Santa Fe Spaghetti Squash Casserole

 

I had never cooked with spaghetti squash.  I've seen a ton of awesome recipes for it which inspired me to buy one. 

It sat on my counter for a week. I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  It was huge, I knew it would serve for 2 meals.

Then I found this tasty little vegetarian dish that seemed right up my alley. Black beans? Green chiles? Corn? How many things have I made with these ingredients!

Well, never before with squash!! I totally wondered what the consistency would be like.

I LOVED scraping out of the shell when it was cooked!  It was so cute!  It DID look like spaghetti!

But how would it taste?

It no longer resembled spaghetti once it was in the casserole.  But it did taste delicious.  It was moist and it held everything else together nicely.  

The only thing I would possibly do different would be to spice it up a bit more.  It was very good but I thought it could use a pinch of cayenne or some red pepper flakes or something.  

I ended up using the leftovers for Spaghetti Squash Mac and Cheese which was wonderful!!  Yes, I know I posted that weeks ago but this recipe just got pushed back time and time again. Sorry, it happens! 

This is linked up with:

 Real Food Wednesdays from Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

What's On Your Plate? from Good Cheap Eats.

What's for Dinner? from Hon, What's For Dinner?

No Whine Wednesday from Food on the Table.

Vegetarian Foodie Fridays at Breastfeeding Mom's Unite! 

Dinner at Christina's Friday Firsts. 

Wholesome Whole Foods from Healthy Food Lover. 

Tasty Traditions over at Coupon Cookin'. 

Things I Love Thursday over at  The Diaper Diaries. 

Carnival over at Make It From Sratch! 

My Meatless Mondays over at My Sweet and Savory.  

Meatless Measls at Hon, What's for Dinner?

Gluten Free Wednesdays at The Gluten Free Homemaker

Santa Fe Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Adapted from Vegan Kitchen


1 spaghetti squash, about 2 lbs.
Cooking spray
1 cup onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can chopped green chiles, 4 oz.
3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 packed cup chopped fresh spinach
1 tbsp. chili powder

1/4 cup cilantro
2 tbsp. lime juice
1 tsp. salt

Crust:
1/2 cup corn meal (I used about 2 tbsp. more than this as it was the end of the container)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. hot water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. honey

Cut the spaghetti squash in half and place it in a microwave safe casserole dish, cut sides up.  Add a splash of water and cover. Microwave until the squash is tender, 10 - 12 minutes.  Let the squash cool a bit, then scrape the squash into a bowl. 

Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and saute the onion, garlic and pepper until tender.  Add the black beans, chilies, corn, spinach and chili powder, stir and allow to heat through.  Remove from heat and add the squash, lime juice and salt.  Stir to combine.  Pour the mixture into an 8 x 8 casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray. 

In a small bowl, mix together the crust ingredients.  Spread batter smoothly over the top of the mixture and sprinkle with a bit of chili powder if you want.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until the crust is firm and beginning to brown around the edges.  My topping was a bit wet so it took awhile to get it done and the moisture from the mixture kept it moist too but it turned out fine. 

Total calories = 1131 calories
4 servings = 283 calories per serving

More recipes you might enjoy!

Italian Stuffed Zucchini Boats

Chilaquiles Casserole

Pineapple Black Bean Enchiladas

Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Taco Twist Bake

 

It's amazing how you can take some basic ingredients that we've all eaten a million times. Put them together in a cassarole.  And have it just turn out amazing! 

I knew this would be good.  I mean, we're talking pasta, cheese, taco meat and sour cream.  What's not to love!!!

I was amazed by how MUCH I liked it though. It wasn't just good, it was fantastic! 

We all absolutely loved this scraped the pan clean! 

My only regret is that I didn't make a double batch so I could have leftovers this week!!

 

This was part of my ground turkey freezer cooking day!   Check it out for more great freezer ideas!


Taco Twist Bake Recipe


3 cups cooked taco seasoned meat
1 - 15 oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 cup green or red pepper, chopped
1 package (8 oz) spiral pasta, cooked and drained (I used 8 oz. of Barilla Plus rotini pasta)
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream, light
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese, divided


In a large pan, combine taco meat, tomato sauce and peppers, bring to a boil.  Meanwhile, combine pasta and sour cream. Place in a 8 x 8 pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cheese.  Top with meat mixture.  Bake, uncovered at 325 for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, bake 5 - 10 minutes longer or until the cheese is melted.


