Taco Soup II

(Originally posted by Stephanie)

TACO SOUP

16 oz. can chili beans
16 oz. kidney beans
16 oz. can black beans
8 oz. can tomato sauce
15 oz. can diced stewed tomatoes
16 oz. can whole corn
16 oz. creamed corn
pkg. taco seasoning
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 sm. can chopped green chilies

Do not drain any of the canned foods. Add all ingredients to a crock pot and add taco seasoning to the soup. Brown the ground beef in a pan with the chopped onion and add this combination to the crock pot. Simmer for at least a couple of hours. Serve warm and garnish with optional toppings: shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla strips (cooked in frying pan with olive oil and grated parmesan cheese).

Credit goes here for the recipe. I would probably tweak this some by using vegetarian or FF chili, using ground turkey (or veggie crumbles) for the meat, and FF cheese, sour cream etc. This soup is super yummy and extremely filling!

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

(Originally posted by DebbieBoo)

I got this off the box of Traditional Ancient Harvest Quinoa:

1 cup Traditional Quinoa
2 cups Water
4 large or 6 medium Green Peppers
1 medium Onion, diced
1/2 lb. fresh Mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp. Butter
1 - 28 oz can Tomatoes, coarsely diced (reserve juice)
2 Garlic cloves, crushed
1 - 12 oz jar Mexican Salsa (I used homemade)
2 Tbsp. Dry Sherry (I didn’t have this)
10 oz Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Cook traditional quinoa following the directions on side panel.
Steam 4 large or 6 medium green peppers until soft but not limp (I boiled mine). When cooled enough to handle, cut off tops and scoop out seeds and veins.
In a large skillet, saute the onion and mushrooms in butter. Add the diced tomatoes (reserve the juice). Add the crushed garlic and Mexican salsa. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes.
Add the sherry and simmer 10 more minutes.
Fold in quinoa.
Place peppers in baking dish and fill with quinoa mixture. This will take about half the mixture. Thin remainder with reserved juice and pour around peppers.
Sprinkle shredded mozzarella over peppers and back in 325 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.

This is YUMMY! The dish I baked it in was a bit small so I didn’t get to pour all the remaining quinoa mixture in the pan (plus I cooked way more than 1 cup of quinoa). But that’s OK, because it was good as side dish to a meal! A nice alternative to Mexican Rice.

Lean Lasagna & Marinara Sauce

(Originally posted by Christina)

Lean Lasagna

4 cups marinara sauce
spinach, zuchinni, or fresh vegetables of choice (i used spinach, zuchinni, shredded carrots, green bell pepper)
12oz container fat free cottage cheese, strained
8oz container fat free of low fat ricotta
4oz shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese
oven ready lasagna noodles
reduced fat parmesan cheese to taste

1) Combine cottage cheese and ricotta and set aside.
2) Place a layer of marinara sauce in a 9×13 pan.
3) Layer uncooked lasagna noodles, 1/2 the cottage/ricotta mixture, 1/2 the vegetables.
4) Repeat step 2 and 3
5) Cover and bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour.
6) Top with mozzarella and bake uncovered until cheese is melted.
7) Let stand to cool about 15 minutes before cutting.

Makes 6 large servings.

NOTE: You can also add meat to this by adding 1lb extra lean ground beef, drained and rinsed to the marinara sauce.

Here’s a recipe to the marinara sauce that I got from my nutritionist. You can use this marinara for the Lean Lasagna recipe and also for the Texican Lasagna that I posted last week. By the way, I got the lasagna recipes from my nutritionist as well.

Marinara Sauce
2-48oz can crushed tomatoes in puree
1-15oz can diced tomatoes
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup red wine
1 package fresh pre-sliced mushrooms (i left these out because i don’t care for mushrooms)
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. ground thyme
1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
(Use fresh herbs when available but double the amounts)

Place all ingredients in a crock-pot on low and simmer for 6-8 hours. If you need faster, put on high for 3 hours.

FYI: This marinara sauce recipe made a lot! I used the same batch for the Lean Lasagna and 2 recipes of the Texican Lasagna and I still have marinara sauce left over.