Spaghetti and No-Meat Balls

I got this recipe from Food Network. Here's how I made it tonight:

Ingredients:
Meatballs:
2 tsp EVOO
1/8 c finely diced red onion
Salt and pepper
1 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, chopped
Dash of red pepper flakes
1 svg (79g) Nasoya extra firm tofu, drained and crumbled
1 T egg beaters
1 T dry bread crumbs
Fresh chopped herbs, I used oregano and cilantro
1 T whole wheat flour

Tomato sauce (I used 1/2 c Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes, put through the blender)
2 oz spaghetti, prepared

Directions:
In a medium skillet over medium heat, warm 1 tsp of EVOO. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook until softened. Add the mushrooms, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Raise the heat to high and cook, stirring frequently, until the mushrooms have given off their juices and are lightly caramelized.

Transfer the vegetables to the work bowl of a food processor. Add the tofu, egg and another pinch of salt and pulse to combine. Add the bread crumbs and herbs and pulse to combine again. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and season with plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
Spread the flour on a plate. Form the tofu mixture into 1 1/2-inch balls. Lightly coat the balls in flour. (Mine made 6.)
In a large skillet over medium heat, warm the remaining 1 tsp EVOO. Add the balls and cook them until browned all over, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
Add the tomato sauce to the pan and simmer until the balls are firm and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Serve over pasta. Makes 1 serving.

Nutritional Information: 

(No-Meat Balls only, not including sauce or pasta)

Calories: 240.2
Fat: 14g
Saturated: 1.9g
Polyunsaturated: 3.8g
Monounsaturated: 7.6g

Cholesterol: 0g
Carbs: 16.7g
Fiber: 3.1g
Sugar: 1g
Protein: 12.9g

Ratings:
Kristen: 3.5
Dave: 4 (I made him the same thing but instead of the no-meat balls I cut up and cooked a Jennie-O hot italian turkey sausage link to put in the sauce)

Island Quesadillas

The original recipe (from Kraft) is here. I forgot to take a picture, but if you look at the site, that is what it looks like! Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
1-1/3T Olde Cape Cod All Natural Olive Oil & Basil Sun Dried Tomato Dressing
1 garlic clove, minced

1 whole mango, peeled, chopped (82g)

1/2 medium green pepper, chopped (77g)

1/3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 svg (75g) Nasoya extra firm tofu or 4 oz chicken

4 Don Marcos Stone Ground Corn Tortillas, 6"

2 wedges Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss Cheese

1 oz Ilchester Applewood Smoked Cheddar, shredded

Directions:

Heat dressing in medium skillet on medium-high heat. Add garlic, mango, pepper and cinnamon; cook 3 min. stirring often. Add chicken or tofu; cook 10 min. or until cooked through for chicken, or 5 min for tofu, stirring often. Remove mixture from skillet; keep warm. Spread 1/2 of the Laughing Cow wedge cream on each tortilla. Spoon warm chicken/tofu mixture evenly on half of each tortilla; top each evenly with cheese. Fold in half.
Heat skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat. Place quesadillas in skillet; cook 2 min. Turn over; cook 2 min. or until cheese melts and edges are lightly browned.
Makes 2 servings (2 quesadillas each).

Nutritional Information: (For tofu, which is 80 cal/svg, 4g fat, 2g carbs, 8g protein.)
Calories: 327.4
Fat: 12.9g
Saturated Fat: 5.1g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.3g
Monounsaturated Fat: 0.5g
Cholesterol: 28.5mg
Sodium: 455.5mg
Potassium: 71.8mg
Carbs: 38g
Fiber: 3.9g
Sugar: 9g
Protein: 14.7g