Total calories = 2672 calories
6 servings = 445 per serving

Taco Twist Bake = 445 calorie dinner

More meals you might enjoy!

Crustless Tex Mex Meatloaf Cheddar Pie

Turkey Chipotle Tacos

Cinnamon & Lime Chicken Fajitas


Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Chicken Tagine in the Slow Cooker

.

Have I mentioned I love my slow cooker? Well, here it is again. I love my slow cooker.  This meal was awesome and it was in the crockpot by 9 am and dinner was done. The couscous just takes like 10 minutes. 

This was chock full of hearty veggies and it smelled so good while cooking!!

I don't know too much about this kind of cooking, I thought it was an indian dish but it turns out it is a Moroccan recipe. Amazing what you can learn from Wikipedia!  What did people do before google?

This is linked with Just Something I Whipped Up over at The Girl Creative!

Chicken Tagine Recipe


1 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. boneless chicken, thighs or breasts (I used breasts)
1 eggplant, cut into 1 in. cubes
2 large onions, chopped
4 large carrots, chopped in chunks
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks
1/2 cup craisins
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
2 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 1/2 tbsp. flour
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. pepper


Heat olive oil in a pan, place the chicken pieces and eggplant in the pan and cook until chicken is browned but not cooked all the way through.  Place browned chicken and eggplant in the crockpot.  Layer the onion, carrots, sweet potatoes, craisins and apricots over the chicken.  Whisk together the remaining ingredients, pour the broth into the crock pot.  Cook on higt for 5 hours or low for 8 hours.  Serve with couscous if desired.

Total calories = 1355 calories
6 servings = 226 calories per serving

Chicken Tagine + 1 cup of couscous = 402 calorie dinner


More slow cooker recipes you might enjoy!


Chow Mein in the slow cooker


Sweet & Sour Pot Roast


Orange Chipotle Boneless Ribs in the Slow Cooker



Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Ice Cream In A Baggie - Kids Project

I'm always looking for fun, easy projects to do with the kids. This one was so fun, we've done it several times.

I made ice cream in a tin can in science when I was a kid and loved it so I knew the kids would love this too! 

My 11 year old got all 5 bags of ice ready. Then every one got a turn pouring the ice cream ingredients into their baggie.

Oh, we totally added chocolate.  It wasn't in the original recipe but we HAD to have chocolate. I'd say we added about a tablespoon or 2 of chocolate.  The kids had their hands on it so some bags got more chocolate than others!

Now for the fun part!  Shaking the bag!  They basically just tossed the bag around and around.  The littler ones had a slightly harder time shaking it and it didn't get quite as thick.  It was so funny, the little ones didn't believe me that the "chocolate milk" would turn into ice cream!

Boy were they surprised!  They all loved it!  Of course.

I tried to explain how it worked but they were too busy eating it to care!

It was so fun and we'll be doing it again for sure!!

This is linked up with Sweet Thursday over at Simply Sweet Home. Also Works For Me Wednesday over at We are THAT Family.   This is an AWESOME after school project that we will for sure be doing as a treat!

Homemade Ice Cream in a Baggie

Adapted from Always Look Up

1 tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/8 tsp. vanilla

6 tbsp. rock salt

2 sandwich sized ziplock baggie

1 gallon sized ziplock baggie

Ice cubes

Fill the gallon sized bag 1/2 full of ice and add the rock salt.  Put milk, vanilla and sugar into 1 small bag. Seal. Put that bag into the other sandwich bag.  Seal. I do this so it won't rip open with the ice. Shake vigorously until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 - 10 minutes depending how much it is shaken. Wipe off the top of the ice cream bag, then open it carefully.  Pour into a bowl and enjoy. 

More kids projects!

Carrot Marshmallow Project

Cinnamon Apples

Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Taco Corn Bread Casserole

I"m not going to lie to you. 

The above picture looks positively scrumptious, right??

Well it was.

But it didn't exactly look like that until the next day. When it was cold.

