Clean Eating Super Yummy Spicy Goulash

Spicy Goulash

Ingredients:

5-6 carrots (my carrots were pretty puny:) sliced thin

1 16 oz. bag of frozen corn

3 zucchini, sliced thin

5 cans of diced tomatoes

**You can add some white beans or lentils, especially if you're making this for the vegetarian version.

1/2 carton of beef broth

1 capful of Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy seasoning

1 capful of Mrs. Dash "Garlic and Red Pepper" seasoning (I would have generally used actual garlic and red pepper, but I was out)

few shakes of black ground pepper and you should be good!

*You can use simple spices like chili powder instead, if you prefer.

I used my grater for slicing the carrots and zucchini

Mmmmm... spicy!

Dump all of the ingredients together in a pan (again, I pureed some of the diced tomatoes... not even sure why we HAD cans of diced tomatoes in the first place!) and cook on medium heat for at least an hour.  I left mine cooking for probably 3?  It would be fabulous in a crockpot if I had one that didn't burn half of everything I make!

Serve with whole wheat pasta for a "Clean Eating" vegetarian meal...

Or, you can serve with the Spicy Meatballs for the non vegetarian in your life.

This recipe turned out REALLY well.  It was a little watery, because I forgot the beef broth until it was almost done, but it was SO full of flavor, we loved it!  We had a nice big salad and some garlic bread with it (the garlic bread was NOT clean eating, but my kids aren't terribly concerned with being THAT clean!)

Clean Eating #145: Super Easy Pasta Salad w/Tomatoes & Shaved Parmesan Cheese

 Pasta Salad w/Tomatoes & Shaved Parmesan Cheese

I did it, I finally made some cold pasta salad that I actually enjoyed.

Actually, it was kind of funny because I LOVE pasta.  A LOT.  But I like it HOT, the cold version has always turned me off.  Even this time, I'd take a bite or two and think, "nahhh... no thanks."

10 minutes later I'd be sitting down doing something and think, "Man.  I want another bite of that."  I'd take a bite or two and again decide that I didn't care for it.

By the end of the day, I'd eaten all the leftovers... which amounted to at least two servings:)

I guess I'm getting to that point of being able to get past the fact that pasta "isn't supposed to be cold"

Ingredients:

1 box whole wheat linguine

3 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (to coat, you may want more/less)

McCormick's "Perfect Pasta" seasoning blend to taste

1-2 tomatoes, diced

3/4 cup of cooked lentils

Salt to taste

Directions:

Prepare the pasta to your taste.

Drain and add EVOO, Sesonings, lentils and diced tomatoes.

Top with shaved Parmesan Cheese

Cool in refrigerator for at least one hour.

Serve as a side dish or entree (or just keep picking at it in the fridge all day, but I warn you, you may eat too much that way!:)

Now I want to really experiment with different flavors, beans and veggies in my pasta salads... I'm on a roll!  What are your favorite pasta salad ingredients?

Clean Eating #114: Cheesey Pasta Fix Up... after a Fail. No, Two Fails.

Cheesey Pasta Fix Up

after a Fail.  

No, Two Fails.

So, I had this recipe that calls for asparagus, lasagna noodles and cottage cheese (amongst other things).

I did buy the ingredients, but then the FAIL started.

I had an epically disastrous week within my family and ended up getting away from it all for about 4 days.

The asparagus shrivelled up, but I actually managed to salvage most of it.

Then I burned it beyond repair because I was making a blog post about Split Pea soup (whilst eating the soup... it was yummy and distracting).

I then got the cottage cheese out.  

And forgot that I had eaten it all.  I can't even blame it on the kids, I ate it (did I mention it was a stressful week?  And that I eat when I'm stressed?)

Anyway, I had already told my hubby about the recipe, and he was really in the mood for pasta... but when we had stopped by the store, they had no whole wheat lasagna noodles.

So fail.  FAIL.  FAIL.

I decided to just go with it and make something... up.

INGREDIENTS:
1 box of whole wheat linguine noodles
1 quart of homemade/jar of pasta sauce.
1/2 package of neufchatel cheese
2 oz of garlic & herb goat cheese
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
1 zucchini, grated
fresh parsley, finely chopped

Directions:

Cook the pasta most of the way, drain and put in the bottom of a casserole dish.

spread the grated zucchini around the middle of the pasta.