Ratings:
Kristen (with tofu): 4
Dave (with chicken): 4

Moroccan Vegetable Couscous

Feel free to add some chicken (or sausage would be good) to this dish to make it non-vegetarian. Dave had chicken in his. I got this recipe from epicurious. Here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
1/6 c almonds, chopped
1/2 T EVOO
1-1/2 c mixed cut-up vegetables, such as red onion, carrots, zucchini and cauliflower (I used 1/2 c each of green pepper, zucchini and carrots)
1-1/2 tsp ground cumin
1-1/2 tsp ground coriander (I didn't have this so I left it out)
1/2 c white wine
1/6 c raisins
3/8 c vegetable broth
salt and pepper, to taste
1 c couscous (Casbah Organic Whole Wheat)

Directions:
Toast almonds in the microwave (I do this in a stoneware dish, in 30 second intervals). Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add vegetables and spices; saute until vegetables just begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Add wine and raisins. Boil until wine is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add broth. Partially cover skillet; simmer until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Meanwhile, prepare couscous according to package directions. (I prepared it with vegetable broth.)
Plate the couscous. Spoon vegetable topping and juices on top, and sprinkle with almonds.
Makes 4 servings ( I made it into 3 but that was too much!)

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 258.9

Fat: 4.4g

Saturated Fat: 0.4g

Polyunsaturated Fat:  0.3g

Monounsaturated Fat: 1.3g

Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 248.6mg
Potassium: 255.8mg
Carbs: 48g
Fiber: 7.2g
Sugars: 6.3g
Protein: 6.9g 

Ratings:
Kristen: 3
Dave: 3 (with chicken), 2 (without chicken)
It was kind of bland, some more spices and/or garlic would probably help!

Cream Cheese Clouds

I made these a while ago, but I never uploaded the picture so it hadn't gotten posted before now.

Original Recipe

Ingredients:
12 oz  pkg Pillsbury Grands Jr. Golden Homestyle Buttermilk Biscuits (I used 9 of the 10 biscuits... random)
3 oz fat free cream cheese, cut into 9 cubes
1 T sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Separate 9 biscuits from the dough; press or roll each to 1/4" thickness.
Mix sugar and cinnamon in a shallow dish. Roll cream cheese cubes in the cinnamon sugar. Place 1 cheese cube in center of each dough circle; gather up sides of dough to enclose filling. Press edges of dough together to seal. Place, seam sides up, on baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with any remaining cinnamon sugar. (I put the remaining cinnamon sugar on the inside instead of the outside.)
Bake 15 min or until golden brown. Serve warm.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 116
Fat: 3.5g
Saturated Fat: 0.5g
Carbs: 16g
Protein: 3g

Ratings
Kristen: 4
Dave: 4.5

Chipotle Burgers with Fire-Roasted Ketchup

This is Rachael Ray's recipe "Texas Hold-Ums" from the cookbook 2, 4, 6, 8: Great Meals for Couples or Crowds. I made it tonight in honor of National Hamburger Day! (So says Applebees...) The recipe says it serves 6, but it uses 2 lbs of meat. I made 1/4 of the recipe, or two 1/4 lb burgers.

Ingredients::
2 lbs ground sirloin (extra lean ground beef)
1 medium onion, peeled and cut in half (I used onion powder in the burgers themselves and put diced red onions on top of Dave's burger as well)
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 chipotles in adobo, chopped, plus 2 T of the adobo sauce (San Marcos brand)
2 T grill seasoning, such as McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning, a couple palmfuls (I used Emeril's Southwest seasoning)
1 T EVOO, plus some for drizzling
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 T brown sugar
1/4 c vinegar (I found out at the last minute that we are out of white vinegar so I used red wine vinegar- it was still good!)
15 oz. can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen Organic Brand, 14.5 oz can)
Salt and black pepper
12 slices (1/2" thick) smoked cheddar or sharp cheddar, cut from a brick of cheese, such as Cabot brand, optional (Ilchester, Golden Applewood Smoked Cheddar, 1 oz per burger)
12 small round rolls, split (Meijer Hamburger Buns)

Directions:
Place meat in a bwol. Grate half of the onion into the meat using the small holes on a box grater (onion powder). Chop and reserve the other half of the onion. Add the worcestershire, chipotles and adobo sauce, and grill seasoning to the meat mixture. Drizzle a little EVOO (I used 1 tsp for 1/4 of the recipe) over the bwol and combine everything. Score the meat into 4 sections (I did 2). Make 3 mini burgers, each 3" wide and 1" thick, from each of the 4 sections, for 12 in all (I just made 2 regular sized burgers).

