Creamy Zucchini Noodles and Chicken Sausage

I tried my hand at Zucchini Chips and I gotta say, every time I made them I burned them…no matter how much I adjusted the thickness. But I still wanted to figure out a way to cook with Zucchini as they’re super low in calories, filled with folate, potassium and vitamin A. I don’t eat bananas so I gotta get that potassium elsewhere! Plus they’re pretty tasty. Zucchini’s are another food that I had never tried before this year! Thanks to this blog I’ve had the opportunity to try so many foods I had not yet tried.

When my sister and her hubby landed in Chicago for Christmas we had to make a quick stop so they could get a white elephant gift for our family Christmas party. What did they pick up? A Veggetti! Oooooo yaaaaaa! We got it all ready to go and headed to the car. The next day when we were wrapping up gifts, my sister realized we didn’t have the Veggetti. It wasn’t in my car, wasn’t in my parents house (luckily my mom got extras for the white elephant exchange). When I got home, lo and behold! There was the Veggetti sitting on my coffee table! YAY! It was quite funny because at my office white elephant party we also had a Veggetti going around and it was THE item to get. We all wanted it! I was going to buy one but thanks to my sister and her hubby I didn’t need to! (she wasn’t too pleased, she wants one now too!)

So I put my Veggetti to good use! It’s pretty easy to use, not super terrible to clean (unlike a cheese grater) and works well to create some tasty Zucchini Noodles!!!

So I whipped up a SUPER tasty creamy zucchini “pasta” dish filled with veggies, chicken sausauge and so much cheese. I just love cheese.

Creamy Zucchini Noodles and Chicken Sausage

Ingredients

3 Medium Zucchini

Package of Chicken Sausage (I used the Spinach/Feta/Garlic Sausage from Trader Joes, it is SO delicious!)

1 Package of Cream Cheese

1/4 Cup Parmesan Cheese

1 Tbl Garlic

1/4 Cup Onion

1 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup frozen spinach

Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Parmesan Crusted Cod with a Mixed Greens & Goat Cheese Salad

I am not a big fish eater, I never really have been. Typically if I’m going to eat fish, it needs to be battered and deep fried. But fish is really good for you (especially salmon) so I realized I need to start incorporating it more into my diet. However, I still gotta make it taste good, you know? So I picked up some frozen cod from Trader Joe’s and rummaged through my fridge to see what I could whip up for a tasty dinner this weekend. And let me tell you, what I came up with, knocked it outta the park! It was so good I ate two pieces and wished I had a few more pieces of fish hanging out in my freezer!

You are likely to have all these ingredients in your fridge (perhaps maybe the fish) so its definitely a recipe that is quick, easy and flavorful.

Here’s what you’ll need (This recipe makes enough for two medium sized pieces of cod)

Ingredients:

Two pieces of Cod (or your favorite white fish)

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp Onion powder

Dash of cayenne

Dash of dill

Dash of parsley

Dash of Thyme

Dash of Paprika

1/4 cup mozzarella

1/3 cup greek yogurt

Bread Crumbs

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 400. In a small mixing bowl mix together greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and seasonings.

Place your pieces of thawed fish on a pan lined with tin foil. Spread your yogurt paste on each piece of fish making sure it is fully covered. Sprinkle bread crumbs on each piece

Place in oven for approximately 10 minutes until the cheese is brown and bubbling.

Enjoy!

See it is SO easy! And super tasty! I served it with a little salad of mixed greens, goat cheese and green scallions drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It definitely filled me up and wanting more!

Tuna Noodle Casserole

I’ve been in a total comfort food kick. I need the comfort. Its been cold, I’ve had a bad couple of weeks and there’s nothing like some old school classics to make you feel warm and cozy inside and maybe make you feel a little bit better in the midst of a bad breakup. Ice cream also helps, but I end up colder than I was before I started eating it.  Plus despite my absolute love of all things cheese, I’m lactose intolerant and ice cream just makes me cry into my pillow in pain.

So one of my FAVORITE foods ever, besides macaroni and cheese is Tuna Noodle Casserole. Yep, can’t deny it. I love it. It is so easy to make, and I some how always (in the past) managed to have a can or two of tuna and cream of mushroom soup in the cupboard. This time around I decided to go for a non-processed version of my favorite classic. And opted to try my hand at making my own cream of mushroom soup.

Ingredients

Double Batch of Cream of Mushroom Soup (or your own recipe) OR two cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup.

2 cans of white albacore tuna in water

1 bag of egg noodles

Parmesan Cheese

Hard Boiled Eggs (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Boil your seasoned water in a large pot and boil your noodles. Drain, and return to pot. Add in the cream of mushroom soup and mix. Add two cans of drained tuna.  In a casserole dish, transfer your noodles, soup and tuna. Bake for 30 minutes. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and sliced hard boiled eggs if you choose. Serve warm!

So this recipe looks a little bit more yellow than you would typically see a tuna noodle casserole, that is a result of the cream of mushroom soup recipe. It used vegetable stock and the one I used was a very orange stock. I also opted for soy milk and didn’t get the rich creaminess that perhaps a whole milk or 2% milk would have brought (I haven’t bought regular milk in probably 3 years). While the visuals weren’t exactly how I expected it still tastes pretty delicious! You really could use any cream of mushroom soup recipe you wanted to, or if you want the ease of using a condensed soup you could do that as well. This made a pretty huge batch and should last me through the week! *I also forgot to boil some eggs…but my family traditionally added slices of hard boiled eggs on top!*