Hey guys! I'm going home on Friday for spring break (YAY!!!) and while I'm there I want to cook a lot, put single servings in a container and basically make my own lean cuisine type of meals for when i come back to school (dorms..eh) I have some basic ideas of what I'm going to do like cook some chicken and taco seasoned ground beef to eat plain or mix in with a salad, but i really want some casserole recipes that freeze well. Everything at school is bland, unhealthy, and just plain gross so I don't eat in the cafeterias anymore other than the salad bar. I get stuff from the convenience stores/mini grocery stores at school and do my best to eat healthy and whatnot. Anyways, my only meat options are chicken and ground beef. Anything that adds in veggies is really awesome!!
1. Preheat oven to 450F. Halve potatoes and cut into ½ inch wedge. Toss with the oil, salt and pepper in medium bowl.
2. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer on a nonstick baking sheet. Bake, turning once until browned and crip. About 35-40 minutes. Serves 4.
** This tastes great with plain yogurt mixed with a squirt of lime juice for a dip.
I just had these for lunch and they are delicious!! 2lbs is abotu 4 skinny sweet potatoes!
Oh gosh - soups! Great for freezing, great for heating in the microwave, and great for sneaking in veggies!
Can you do chicken sausage? Sausage adds GREAT flavor to soups, and there are some really low-cal chicken sausages out there (even chicken BREAST sausages, if you're willing to look a bit harder).
Dried beans make inexpensive soups, too...I have a recipe here for white bean soup (you can find it by searching for "magic white bean" on the board) that freezes and reheats well. I am experimenting this week with a sausage and lentil soup, and I'll let you know how that goes.
Other favorites include beef, vegetable and barley (brown beef stew meat or ground beef with a large diced onion and a few cloves of garlic, add 2 boxes of chicken broth, and cook at a simmer for 4-5 hours to get the meat really tender, then add about 3/4 cup of barley and simmer, cooking per package directions. For the last 10-15 minutes, I add in tons of veggies, including diced carrot, celery, and zucchini) and Mexican Chicken (brown a large diced onion and some garlic in the bottom of a pot, add 2 boxes of chicken broth and bring to a boil, add a can of diced tomatoes with their juice, lots of spices like chili powder, cumin, and cayenne to taste, a can of black beans, and a ton of diced veggies, especially zucchini but also carrot and celery. Sometimes I throw in some instant brown rice).
This is one of my favs (I love spicy food!) I replace the shrimp with chicken, however, b/c I'm allergic to sea food....
Shrimp "Dirty" Rice
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1 tbsp canola oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 large stalk celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup tomato puree
1 cup water
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 cup nonfat milk
4 cups cooked brown rice
4 whole green onions, chopped
2 tsp bottled red hot sauce
In a large saucepan, heat the oil. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring, for 6 minutes over medium-high heat. Stir in the tomato puree, water, oregano, thyme, salt, white pepper, and cayenne pepper and bring to a simmer. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, over medium heat until they are opaque, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in the milk and return to a gentle simmer. Fold in the cooked rice, green onions, and hot sauce.
I like to add extra bell peppers and sometimes broccoli depending on what I have on hand.
This is a chicken souvlaki recipe that I just love. It's ment to be severed with tzatziki sauce, but unless you make the tzatziki it can be pretty high in calories and fat. So instead I pre-cook the skewers then just grab a one and reheat and toss in a pita with some peppers, cucumber, whatever you've got on hand. It's also great for topping salads.
2 lbs boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
SAUCE:
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon savory
1/4 teaspoon thyme
If using bamboo skewers, soak in water for at least 30 minutes before using.
Combine all sauce ingredients in a bowl; mix well.
Stir in chicken cubes; marinade for at least 2 hours before threading on skewers.
Grill on high heat, lid down.
Grill for about 4 minutes per side (total 8 minutes) or until the juices run clear.
Hot Pockets recipe
Dough:
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add sugar. Let it set for a few minutes until foamy (if you're using fast-rise yeast, you can just add the yeast with the flour and go on). Then stir in oil, salt, and flour. Knead 5 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes.
Divide dough into 6 pieces. Roll/pat each piece into a 6-inch circle. Top half of each circle with filling of choice, keeping back from edges so it will seal well. Fold the other 1/2 of circle over the filling and pinch sides together or seal with a fork.
Prick a couple steam vents in the tops, and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees F.
Fill this with a little pizza sauce, then mushrooms, pepperoni, cheese, etc. OR with cream soup, chopped cooked chicken and steamed broccoli and some shredded cheese, OR ham cubes and cheese or cheese sauce OR leftover stew, chili, etc.