Give the burgers to your husband to grill. :) Well, that is what I did. When almost ready, melt the cheese on top.

Heat a small sauce pot over medium heat. Add the tablespoon of EVOO and the garlic. Cook the garlic for 2-3 minutes, then add the brown sugar and vinegar. Cook for 2 minutes more and stir in the tomatoes. Season the sauce with salt and pepper and cook it for 5-6 minutes more, to thicken a bit.

Place the burgers on buns and top them with raw chopped onions and some of the warm fire-roasted ketchup.

Nutritional Information:
(For 1/4 lb burger and hamburger bun)
Calories: 465
Fat: 21g
Saturated Fat: 9g
Carbs: 31g
Protein: 36g

Ratings:
Kristen: 4.5
Dave: 4

Hungry Girl La-la-la-la-lasagna

Original recipe is here.

Ingredients:
Two 1/4" thick eggplant slices (cut lengthwise from a long eggplant), patted dry (125g)
2 T egg substitute
1/2 c reduced fat ricotta cheese
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1/4 t salt
Dash ground nutmeg
1 c sliced mushrooms
1 c canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 T italian seasoning
Additional salt and pepper, to taste
2 lasagne noodes, cooked or oven ready
1/4 c shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1 T grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F.
Spritz both sides of each eggplant slice with nonstick spray and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 20 min, carefully flipping halfway through, until browned and softened.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine egg substitute, ricotta cheese, garlic, salt and nutmeg. Stir well and set aside.
Bring a skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat on the stove. Add mushrooms and, stirring occasionally, cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir mushrooms into ricotta mixture and set aside.
Add italian seasoning to crushed tomatoes, and season to taste with salt and black pepper. Set aside.
Spray a small baking dish (or large loaf pan) with nonstick spray. Pour 1/4 c tomatoes evenly into the bottom of the pan. Top with 1 lasagne noodle. Spread half of the ricotta-mushroom mixture on top, followed by another 1/4 c tomatoes. Top with 1 eggplant slice.
Repeat layering with 1/4 c tomatoes, 1 lasagne noodle, remaining ricotta-mushroom mixture, remaining 1/4 c tomatoes, and remaining eggplant slice.
Evenly top with mozzarella and grated parmesan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until cheese starts to brown. Serve and enjoy!
Makes 2 servings.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 309
Fat: 7.5g
Saturated Fat: 4.5g
Carbs: 41g
Protein: 21g

Ratings:
Kristen: 4.75
Dave: 3.5

Banana Split Cheesecake Squares

Ingredients:

1 c chocolate graham cracker crumbs (about 5 sheets)
3 T butter (imperial 1/3 less fat)

3 pkg (8 oz each) fat free cream cheese

3/4 c sugar

1 t vanilla

3/4 c egg substitute

1 ripe banana, mashed

Sliced strawberries, bananas and pineapple for topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix graham cracker crumbs and butter; press firmly onto bottom of 13x9" baking pan.
Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add egg substitute gradually, mixing on low speed after each addition just until blended. Stir in mashed bananas. Pour over crust.
Bake 30 min or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. Serve topped with the sliced strawberries, bananas and pineapple. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Nutritional Information:

(Based on 18 squares before fruit topping):
Calories: 110
Fat: 1.5g
Saturated Fat: 0.5g
Carbs: 15g
Protein: 6.5g

Ratings:
Kristen: 3.5
Dave: 4.75 (apparently a 5 has to be mind-blowing)

The amount of fruit shown adds about 15-20 calories. I didn't include in the info because I added the fruit individually to each slice rather than put it on the whole thing at once, so that it doesn't soak into the cheesecake while it waits to be eaten. I would not eat this cheesecake recipe WITHOUT fruit though... the fruit is what makes it a banana split!