Mix together the Neufchatel & goat cheese (you can add some extra garlic pepper here if you want)

Drop small spoonfuls of garlic cheese mixture evenly spaced around the pan.

Top with sauce and add the mozzarella cheese around the outside.

Bake at 350 until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown.

Serve with a big veggie salad and enjoy!

This is AWESOME with some fresh baked Ciabatta bread!


What I'd Do Differently Next Time: Well, obviously next time I'd actually make the right recipe and NOT eat the cottage cheese.  Or I'll just buy extra cottage cheese and have my husband hide it from me.  And I won't burn the asparagus.  I'll just sit by the oven and watch it.  But then it won't cook at all, a 'watched pot' and all that.  Anyway, I'm sure I'll post here when I do it right, so you can keep an eye out for an asparagus lasagna dish.

Clean Eating #107: Super Quick & Easy Quinoa Spaghetti with Zucchini Tomato Sauce

Super Quick & Easy 

Quinoa Spaghetti with Zucchini Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• Quinoa Spaghetti Noodles, cooked.
• 2 medium Zucchini, sliced thick
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced in large chunks
• 1 head of roasted garlic (or you can just dice it and throw it in with the Zucchini and Tomato, but I prefer the roasted method just because I hate peeling garlic:)
• 3/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Italian Seasonings, Pepper and Sea Salt to Taste

Directions:

Super Simple!  While your pasta is cooking, heat EVOO in a skillet.

Add in Zucchini, Tomatoes, garlic and seasonings.  Cook until tender, top pasta with your new sauce and you're good to go.  This was SO simple and quick, I make it often for my husband on quinoa or quinoa pasta.  Yummy!!

I would have taken better pictures, but the food was gone by the time I realized that these were blurry.  Sorry!

Clean Eating #98: Vegetarian Parmesan Pesto Style Pasta

Vegetarian Parmesan Pesto Style Pasta

Served with my stuffed tomato recipe

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium tomato, diced

1 bell pepper (I used 1/2 an orange one and 1/2 a yellow one), diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

1 Tbsp Italian seasoning

1 Tbsp Parsley

Pepper & Salt to taste

1/2-3/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Grated or Shredded Parmesan Cheese for topping

Clean Eating #84: Vegetarian OR Tuna Pasta Casserole

Vegetarian OR Tuna Pasta Casserole

Ingredients:
1/2 box Whole Wheat Thin Spaghetti (13.25 oz box)
3 small red potatoes, cubed
1 bag of long green beans & yellow green beans (or you can just use green beans:)
1 large clove of garlic, diced
1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 large tomato, cubed or 1 pkg of grape tomatoes
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Dried Parsley Flakes
2 cups prepared white beans (Or 2 pouches of albacore tuna in water)
4 oz. container of Feta Cheese
Parmesan for topping
Salt and Pepper to taste
*Kalamata Olives (I had some chopped up in a dish for the boys to add to theirs, since us girls don't care for them.  If you like olives, you will love the addition.  My boys kept commenting that was their favorite part!)

Directions:
Start a pot of water boiling, add the pasta
After about 3 minutes, add the diced potatoes & frozen green beans.
Boil for about 5 more minutes, set aside.
Add Feta to the hot pasta.

While that's boiling, finely dice your onion, garlic, olives and tomatoes
Sautee in a little bit of oil until tender, then add Olive Oil & Parsley
Simmer on Med-Low for about 5 minutes.
Add to Pasta and stir.

Add Tuna or Beans or other protein choice and Viola!  

A yummy, easy, pasta dish!!!

Vegetarian?  Or No?

This is an easy dish to make for vegetarian or no.  You prepare everything, then just add the tuna/beans in separate serving dishes or even in individual servings.  My son ate a bowl and said, "I love your blog.  We'd never have had any of this new stuff without it."  You could also use chopped tofu or Quinoa instead of beans/tuna for your protein if you wanted.

Clean Eating #42: Beef Stroganoff & Whole Wheat Pasta *Bonus:Tulsa Snow Storms = Cabin Fever

Eat Clean Beef Stroganoff & Whole Wheat Pasta

It was a HIT!  No one even noticed that it had tofu in it!

Sweet, calm, adorable girls, who set the table for us so nicely tonight!

