Carrot Mac & Cheese

This is the easiest Mac & Cheese ever!!  You only need 3 ingredients and it is perfect for babies and toddlers.  It falls apart and is easy for little hands or little forks. 

You Need:

- Carrots (1 cup pureed – about 6 carrots)

- Pasta (2 cups dry)

- Cheese (I cup grated or cubed)

Seriously, that’s it!

Peel and steam the carrots then put them in a blender or use an immersion blender to create a carrot puree.

Cook the pasta.

While the pasta is still hot, drain the water out and throw in the carrot puree and the cheese.

Mix it all together and you are done!

You can serve it right away or put it in individual portions and freeze. 

I used an ice cream scoop (perfect portion for a toddler).  Put down some wax paper on a cookie sheet, make sure the mac & cheese scoops aren’t touching.   

Put it in the freezer overnight.  Put the frozen portions in a ziplock bag and pull one out at a time for a quick lunch or dinner. 

Yum!

Homemade Yogurt Parfait

I love yogurt and could eat it every day.  I prefer Greek yogurt for its thicker heartier taste but flavored Greek yogurt is expensive when you buy the individual containers.  So, I decided to make some parfaits to keep in the freezer for a quick snack.  

All you need is yogurt (I chose Greek nonfat plain yogurt), berries (I chose frozen since they were not in season yet), chopped almonds, and honey.  Oh, and some containers. 

The containers are 1.2 cup and seem to be a good size.  It is a hearty snack at that size and some days I am not hungry enough to finish it so I am looking for a little smaller containers. 

Here is how to make them:

Scoop in some yogurt.

Top with berries. 

Repeat.

Top with almonds.

Then honey. 

Smoosh the lid on.

And place in the freezer.  This will make 4 containers this size (but of course I only have 2).

I like to take these to work as an afternoon snack - just pull it out of the freezer in the morning and it will be ready to eat in the afternoon.  If you want this for a morning snack, then pull it from the freezer the night before and it will be thawed and ready to enjoy by late morning. 

I love these because I could make a bunch (if I had more containers) and not have to worry about having healthy snacks for work or the weekend.  They would be in the freezer ready to go!

I was worried about the almonds getting soggy but they provided the perfect crunch even after being frozen and thawed!

YUM!  What is your favorite healthy snack?

Yogurt Parfait

Happy National Dairy Month!  I love yogurt and could eat it every day.  I prefer Greek yogurt for its thicker heartier taste but flavored Greek yogurt is expensive when you buy the individual containers.  So, I decided to make some parfaits to keep in the freezer for a quick snack.  

All you need is yogurt (I chose Greek nonfat plain yogurt), berries (I chose frozen since they were not in season yet), chopped almonds, and honey.  Oh, and some containers. 

The containers are 1.2 cup and seem to be a good size.  It is a hearty snack at that size and some days I am not hungry enough to finish it so I am looking for a little smaller containers. 

Here is how to make them:

 Scoop in some yogurt.

 Top with berries. 

 Repeat.

 Top with almonds.

 Then honey. 

 Smoosh the lid on.

 And place in the freezer.  This will make 4 containers this size (but of course I only have 2). 

I like to take these to work as an afternoon snack - just pull it out of the freezer in the morning and it will be ready to eat in the afternoon.  If you want this for a morning snack, then pull it from the freezer the night before and it will be thawed and ready to enjoy by late morning. 

I love these because I could make a bunch (if I had more containers) and not have to worry about having healthy snacks for work or the weekend.  They would be in the freezer ready to go!

 I was worried about the almonds getting soggy but they provided the perfect crunch even after being frozen and thawed!

YUM!  What is your favorite snack?

Chicken and Asparagus Pasta

 We were given some asparagus a few weeks ago.  Asparagus is a favorite around here and normally we boil it or grill it - grilling is my favorite!  It is so easy!  But, since we had about 6 bunches of asparagus I had to come up with a new way to eat it. 

I like asparagus as a side dish, but decided to try it in a pasta dish.  Here is what I did:

You need:

- 2 cups penne pasta

- 1 bunch asparagus cut

- 2 chicken breasts

- 2 tablespoons flour

- 2 tablespoons butter

- 1 cup milk

- garlic

- Parmesan cheese

1. Boil water, add pasta and cook for about 6 minutes.  Add asparagus then cook until asparagus is done. 

2. Meanwhile - cut the chicken up into cubes and cook with the garlic. Set aside when done

3.  Make white sauce - add butter to pan and let it melt (over medium heat). Stir in flour and let boil, add milk and stir until thickened.  Add some minced garlic (to taste). 

4. By this time everything should be cooked - mix it all together and you are done!  

I really liked this but Michael doesn't like the asparagus in with the pasta.  I made double what we would eat so I could freeze some for lunch.  I portioned the leftovers into containers and froze them.  They reheat well but the asparagus doesn't look as good when reheated - it still tastes just fine but it looks a little deflated. 