The below picture is how it came out of the dish when it was piping hot.  Not as pretty. But certainly, just as delicious.  

This was part of my ground turkey freezer day cooking.  I made 4 lbs. of taco meat and separated it into 3 containers.  1 container for 2 meals of tacos, 1 for a taco pasta casserole and one for this delicious corn bread casserole. 

This was seriously good and super easy to make.  Especially with the meat all cooked and ready.  It was a bit higher in calorie with the cornbread bottom but very hearty and filling!  

Don't miss a recipe!  Subscribe by email and get daily recipes! 

This is linked with Foodie Friday from Designs by Gollum. Also, Friday Favorites by Simply Sweet Home. And Fabulous Fridays from Saving Money and Living Life. Also Wholesome Whole Foods from Healthy Food Lover. Also Family Food Fridays from Get Healthy Cheap.

Taco Corn Bread Casserole

1 package (8 1/2 oz) corn bread/muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
3 cups cooked taco seasoned meat
1 can black beans
1 cup (8 oz) sour cream, light
1 cup colby jack, cheddar or mexican cheese, shredded and divided
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 can sliced olives (optional, I didn't use)

In a large bowl, combine the corn bread, egg and milk until blended.  Spread into an 8 x 8 pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.  Combine taco meat and beans, spread over corn bread.  Combine sour cream, 3/4 cup cheese and onion.  Spread over meat mixture.  Bake for 20 - 25 minutes longer or until heated through and cheese is melted.  Sprinkle with tomato, lettuce and remaining 1/4 cup of cheese. 

Total calories = 3252 calories
6 servings = 542 calories per serving


Taco Corn Bread Casserole = 542 calorie dinner

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More meal options!

Fiesta Stuffed Peppers

Mexican Lasagna

Chipotle Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie


Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Pin It

Peaches and Cream Amish Bread

Ok, so it's just peach. There is no cream. But I liked how Peaches n' Cream sounded. 

Plus, I totally wanted a nice big dollop of whipped cream on top.  But I ran out.  So you'll just have to use your imagination.

I gave my friend a starter and the first one she created was peach.  Yum!!  She gave me some and it was delicious.  Though great as it was, I was looking for a way to make it more peachy! 

So I had some peach preserves in the frig and made a glaze.  This turned it from great to spectacular!  Wow, this was good. 

This is linked with Sweet Thursday Fruit Edition over at Simply Sweet Home! 

Check out my other Amish Bread!

Week 1 - Cinnamon Bread
Week 2 - Almond Joy
Week 3 - White Chocolate Almond Craisin
Week 4 - Pistachio Pineapple Coconut
Week 5 - Butterscotch Chocolate
Week 6 - Lemon Raspberry or Blueberry
Week 7 - Banana Cream
Week 8 - Oreo
Week 9 - German Chocolate with Coconut Pecan Frosting
Week 10 - Chocolate Covered Cherry

Peach Amish Bread


About a cup of starter
3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
2 small boxes of cheesecake instant pudding mix
2 medium peaches, diced

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp. sugar free peach preserves
couple of tbsp. of milk to consistency desired


Spray 2 - 8 x 8 pans with cooking spray and dust with sugar.  Mix all the ingredients together. Pour batter evenly in pans.  Bake for 1 hour at 325.  Cool, then drizzle with icing.



Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Honey Mustard Chicken with Pretzel Crust

 We LOVE pretzels around here, they are pretty much a staple in the house.  We've covered them with chocolate, covered them in almond bark, dipped them in cheese, I've even seen them go into a sandwich.

Oh yea.

We love our pretzels here. 

But, I've never coated chicken with it. I've heard of it before, but finally decided to do it. 

So the kids were elated when I handed them a baggie full of pretzels and told them to smash them.  Quite the fun, let me tell you! 

These were very good, they didn't stay crispy but they tasted good and weren't overly soggy or at least not annoyingly soggy. We enjoyed them.

Next time, I want to make nuggets for the kids. I know they will like them much better in nugget form. Who wouldn't?

The honey mustard sauce was awesome too.  I wasn't sure they would need it but it added a very nice flavor and I'm glad I made it. 

I also made risotto for the first time!! You can check out the risotto recipe on Our Krazy Kitchen!!!

