Healthier Tuna Noodle Casserole

Ingredients

• 3 cups egg noodles
• 1 can of reduced-fat reduced-sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1/2 cup fat-free milk
• 2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1 5 oz can of albacore white tuna in water
• 1 6 oz jar sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1/4 cup chopped roasted sweet red pepper

• 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

TOPPING

 Directions

1.  Cook noodles according to package directions.
2. In a large bowl, combine the soup, milk, mayonnaise and  ground mustard. Stir in the tuna, mushrooms and red pepper.
3. Drain noodles and add to soup mixture, stir until blended.
4. Transfer to an 8-in. square baking dish coated with cooking spray.
5. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over casserole.
6. Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly

Final Product

Crockpot Chicken Chili

Now that I have two jobs crock pot meal are becoming my favorite thing.  This recipe was very easy to put together and even more delicious to eat!

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped ( I used a 16 oz. bag of frozen chopped onions)
• 16 oz can black beans
• 16 oz can kidney beans
• 16 oz can of tomato sauce
• Half of a 16 oz frozen bag of corn 
• 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes w/chilies (I used diced tomatoes with no seasoning because the people eating the chili do not like hot things)
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 1 tbsp cumin (I used .5 tbsp to make it less spicy)
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts

Directions

1. Combine beans, onions, corn, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder and taco seasoning in crockpot.
2.  Place chicken on top and cover. 
3. Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours.
4. Half hour before serving shred the chicken and stir it in to the rest of the mixture.
5. Top with Mexican cheese and sour cream.

Final Product

Skinny Mozzarella Sticks

I love mozzarella sticks but I dont like the grease and how bad they are for you.  I found this recipe and was very excited to try it.  I must say that they were delicious they have a more distinct mozzarella taste then the ones you would get from a pizza place.
Ingredients

• 12 sticks of mozzarella string cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp flour
• 5 tbsp Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 5 tbsp panko crumbs
• 2 tsp parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• olive oil cooking spray

Directions

1. Cut cheese in half so you have 24 pieces. Place the cheese in the freezer until cheese is frozen (make sure the cheese is very hard or else the cheese will be hard to work with).
2. In small bowl, whisk the egg and the flour in another small bowl. In another bowl, combine bread crumbs, panko, Parmesan cheese and dried parsley.  Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.
3. Dip the frozen cheese in flour make sure there is no excess then into the egg, then coat with the crumbs.
4. Place cheese back into the freezer until ready to bake (important so that the cheese doesn’t melt before it is in the oven)
5. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly with oil.
6. Place frozen cheese sticks on baking sheet and spray the top of the mozzarella sticks with a little oil and bake in the bottom of your oven until crisp for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn and bake an additional 4 to 5 minutes make sure to keep an eye on them so they do not start to melt.

Before in the oven

Final Product

Vegetable Lasagna

I love Italian food and vegetables so why not combine the best of both worlds?

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon of olive oil or enough to coat the pan
• 3/4 cup of mushrooms
• 3/4 cup of chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cup of sliced carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 26 oz. bottle of fat free tomato basil pasta sauce (or whatever type of pasta sauce you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons of commercial pesto
• 15 oz carton of part-skim ricotta cheese
• Cooking Spray
• 6 cooked lasagna noodles
• 3/4 cups of part-skim mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a medium saucepan heat oil.  Add mushrooms, zucchini, carrots, red bell peppers and red onions.  Cook the vegetables for about 5 minutes and stir frequently.  Add the pasta sauce and bring to a boil.  Once boiling reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes

3. Combine the pesto and ricotta in a small bowl

4. Spread 1/2 cup of the tomato mixture in the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish.  Arrange 4 noodle halves over the tomato mixture.  Top noodles with half of the ricotta mixture and then 1 cup of tomato mixture.  Repeat the layers, ending with noodles.  Spread the remaining tomato mixture  over the noodles and top with the mozzarella cheese
5. Cover the pan with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

Final Product

 The pan looks burnt because some cheese got on the side of the pan and burnt.  When putting the cheese on make sure to watch the side of the dish.

Chicken Stir Fry

I was really excited about starting a cooking blog and then the semester got crazy and I am really going to try and have a post every day. I am going to be posting a couple entries today and try and post a couple during the week.  I am looking forward to this and hope to give some people awesome recipes.  Here is one to start off.

Chicken Stir Fry.
I am always craving some good Chinese food but a lot of  the time I don’t want to eat out so I found a recipe for chicken stir fry and thought that I would give it a try.  There are so many recipes out there for stir fry, all with different amounts of chicken and different vegetables.  I decided that I would try and make it on my own and it turned out awesome.

Ingredients

• A pack of chicken tenderloins (you be the judge I used .75 pounds but if you want more or less chicken that is up to you)
• 3 tablespoons of cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce (you may need more after everything cooks depending on if you like soy sauce I added a little more to make the chicken have a brownish color)
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder (this is also something more or less you can add depending on how garlicy you like things)
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil
• 1 cup of water
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• A pack of frozen stir fry vegetables. ( This step is completely up to the chef I used a frozen bag that contained snap peas, carrots, water chestnuts, broccoli, onions and carrots. You can choose to do fresh vegetables but it tastes best with around 4-5 cups of vegetable

Directions
1.  The first thing to do is cut your chicken into either strips or bite size pieces, whatever one you prefer for your stir-fry I used bite size pieces.  In a Ziploc bag add your chicken and cornstarch and shake bag until the chicken is well coated.
2.  After the chicken is well coated add your soy sauce, garlic powder and ground ginger to the bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3.  While waiting for the chicken you can start to make the rice for the stirfry I prefer to use brown rice but you can use whatever you like.
4.  Once the 30 minutes are up put 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or a large skillet and cook the chicken till no longer pink.  Once chicken is pink remove and set aside.
5.  Add another tablespoon of oil and fry the vegetables for about 5 minutes or until no longer crispy, then add the water and bouillon.  Return the chicken to the wok.  Cook and stir until sauce is thick and bubbly.
6.  Serve over rice.


Final Product