Butternut Squash, Spinach, and Cheese Pasta

This is a spin-off of a recipe for "Healthier Mac N Cheese" by Food Network.  I took the basics and ran with it!

My daughter wanted to be in the picture, haha!  This recipe really is quite healthy.  I used all natural cheddar cheese (no colors, preservatives, rBHT), lowfat no-salt added cottage cheese, and frozen pureed butternut squash (it may have been acorn squash, I did a bad job labeling my frozen purees this year!)

Butternut Squash, Spinach, and Cheese Pasta

1 pkg Pasta, any shape, cooked
1 1/2 c Butternut squash, cooked and pureed
1 c. lowfat milk
1 T butter
3 T non-fat yogurt
1 1/2 c grated Cheddar cheese
1 c cottage cheese
1 bunch of spinach, wilted (stir in a skillet on med-low with a bit of olive oil until reduced by at least half)
salt & pepper (to taste, will depend on your cheeses)

Preheat oven to 400.

Put squash in a large pan over medium-high heat.  Add milk, butter, and yogurt.  Stir until incorporated.  When puree begins to simmer, slowly add the cheeses, stirring constantly.  When all the cheese is melted and sauce begins to thicken, season with a little salt and pepper.  Taste, adjust seasoning.  (I used about 1- 1 1/2 tsp. of salt and a good pinch of pepper.  I also added 1 tsp of arrowroot powder because my sauce wasn't thickening fast enough and the baby was fussing!)

Gently stir in pasta and spinach until the sauce is evenly distributed.

Pour into a lightly greased baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, until nice and bubbly. Let cool for 10 min before serving.

Serve with a big salad! Yum!

Note: I think next time I will add more spinach, at least double.  It was good!

Kids Making Dinner! *Homemade Pizza*

 Homemade pizza is so yummy! And really, very easy.  My kids always ask to help, so today we made a community-effort dinner!

 I use the Betty Crocker recipe for pizza dough for quick pizza.  It's a simple one (water, yeast, flour, oil, salt).  I used mostly whole wheat flour today.  It's more nutritious and it's also more filling (read: crazy appetites of growing kids!). I still have a few jars of homemade spaghetti sauce left from last summer's garden, so we used that for sauce.

On this recipe, you mix the ingredients and let it rest for 20 minutes.  Then you're ready to start rolling!

The kids rolled out the dough, with a little help.  They elected to curl their crusts back over so they could have "pizza bones". I also oiled the baking sheets and sprinkled them with cornmeal to keep the dough from sticking. Then, the crusts went in the oven for 10 minutes at 425.

They each spread the sauce out on the pre-baked crust...

And sprinkled on the cheese.  My kids are boring in the pizza category, they just want cheese!  We did serve veggies with the pizza tonight, but what they didn't know is the sauce is packed with garden veggies.  (Sneaky Mommy!) Now, back in the oven for about 10 minutes...

And VOILA! Individual pizzas!  The kids are impressed because they "cooked" and it made dinner fun!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Healthy Banana Muffins

Happy New Year's Day 2013!  In celebration (and appreciation) of New Year's and the resolutions for healthier eating that no doubt go with it, here's a recipe I played with this morning.  The kids have tested and approved it!

Healthy Banana Muffins

1/2 c honey

1 c unsweetened applesauce

2 large eggs

2 mashed ripe bananas (approximately 1 c)

1/2 c milk (I used whole, but whatever kind you have!)

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c whole wheat flour (I used hard winter wheat)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 raw sunflower seeds

3 heaping tsp flaxseed meal (optional)

2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix honey and applesauce in a large bowl.  Stir in eggs until well blended.  Add bananas, milk, and vanilla.  Beat until smooth.  Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, seeds, flaxseed meal, and cinnamon until just moistened.  Pour into muffin cups (I've had better luck using silicone baking cups, the muffins seem to stick less than paper liners.  And no oil is needed like when you use plain muffin pans.).
3. Bake 25-28 minutes until muffins pressed lightly bounce back or a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool slightly before attempting to pop out of muffin cups or half of the muffin will stay in the cup! (Seems to be a hazard of baking without oil/butter).
4. Enjoy!  Each muffin has approximately 116 calories and 3 grams of fat (which appx 2 g of is unsaturated, mostly from the sunflower seeds.)

Two of my New Year's Resolutions are to blog more and read my Bible more!  I have started a one year reading program in my Bible to help with the latter... ;-)