This is linked with No Whine Wednesday from Food on the Table.  Also linked with What's On Your Plate? over at Good Cheap Eats. And What's on the Menu? over at Dining with Debbie. Also linked with Tasty Traditions over at Coupon Cookin'.  Also linked with Cooking Thursday over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

This is also linked with $5 dinner challenge from $5 dinners!  It's more thank $5 but if you shop at the farmers market for veggies or plant your own it's pretty cheap! I get the chicken on sale and use coupons for the pretzels.

Honey Mustard Chicken with Pretzel Crust
Adapted from Allrecipes & Slim Shoppin'

1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
2 tbsp. mustard
1 tbsp. spicy mustard
1 tbsp. honey
1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken breast (I had 6 - 4 oz. breasts)
4 cups salted pretzels (4 oz)

Honey mustard sauce:
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. mustard
2 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. salt

In a bowl, mix together the red wine vinegar, the 2 tbsp. mustard, spicy mustard and honey. 

Place the chicken breasts between 2 sheets of plastic wrap (I use gallon size freezer bags) and pound until they are thinner and equal size.  Coat the chicken with the mustard mixture. 

Place the pretzels into a resealable plastic zipper bag and smash the pretzels until finely ground. (the kids might like to do this).  Place the coated chicken breasts, one at a time into the bag, seal and shake the bag to thoroughly coat each chicken breast with the pretzel.  Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with cooking spray. 

Bake the chicken at 400 for about 25 minutes or until done.  Flip about 1/2 way through to brown both sides.

Mix together mayo, 1 tbsp. mustard, 2 tbsp. honey and salt in bowl.  Drizzle the honey mustard sauce over the chicken to serve.

Total calories = 1801 calories with sauce
6 servings = 300 calories per chicken breast with sauce

Honey Mustard Chicken with Pretzel Crust + Summer squash, zucchini and Pea Risotto = 532 calorie dinner

More recipes you might like!

Smokey Caramelized Balsamic Chicken

Chicken Francais

Raspberry Glazed Rosemary Chicken


Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Look! I'm On TV!

Okay, so yesterday I posted about my big ground turkey freezer cooking day.  Tricia from Once a Month Mom has a reporter friend in the Twin Cities who was looking to do a local segment on Money Saving Tips. She contacted me about doing a bit on freezer cooking! 


What?!  Me!?  ON TV!  Are you kidding!?  I was scared to death.  I am also NOT a good speaker.  I freeze and it just doesn't work very well. 


Nevertheless, I agreed.  After all, it isn't like it's national TV, it's just a local station! 


So Shannon came out and filmed me cooking my ground turkey freezer day and did a quick interview.

Now, I asked her previously, how she would be doing it so I could be prepared.  She told me that she would interview me for about 15 minutes and then film me cooking and mixing things together.  She asked that I have a lot of it prepped sorta like a cooking show.  Then she gave me some typical questions she might ask.  I'm thinking, okay, no problem.


Here's the problem.  When she got here she said she was going to interview me WHILE I was cooking.


WHAT??!!!


I had like 7 or so recipes going on all at once!  How was I supposed to put all that together while trying to put an intelligent sentence together about freezer cooking! Remember I mentioned that I am NOT a natural speaker! Well, believe me, this was confirmed.

So here I am making meatloaf, Shannon's asking me a simple question like

"What IS freezer cooking"

And I'm like "Uhhhh, you know, like putting stuff in your freezer, uh, how much ketchup goes in here?"

I totally couldn't put together a sentence while trying to figure out what ingredients to put in what bowl.


Now, I did have a lot prepped.  BOY, am I glad I had a lot prepped but I was still looking at recipes and measuring stuff while she was talking to me.  It got to the point that I just needed to start chucking things into bowls and just make it up as I went along and try to completely FAKE my way through it.  I had MOST everything premeasured and ready to go but again, without consulting the recipe, things didn't go perfect!


I was putting together my sicilian meatloaf recipe from Once a Month Mom and it was a layered meatloaf and I was making 2 of them.  I mixed the turkey ingredients together, put one layer down, then ham, then cheese and then the other layer on. All while answering questions!  I ended up not saving enough for the top layer and I forgot to add the tomato sauce!!  But I had to keep going!!  So I covered it and put it away like it was done but as soon as they left, I took them back out and re made them. Luckily the middle layer of ham and cheese came off good so I just put the meat back in the bowl, added the tomato sauce and did them again.  Whew!  Recipe saved. 