If I make this again - I would marinate the chicken before hand and add some more garlic to the sauce.  

Vegetable and Meat Lasagna

Vegetable and Meat Lasagna

adapted from this recipe

Gather your ingredients, you will need (I doubled the batch so that is why you see double of everything):

1 pound ground beef

2 tbs. dried onion (or about 1/2 a small onion)

2 tsp. minced garlic (or 4 cloves)

1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomatoes (Italian style)

1 (12 oz) can tomato paste

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 tbs. dried basil

3 cups cottage cheese

1 tbs. dried parsley

1 1/2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese

1 carrots - shredded

10 oz spinach - chopped

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

4 cups mozzarella cheese

1 box oven ready lasagna noodles

You will also need containers (I use 6 cups and I LOVE them), and aluminum foil to wrap them for the freezer. I decided to not use the cling wrap and the freezer tape and instead to use gallon sized freezer bags. 

Brown meat (1 pound ground beef)

The beef I use has hardly any fat (I drained it and it was a little over an ounce) but it your meat has a lot of fat then you can drain it off.

Add onions (2 tbs dried) and garlic (2 tsp minced) and cook for 3 minutes. 

Add the stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz can), tomato paste (12 oz can), tomato sauce (15 ox can), and basil (1 tbs.). 

Put the lid on and simmer for 30 minutes.  Stir often (ever 3-5 minutes).

Meanwhile ...

If you haven't chopped the spinach or shredded the carrot - now would be the perfect time.

Mix together the cottage cheese (3 cups), parsley (1 tbs dried), Parmesan cheese (1 1/2 cups), shredded carrot, chopped spinach (10 oz), eggs (2), salt, and pepper (1/2 tsp each).

Line your pans with foil. 

Get the lasagna noodles (1 box) and the mozzarella cheese (4 cups).

When the sauce is done your house will smell amazing.  You will want to eat the entire pot, but just eat a spoonful or two!

Start assembling.  I like to put a little sauce on the bottom.

then a layer or noodles,

a few scoops of the cheese and spinach mixture - spread it around,

A few scoops of the sauce,

and sprinkle some mozzarella cheese. 

Repeat the layers. 

Put aluminum foil over the top.

Then add the lid. 

Stack them up (this recipe will make 3 of this size or 1 full sized),

And stick them in the freezer.

This next step is only is you want to freeze the lasagna without the containers (this is the first time I am trying this).

After the lasagna has frozen solid, let it thaw for a few minutes on the counter and pry it from the container.  It is pretty easy when it has thawed for a few minutes.  Wrap the whole thing in foil again. 

Write the cooking directions on the outside of a gallon sized freezer bag.  Cook at 350 for 45 - 60 minutes, then take the top foil off and cook an additional 10 minutes (to brown the cheese on the top). 

then stack them up in the freezer. 

When you are ready to enjoy -  pull it out of the freezer and put back into the container the night before to let it thaw out a bit in the fridge.  Then cook as directed above. 

The cheese is a little too brown because I took the foil off when I started cooking it, but it was still amazing!

I love the added vegetables in the lasagna.  I always see recipes for meat OR vegetable lasagna and this is a great combination of both meat and veggies!  Adding the veggies makes it a complete meal and even Micheal (Mr. Picky-Poo) loves this lasagna.  Even his meat and potatoes only, I hate veggies, brother liked this lasagna.  So, I would say it is a keeper!  I doubled the batch and now I have 5 lasagnas in the freezer so I don't have to cook one night a week for a few weeks and we had dinner to take over to Paula's!

Serve it with a side salad and some garlic french bread and enjoy!

Here is the recipe again just in case you just want the text version:

Vegetable and Meat Lasagna

1 pound ground beef

brown, then add

2 tbs. dried onion (or about 1/2 a small onion)

2 tsp. minced garlic (or 4 cloves)

add

1 (14.5 oz) can stewed tomoatoes (italian style)

1 (12 oz) can tomato paste

1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce

1 tbs. dried basil

and simmer for 30 minutes.

Combine

3 cups cottage cheese

1 tbs. dried parsley

1 1/2 cups shredded parmesan cheese

1 carrots - shredded

10 oz spinach - chopped

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

and set aside. 

Layer sauce, cottage cheese mixture and  

4 cups mozzorella cheese

1 box oven ready lasagna noodles

Freeze or cook at 350 for 45-60 minutes then cook an additional 10 minutes to brown cheese on top. 

Enjoy!

Just a note on price - for one batch, the ingedients cost $15.79, it made 3 containers - each will give us dinner and two lunches (6 servings) which makes it $0.88 a serving! 

I linked to Hunk of Meat Mondays at Beyer Beware, Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou, and One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons.