Tag Archives: healthy recipes

White Lasagna with Sausage and Mushrooms

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I was visiting a friend a few weeks ago and she made a turkey lasagna while I was there and it was deeeelicious! (Bridget if you’re reading this, you inspired me! 🙂 ) So I was telling Jake how it was kind of weird because I have never ever made a lasagna of any kind before by myself. Later that same day we were watching the Food Network (ok I was watching and Jake was in agony, kidding) and the show that was on was making a white lasagna. Jake and I thought it was a sign from God and decided this was the lasagna I should take a stab at first. So here is the 1st lasagna I’ve ever made in my life.

White Sausage & Mushroom Lasagna

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Ingredients

White Sauce:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups whole milk
3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Lasagna:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1-1.5 pounds bulk spicy Italian turkey sausage
3/4 cup sliced button mushrooms
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
15 ounces ricotta
1 large egg
1 cup finely grated Parmesan
Coarse salt
1 package no-boil lasagna noodles
2 small zucchini, thinly sliced
8 ounces shredded mozzarella
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the white sauce: Bring a medium saucepan to low-medium heat and add the butter. Once the butter is melted, stir in the flour with a wooden spoon; cook for 2 minutes (do not let it color). Add the milk and bring to a boil, continuing to stir. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 minute. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add in the Parmesan, whisking to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper.

For the lasagna: In a skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and cook the turkey sausage until just beginning to brown, about 4 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to saute until golden brown and the turkey is cooked through, 4 to 6 additional minutes. Season with kosher salt, pepper and granulated garlic. Stir well, and then shut off the heat and set aside to cool. (* I added actual real minced garlic to mine to enhance the garlic flavor 🙂 )

In a small mixing bowl, combine ricotta, egg, Parmesan, about 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt and a few rounds of cracked pepper. Spread 1/4 cup of the white sauce in the bottom of a 9- by 13-inch glass baking dish. Begin layering with 3 noodles, followed with about 1 cup ricotta mixture. Layer about half of the zucchini evenly over the ricotta. Follow with half the turkey sausage and mushrooms, finishing with 1 cup white sauce. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the mozzarella. Repeat. Top the second layer with 4 noodles, white sauce and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella. Bake, covered with foil, for 30 minutes. (Try to tent the foil so it doesn’t stick to the cheese a lot and remove it all from the lasagna when you take the foil off!)

Remove from the oven and remove the foil cover. Heat the broiler to maximum temperature. Broil until the cheese is browned and bubbling, about 1 minute. Garnish with the parsley.

Because of the cheese and full fat milk, this isn’t the lowest cal/fat meal ever but I feel like the turkey sausage and zucchini make me feel a little better indulging in it’s deliciousness 😉 Enjoy with a nice glass of full bodied Chardonnay or a Rosé now that summer is almost here- and enjoy it!

Thanks for stoping by!

xoxo

G

Lemon Baked Tilapia with Spinach & Carrot Lentils

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Lemon Baked Tilapia with Spinach & Carrot Lentils

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Lentil Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 quart water
  • 1/2 cup lentils
  • 1 carrot, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
  • 1/2 onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 dried bay leaf
  • Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 8 ounces spinach, stems removed, leaves washed well

Directions

  1. In a large saucepan, combine the water, lentils, carrot, onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are soft, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain, discarding bay leaf.
  2. Use a paper towel to wipe out any water from the saucepan. Add oil, and return pan to medium heat. Stir in the lentils, vegetables, and spinach. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Serve 🙂

* Later in the week I made this recipe again but added ground turkey and just had it for lunch a couple days at work- it was equally amazing! Seriously so delicious!!!

Tilapia Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 tilapia filets (*or really you could adapt this to however many you want to make as ingredient measurements aren’t exact)
  • Lemons (I used 1 lemon- the juice of 1 half and then sliced the other half)
  • Salt and Pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Line a glass baking dish with foil and grease with non-stick spray or olive oil 
  3. Put the fish in the dish
  4. Pour lemon juice over the fish filets
  5. Season the fish with salt and pepper(you can also really use any spices you choose)
  6. Place the slices of lemon over the fish
  7. Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

There you go! Seriously so easy, and healthy and most importantly delicious!! Hopefully you guys enjoy as much as we did.

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

xoxo

G

Summer Veggie Pasta

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Summer Veggie Pasta

HI 🙂

So I know that I have created something similar to this before but I saw summer squash and zucchini on sale and saw asparagus next to it and just had this idea pop in my head:

I mean tell the truth- how good does that look?!?!?! SO good, I know.

So I totally made this up. I am a very experimental and “eye-ball it” chef, I realize that a lot of people really need a recipe to follow in order to feel comfortable so I will try my best.

INGREDIENTS

Olive Oil

1 Fresh Tomato (Chopped)

1 Small Onion(Cut into small strips)

1 clove of Garlic(Minced)

1/2 Zucchini (Halved and Sliced)

1/2 Summer Squash(Halved and Sliced)

8-10 Pieces of Asparagus(Cut into 1-2 inch pieces)

Pasta of your choice

DIRECTIONS

1) Heat water in pot and cook your pasta once it starts to boil

2) Heat some olive oil in a sauté pan, add Garlic and cook until softened through. Add your Onion slices and cook until softened. Next add the Asparagus pieces. Cook for about 3-4 minutes and add the squash and zucchini. Lastly when everything is mostly cooked to your liking add the tomatoes(basically just to heat them through).

3) Serve over the pasta of your choice and Bon Appetite!

Seriously you guys, Jake was honestly in LOVE with this meal. Couldn’t stop saying how good it was. It makes me feel so good to cook food that he loves. I look forward to the moments of praise for my favorite thing I do; create culinary masterpieces..haha joke, simply cooking.

Hope you enjoy! As always, thanks for reading!

xoxo

-G

Black Bean Cilantro Hummus

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BLACK BEAN HUMMUS

I love love love love love hummus. So recently I’ve been trying to experiment with different flavors of hummus as opposed to the usual (but delicious) plain hummus.

This time I tried a Black Bean hummus with cilantro. It is really good! Jake hates hummus in general so this is my own treat for myself. I bring it to work with pita or veggies and it’s a super delicious and easy to assemble lunch! ENJOY

Mix the following in a food processor until smooth:

  • 2 tablespoons of tahini (which is sesame seed paste(really more like a nut butter made from the seeds) but you can find it lots of places)
  • 2 tablespoons of water
  • 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1 table spoon of olive oil
  • 3/4 teaspoon of Cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 can (15 oz) black beans (rinsed)
  • 1/2 a small Jalapeño pepper (or whatever spicy pepper of your choice)
  • 1/2 cup of cilantro (Rinsed and stems picked out)
  • 1 clove of garlic

Serve with pita or crackers or veggies or eat spoonfuls of it by itself! 🙂

xoxo

-G

Spring Asparagus, Tomato, & Lemon Pasta

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YUM! This recipe is seriously SO fast and easy and healthy oh and delicious 🙂

I sorta made this up- so I don’t have exact measurements because I eye-ball things, but I’m gonna do my best to give good directions.

Ingredients:

  • Pasta(I used fettuccine but you can use whatever you would like)
  • Olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic- minced
  • 1 pound of Asparagus cut into pieces
  • 1 cup of grape tomatoes-halved(Approx. more or less depending on preference)
  • Fresh lemon Juice(I used the juice from one half of the lemon)
  • Feta Cheese-crumbled

Instructions:

– Bring pot of water to a boil, add a teaspoon or so of salt along with your pasta and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

– In a large skillet  heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium/high heat. Once hot, add your minced garlic and sauté for about 3 minutes or until it softens a bit-but be careful not to burn it!

-Add your Asparagus pieces and sauté for 8-10 minutes. Add your tomatoes.

-Once your veggies are heated through and soft enough to your liking, remove the pan from heat and squeeze in your lemon juice.

-Drain pasta and place into skillet with asparagus and tomato mixture. Toss enough to combine and then add your chunks of Feta cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

See?!?!!? SO EASY and healthy and delicious. Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for checking out my blog!

xoxo

-G