When you see the video, you'll see all these wrapped pans and a white measuring cup with tomato juice in it in the background! 


All in all, it was a lot of fun and the best part of course was that my freezer was stocked full of ground turkey meals!! I haven't made them all yet but the ones that I have are quite good! 

Here is the link for the TV clip. Yes, my butt is beyond huge and I have stopped eating for an entire month.

http://twelve.tv/news/newsitem.aspx?newsid=1229&newsitemid=13478



I love freezer cooking but I usually only do it with meat.  I also love to buy a bunch of chicken when it is on sale and portion it out. I also will make a whole turkey and put the leftovers shredded into baggies, weighed and measured for salads or casseroles. 

Check out my Freezer Cooking Day post to see all the awesome recipes that I made.  I still have a few to post on the blog yet!

This is linked with Dinner at Christina's Friday Firsts!  It is my first time on TV!

Freezer Cooking Day - Ground Turkey

So what do you do with 20 lbs. of ground turkey?  You have a freezer cooking day!! 

I don't know about you but I don't have time to make all these meals every single night.  So especially with my meat, I buy in bulk, when on sale, and spend a couple of hours prepping it. It makes the following several week so much easier.

Tricia from Once A Month Mom contacted me about a friend in the Twin Cities who was looking to do a local news report about freezer cooking. I jumped at the chance!  Shannon from Channel 12 came on out and talked with me about both of our blogs and the freezer cooking concept. Check out my post about my TV experience!!

Now, if you haven't checked out Once A Month Mom, you really should. She plans out a whole months worth of meals for you, breakfast, lunch and dinner. She tells you exactly what you need, how to label it and everything.  Then you pick your day (preferably with a friend) and cook the day away and then sit back the rest of the month and eat!  I have not tackled that yet, as of now, I just freezer cook in batches, but one of these days I'm totally going to do a whole months worth!    

First I make a plan. How much meat will I have and what will I do with it?  Today, I gathered up all the collected ground turkey recipes that I have been meaning to make.  I jotted down some notes on what I wanted to make, what ingredients I would need and how many pans I would need. 

Then I got down to work. 

I made 4 meatloafs, 2 sets of burgers, meatballs, sloppy joes and taco meat enough for tacos and 2 casseroles.  Plus, I had a couple bags that I separated into 1 lbs. chunks to be used for chili, wraps, spaghetti sauce, whatever.  That's a lot of food. 

This is what I made

Saucy Veggie Meatloaf - 3 lbs. = 2 loaves

Sicilian Meatloaf - 3 lbs. = 2 loaves

Tomato Basil Burgers - 1 1/2 lbs. = 6 burgers

Southwest Burgers - 1 1/2 lbs. = 6 burgers

BBQ Cola Meatballs - 1 1/2 lbs. = 40 meatballs

Taco Meat = 4 lbs. = Split into 3 containers for:

       Taco Twist Bake

       Taco Corn Bread Casserole

       Tacos - 2 meals

Hearty Sloppy Joes - 3 lbs. = 2 meals

2 baggies with 1 lbs. each for chili and Asian Turkey Wraps

1/2 lb. for spaghetti sauce (the kids don't like a lot of meat in their sauce so this works perfect.)

I haven't made all the recipes yet, I'll post them as I go.    

This is my submission to Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family!  Freezer cooking TOTALLY works for me!     

This is also linked with Things I Love Thursday over at Diaper Diaries!  I LOVE freezer cooking!!

Book Review - Why Your Last Diet Failed You - Charlie Hills

There this this blogging family that I think is really cool.  

First is Biz from Biggest Diabetic Loser.  Otherwise known as Beth, it's okay, she'll answer to both.  She started the 101 days of summer challenge to help set up and keep weight loss goals.  I ended up starting my dieting blog because of this.

Then there is her sister, Jenn from Slim Shoppin'. She has an amazing blog full of great recipes. She also gave me free cheese.  :-)

Biz had a contest on her blog and I won a book written by her brother, Charlie. The name of this book was incredibly intriguing, I almost bought it before I found out that I had won. (sorry Charlie on the loss of royalties there!)