Ingredients
5 Medium-Large Baking Potatoes
2 C Frozen Chopped Broccoli Florets
1 C Water
1 C 2% Sharp Cheese, Finely Shredded
1/2 C Fat Free Sour Cream
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1. Wash and pierce potatoes all over with fork. Bake in microwave for approx. 12 minutes (or use "potato" setting on your microwave).
2. While potatoes are baking. Cook broccoli to desired texture in skillet using water (I left broccoli slightly crunchy and salted my water). Drain.
3. Carefully cut off the top third of the cooked potatoes. Peel tops, add flesh to large mixing bowl and discard skins. Scoop out insides of bottoms using a spoon and add to bowl (be sure to leave enough flesh inside to maintain structure of skin--about 1/4 inch).
4. Add sour cream, salt and pepper to potatoes and mash. Add broccoli and cheddar cheese, stir to combine.
5. Evenly divide mixture among potato shells and stuff, molding excess on top of potatoes (the final result will probably double the height of the potato).
6. Microwave on high until filling is hot and cheese has melted.
If I'm not in a time crunch I'll bake the potatos (taste better that way). I also make a couple of different kinds of stuffing (not just the broccoli and cheddar above). Corn, peppers and jalapenos is good. Once you've reheated it topp with some salsa and it's abousolutely delish. Basically mix into the potato anything that sounds good.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the potatoes into chunks and cook in a large sauce pan of boiling water with the whole garlic cloves for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain well and return to the saucepan. Mash the potatoes and garlic until smooth. Stir in the milk and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Meanwhile, lightly spray a large nonstick pan with the oil and heat over medium. Add the onion, crushed garlic, celery, and carrot and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened. Remove from pan.
Add the ground beef and cook over high heat until well browned, breaking up any lumps with the back of a spoon. Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Return the vegetables to the pan with the tomato paste, herbs, bay leaf, stock, sauce, and nutmeg and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, or until thickened.
Pour the beef mixture into a 2 liter ovenproof dish. Spoon the potatoes over the top, smoothing the surface, then fluff with a fork. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly golden and crusty. You may want to finish the last few minutes under the broiler.
This calls for ground beef, but you could subistute ground chicken or turkey. If you go that route, just remember to change the beef stock to chicken stock.
2 cups low-sodium nonfat chicken broth
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 lb new potatoes, unpeeled and diced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup skim milk
1 small zucchini, diced
1 yellow squash, diced
1 green bellpepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 cups diced cooked chicken breast (one 10-oz package)
Topping
2 1/4 cups reduced-fat Bisquick
3/4 cup skim milk
Preheat oven to 450°F. Bring 1 cup broth to a boil in a large pot. Add onion and cook 3 minutes, until soft, then add remaining 1 cup broth, potatoes and thyme. Bring to a boil and cook 8 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, combine cornstarch and 1 cup skim milk and stir until smooth. To cornstarch-milk mixture, add zucchini, yellow squash, red and green peppers, mushrooms, salt, pepper, mustard, and Worcestershire. Bring to a boil and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in chicken and remove from heat. Pour into a 9" deep-dish pie plate. To make the topping, combine Bisquick and skim milk in a bowl. Using hands, lay topping over filling surface and tap it down. Bake 15 minutes or until top is golden.
I perfer to make mine in individual containers, I usually use the individual silicone loaf pans. If you are going to make the recipes in the 9" pie plate. Freeze until almost solid then cut into individual portions and wrap with saran wrap. I also prefer to use a mashed potato topping (so it's more like a sheppards pie), mostly b/c I detest Bisquick. I also like to add broccoli, carrots, peas and corn to mine.
Nutritional analysis per serving: 362 calories, 23 g protein, 55 g carbohydrates, 3.5 g dietary fiber, 5.1 g fat (1.2 g saturated fat), 41 mg cholesterol, 1,038 mg sodium
This is one of my absolute favorites...I don't know the nutrition facts, but I don't think it's terrible if you watch your serving size:
Any variety of Potato (we usually use red w/ skins - and I think about 3 lbs or so)
1lb-Ground Turkey Breast (really low fat) or Ground Beef
2-Country gravy packets
Brown the meat and drain (I usually rinse mine as well)
Mix country gravy with fat free milk, as package directs, and add to meat
Mix together potatoes and meat mixture in a lightly sprayed casserole
Bake appx 45-60min (until potatoes are soft and heated through)
Super easy...and YUMMY! I love the pepper flavor that the country gravy gives I'm sure you could use brown rice as well if you'd rather not use potato.
Last edited by sweettart08; 03-11-2008 at 06:07 PM.
Need Recipe Ideas!
I'm sure you could use brown rice as well if you'd rather not use potato.
