Chicken Parmigiana Casserole

This was another weekday lunch make-ahead meal. Although it has few ingredients and is really quite simple it was still really yummy and I enjoyed eating it five days in a row.

The major pro of this dish is that it is minimal on all fronts. Only some basic chopping and the oven does the rest of the work. No browning things ahead of time, adding ingredients in stages…just chop it up, throw it in the pan and bake away.

This would be a REALLY easy weeknight dish….as I’m typing this I’m trying to make a mental note to remember this fact!!

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ t crushed red pepper flakes (or more to taste if you want it hot)

¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped

2 cups marinara/pasta sauce

1 ½ cups light shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

2 oz Parmesan cheese, freshly grated divided

1 package garlic croutons, roughly crushed, leaving some larger pieces (I found a multigrain variety that worked quite well)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Spread the cubed pieces of chicken across the bottom of the baking dish in a single layer. Sprinkle the minced garlic, red pepper flakes and basil evenly over the chicken. Spread the sauce evenly across the top. On top of the sauce layer, sprinkle ¾ cup of the Mozzarella and one ounce of the Parmesan evenly across the dish. Sprinkle the crushed croutons across the top and follow with the remaining cheese.

3. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

NUTRITIONAL INFO

8 Servings
WW – 8
Calories – 303
Carbs – 15g
Fat – 11g
Fibre – 1g
Protein – 37g

Mexican Ranchero Casserole

Every sunday I generally spend the day in the kitchen prepping and cooking a dish that I portion up for weekday lunches. I've been growing tired of all my regular rotation items (Baked Beef Ziti, Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Chili, etc) and was trying to come up with something a little bit different.

BINGO!

This is an incredibly simple dish with LOTS of flavour!! You could easily sub the ranchero sauce for enchilada sauce, salsa verde or anything else that has a strong flavour.

I just ate the first round of it a few minutes ago and it has an awesome creamy texture that balances well with the spicy sauce.

INGREDIENTS

1 lbs extra lean ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
10 oz can ranchero sauce
1 small can of chillies in adobo sauce, chopped (these can make it quite spicy so adjust to your own taste)
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Pillsbury biscuits, cut into quarters
1 cup shredded cheese (I used mozzarella and cheddar)

DIRECTIONS
1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
2.    Brown turkey and onions in a large skillet or sauté pan.
3.    Add the ranchero sauce, tomato sauce, chillies and black beans and stir to combine. Stir the biscuit pieces into the meat mixture.
4.    Transfer the entire mixture to the prepared baking dish and spread out evenly. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the cheese on top. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Here's a pic before the cheese was added

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

Serves 6-7
WW Points - 7
Calories - 307
Carbs - 34g
Fat - 6g
Protein - 32g
Fiber - 4g

Chicken and Biscuits

Oh YUM! Like really yum! Perhaps the yummiest of yums!

Chicken and Biscuits is one of Cluterbuck's favourites. However, I haven't made it in forever because it isn't always the lowest fat recipe. After telling him one night that he could choose whatever he wanted for dinner, he chose this (he always chooses this but this time I actually obliged). I tried my best to lighten it as much I could. I used margarine instead of butter, flour to thicken instead of cream based soups, LOTS of veggies...you get the idea.

I also normally make this in the slow cooker, but this time I did it over the stove and then baked it in the oven. It made for much crispier biscuits which I preferred.

Yummy! We've been eating the leftovers for days now.

Arancini Casserole

I saw this on my favourite recipe site and decided to make it the very next day. I've only recently discovered Arancini, and I must admit that I have a hard time passing it up whenever I see it on a menu somewhere. For those who aren't familiar with them they are an Italian Risotto Ball that is rolled in breadcrumbs and fried. There is absolutely nothing low fat or healthy about them but they are so worth every bite.

This casserole was a labour of love and took a few hours to make. You could cut down the prep time by using left over risotto and pre-made or leftover tomato sauce. I chose to make it all from scratch. I think I also could have cut down on some of the rice and increased the cheese in the rice mixture...but that would have negated the "healthed up" version.

It was a layered casserole with breadcrumbs, rice mixed with cheese and a bit of tomato sauce, a mixture of ground chicken, mushrooms, peas, carrots, tomatoes, tomato sauce, on top of that went some more cheese, the rest of the rice mixture, tomato sauce, cheese and breadcrumbs.

We enjoyed this with a simple side salad. It even made so much that I have a whole extra casserole in my freezer just waiting for a weeknight dinner.

Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pie

I borrowed this recipe from my mom. It was known as Chicken Pot Pie in my house but I added the "Vegetable" because I added so many it felt wrong to give the chicken the spotlight.

I made this on Friday night after work and was feeling a little lazy about cooking. To save time I used a frozen pie crust that I had in the freezer. I also picked up a cooked rotisserie chicken from the counter at the grocery store. I carved it up and added it all to the pie. That way the only cooking I had to do was preparing the sauce and the actual baking of the pie.

We really enjoyed this and had it for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. The rest I packed up and froze it for lunches during the week (not sure how the pastry will handle being frozen but of well).

Not all love notes are written.

Clutterbuck, became Clutterbug, which somewhere along the road was shortened to Bug.

Chicken Cacciatore....Next

Made it in the slow cooker. It wasn't very good. I took a chance and added curry powder to it....mistake....just ended up making everything taste bitter and way too acidic.

I'll try again in a few months when I have blocked this attempt from memory

Baked Beef Ziti

I decided to take a stab at a recipe I tried a while ago. It has all the ingredients I love in a dish. Pasta, Ground Beef, Onions, Tomato Sauce, Garlic, and Cheese, but the last time I made it we weren't too happy about it. It was quite bland and made a HUGE amount that we resented having to eat for days after.
This time around it was fantastic. I went really heavy on the herbs and even had some fresh basil to throw in at the last minute. I also decided against Ziti because its a round smooth noodle....in other words its not very good at clingy to sauces. I used a Rotini instead and it was perfect.
We really enjoyed it and have been enjoying it since (made Sunday...its Tuesday). We had it with a garden salad...yes Clutterbuck and I have different salad dressings...he will only ever eat Russian which I am not a fan of at all. Actually lately I've noticed I'm much more of a fan of no dressing on my salad...wow never thought I'd see that day.
Thanks to K.Hill who also made this recipe on the weekend (that's what gave me the idea to make it again). I'll have to ask her how hers was....we can compare notes.

Shepherds Pie

So yummy!
However, I'm noticing a startling thing in our place. When the oven is on it heats up the entire kitchen/living room to supernova temperatures. This is going to make cooking difficult over the summer...guess its time to start browsing the BBQ recipes.
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Please ignore all typos, unless they're funny
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