I don't have a lot of time to read. But I really wanted to read this book. I am so glad I did, it was fantastic. 

I so wasn't in the mood for one of those I've-got-all-the-answers-this-is-the-only-way-to-lose-weight kind of books.  

This book takes you on an amazing roller coaster ride through Charlies struggle with weight loss.  I like how this book makes you feel.  You struggle with him as he completes the last couple of miles in his marathon.  You feel his frustration when everything he tries to lose weight ends up in failure.  You share his elation when he finally figures out what to do and he succeeds!!  Only to feel the pain of defeat once again.

His struggle is the same as ours.  He doesn't have the all the answers, in fact he really didn't have any answers at all.  But that wasn't the point of the book.  The phrase he uses is about "flipping the switch". I think about this DAILY since I have read the book.  I COMPLETELY know what he means by that!!  

He talks about all the diets that we all have tried and ultimately have failed.  He also introduced me to The Pizza Diet.  See, now you want to buy the book just to find out about THAT!

This book is seriously funny.  And serious. 

Please go buy this book.  It is inspiring. I don't care if you have 200 lbs. to lose or 2 lbs. to lose.  You'll GET something out of this book. I promise. Or he'll give you your money back!  Nah, I just made that part up. 

I am giving this book away to someone I hope will read it and like it as much as I did.  (yes, Charlie, more royalties down the drain)  I hope she doesn't mind the Cheetos's stains on a couple of pages. Yes, I actually ate Cheetos's while reading a book about losing weight.  Oh the irony!  (I was on vacation, Cheetos's don't count on vacation, do they?)

Buy this book. Flip. The. Switch.

Beef Burritos from Slow Cooked Roast and Spice Rub

So this meal was a 2 day process. It wouldn't necessarily have to be that way, it was just that way for me. I cooked the meat one day and we enjoyed the burritos the next evening.  

My meat was partially frozen so I knew it would take a LONG time to cook.  I left it in the crockpot for a good 12 hours.  It was perfect, I chopped it up, stirred it around in the delicious spicy juice and stuck it in the refrigerator for the next day.

I sauteed a bunch of veggies because almost everything I make HAS to be pumped full of veggies, right? 

Then I added sour cream and cheese to the veggies.  This was awesome!  I could have eaten this as a dip!

I got this recipe from Food Junkie in Texas. She then put the sour cream/veggie mix on a tortilla with some meat on top and rolled them up.

I like to simplify as much as possible.  So I measured out a pound of the meat and threw it right in the sour cream/veggie glop. 

It no longer looked as pretty, but it was easier. Then I knew it would be evenly distributed and makes measuring for calorie counting easier. 

Plus, it's all going to the same place, isn't it??

There are a LOT of spices in here. I think her cut of meat was larger so I cut down the spices from her recipe.  There was PLENTY here and it was quite flavorful.  It is pretty spicy by itself but with the veggies and sour cream mixture, it was perfect.

Then I distributed the tasty, scrumptious goo between 10 tortillas. She topped them with salsa and called them enchiladas. I'm not as much of a salsa fan so I left them naked and just called them burritos.  My brother and hubs dipped theirs into salsa.  I just added a bit of tomato to mine.  Perfect.  

Plus I still have a tub of meat to either make these again or just use for tacos.  I actually might make some enchiladas with them.  Who knows.

This is linked with Foodie Friday from Designs by Gollum. Also, Friday Favorites by Simply Sweet Home.   And Fabulous Fridays from Saving Money and Living Life.   Also Wholesome Whole Foods from Healthy Food Lover.  Also Family Food Fridays from Get Healthy Cheap.

Also linked with Something I Just Whipped Up from The Girl Creative!!  Also Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Also Tuesday at the Table from All the Small Stuff. And with Tuesday Tastes at Crazy Daisy.  Also with The Supper Club over at Fudge Ripple. And Two for Tuesdays over at Girlichef and a bunch of other awesome bloggers showcasing real food recipes!