Ingredients:

8-12 oz. Chopped portobello mushrooms

8 oz white button mushrooms

2-3 cloves of garlic

1/2 chopped onion

1 tsp coconut oil

14 oz soft tofu
1-2 cups beef broth

Black/blended pepper to taste

8 oz sour cream

flank steak, cut into strips OR lean ground beef

Whole Wheat pasta, cooked.

(Directions below)

What was IN that stuff??

 
 

If you want to know what THAT was all about, watch here (I'm NOT implying that you will then be able to figure it out.  I still can't.  If you have kids, maybe THEY can explain?)

I will say, it might just be cabin fever.  We've been snowed in for four and a half DAYS thanks to the Tulsa Snow Storms!

Directions:

Sautee all mushrooms, onions & garlic WITH steak/lean ground beef until soft.

Add tofu, beef broth into blender and puree until smooth

Turn heat down to LOW

Add to veggies in the skillet & mix well

Add sour cream for the final 5 minutes

Verdict:  I upped the mushrooms a bit, and I think next time I'll use medium tofu and more beef broth.

Picky Kids Tip:  If you don't like the consistency of cooked mushrooms, just puree the sauteed veggie with the tofu and no one will care!  My girls HATE mushrooms, but they LOVE beef stroganoff because that gets rid of the 'slimy' texture!

Clean Eating #37: Super Easy Garlic Pasta (Snow Day #2... I'm going nuts here!)

Super Easy Garlic Pasta

I'm still stuck at home with no new groceries.  I am trying to get up the motivation to go make a batch of homemade tortillas, but we have NO cheese or salsa left, so I'm not sure they'd get eaten.  My kids are bemoaning our lack of "real food" because cheese is apparently a staple food item here.  I just miss the flavorful stuff!  I want some peppers and onions!  Fresh fruit would be a wonderous treat right now.  I need to go to the store.  I have all this down time when I could be prepping and cooking up a storm (lol, "storm") and instead I've got nothing except this old standby that I cleaned up by using coconut oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:
1 head of roasted garlic
1 bag of your favorite whole wheat pasta
1 Tbsp coconut oil or EVOO
shredded or grated Parmesan cheese to taste
Seasonings:
Garlic Pepper Blend

Kainan didn't even want me taking a PICTURE of his food.  I think he was afraid I was going to try and steal a bite.  Not that I'd ever do that.

Cook pasta, add oil & chopped roasted garlic.  Sprinkle with Parmesan, and viola!  Super easy side dish.  It goes well with chicken and a nice green salad.  I add cooked peas to the pasta when I make it, just to get some extra veggies in there, but my hubby never does.

Paris, of course, was happy to pose for me, even with her snow day hair do:)

Clean Eating #29: Cherry Tomato Popping Garlic Spinach Pasta

Exquisite Garlic Tomato Pasta Sauce

Okay, so we couldn't decide what to call this.  It was something I read in an article in Prevention magazine, and there weren't any measurements or anything, just a few ingredients.  This is what we used:

Ingredients:
1/2 - 3/4ths cup of EVOO
3 cloves of garlic
3-4 small Spanish onions, diced
handful of baby leaf spinach chopped
3/4 - 1 cup of cherry/grape tomatoes sliced in half
Italian seasoning to taste

Garlic pepper seasoning to taste
Parsley
Grated Parmesan or Asiago Cheese for topping if desired

Getting a hug from my gargantuan son "Squatch" because I'm just that awesome:)

Directions:
Heat oil in skillet on medium to medium low
Sautee Onions and Garlic until they begin to carmelize
Add in sesasonings, baby spinach and tomatoes
Cook until the tomatoes are tender
Add a little extra EVOO if you want, serve on top of whole wheat pasta.

Paris had hers in one of our new fancy bowls:)

What I'd Do Differently Next time?

Turn on the video camera when my hubby takes his first bite..  My husband's reaction to good food is freaking AWESOME.  Its so good to be REALLY appreciated!

Also, I will definitely experiment with throwing in some extra veggies and maybe some cooked beans... but for right now, my husband AND my two youngest girls devoured it, even my picky little Bean... so I think we're good.

I'm telling you, my husband reeeeaaaalllllly loves his food, even after he realized I was videotaping!

It definitely has a sweet and spicy taste to it, and leaving the tomatoes 'in tact' really gave it a neat texture and taste.  Thumbs Up!