seasoning, a little crushed red pepper and garlic salt.

When the penne was done cooking I drained and mixed with the ricotta cheese mixture. Layered half of the penne/cheese mixture over the eggplant and then add a layer of red sauce and the rest of the penne/cheese over that. Bake at 400 degrees until the cheese and noodles on top turn golden brown.

What I got looked like this:

It was sooo good and pretty healthy too!