Spiced Rub and Roast


2 tbsp. ancho chile powder
2 tbsp. chile powder
2 tbsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. ground coriander
2 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. ground ginger
1 tbsp. pepper
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. allspice
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. chipotle chile powder
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 tbsp. brown sugar


3 lbs. chuck roast
1/2 cup water or beef broth


Trim any fat off roast.  Mix all the spices together. Rub on all sides of the roast.  If you can, put it in the refrigerator for awhile. 


Place in a big crock pot, cook, covered on low for about 8 - 12 hours.  Add the water or beef broth.  Mine was partially frozen still so I let mine go for about 12 hours.  Remove roast, chop into small pieces or shred. Add to spiced liquid in crock pot and stir to combine.  Separate into 2 or 3 containers for burritos or tacos.  I cooked mine all day but we didn't eat it until the next night. 




Beef Burritos
Adapted from Food Junkie In Texas


About 3 cups of beef from chuck roast (1 lb)
1 zucchini (about 1 1/2 cups), chopped
1 large onion (about 1 1/2 cups), chopped
1 poblano pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
3 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup sour cream, (I used light)
1 cup cheese, colby jack or cheddar (4 oz)
10 - 100 calorie whole wheat tortillas (8 in)

Total calories = 2769 calories
10 burritos = 277 calories per burrito

2 Beef Burritos = 554 calorie dinner

More recipes you might like!

Chipotle Bean Burritos

Shredded Beef, Bean & Corn Fajitas

Beef and Bean Chimichangas

Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.

Saucy Veggie Meatloaf

I don't always need a bun when eating a hamburger.  I do only because, it's just how you eat a burger.  People tend to look at me weird if I eat a burger without a bun. I get comments like "Oh, low carbing it today, huh".  Well, for the most part, I just prefer burgers that way. 

I think that's why I like meatloaf so much. It's similar to burgers but doesn't require a bun nor does anyone look at you funny for eating it. 

I got this recipe from Robyn from Penny Pinching Provisions. She says she likes to puree the vegetables and hide them in there. Well, no need to puree here so I just sauteed a whole bunch of veggies and stuck them in there. Everybody loved it!

I do think that we are more of a BBQ fan so we like the Barbecue sauce type of topping better but if you're a ketchup fan, this is good.  I think I would put a bit more spice in it next time too, just to take it up a notch!  It was good though!

I've made meatloaf with oatmeal before and it really is the best.  It makes the meatloaf hold together better and it's healthier!!

This was part of my ground turkey freezer cooking day. This recipe makes 2 meatloafs.  You can put these into regular loaf pans or 8 x 8's.  I actually like the 8 x 8 size better, it tends to cook better. 

This is linked up with Tasty Traditions over at Coupon Cookin'.  Also over at Cooking Thursday over at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.  Also the carnival over at Make It From Scratch. And Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.  Because I LOVE meatloaf!  

Also submitted to Ingredient Spotlight: Oats at Eat at Home

Saucy Veggie Meatloaf
Adapted from Penny Pinching Provisions

3 lbs. ground turkey
1/4 cup ketchup + 2 tbsp.
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. pepper
1 cup onion
1 cup zucchini
1 cup red pepper
1/2 cup carrot
2 1/2 cup oats
1 1/4 cup milk, 1%

Topping for one meatloaf (double if cooking both loaves at once)
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. spicy brown mustard or mustard


Chop all veggies very finely. Saute for about 7 - 8 minutes. Cool slightly.  Mix ground turkey, ketchup, spices, egg, oats and milk together. Add veggie mixure and mix until evenly distributed.  Separate into 2 loaf pans or 2 - 8 x 8 pans.  Bake one at 350 for about 1 hour.  Add topping, bake for another 15 minutes.  If you are freezing one of them, cover with aluminum foil, label and put in freezer. I like to put the directions on a note card and put the topping ingredients to make after it's pulled out of the freezer.  6 servings per meatloaf. 

Total calories for both meatloafs = 3598 calories
12 servings = 300 calories per serving.

Saucy Veggie Meatloaf + small baked potato with sour cream + green beans = 500 calorie dinner

More meatloaf recipes you might enjoy!

Barbecue Meatloaf

Quinoa Meatloaf Muffins

Spinach and Lentil Meatloaf


Calories calculated from calorieking.com. Some numbers are approximate and rounded.