Healthy Low Carb Lasagna

Ingredients for up to 6 servings:

• 1 lb extra lean ground turkey
• 3/4 a jar marinara sauce
• 1 zucchini
• 1 cup low fat cottage cheese
• 1 egg white
• 3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella
• Seasonings for meat: garlic powder, onion powder, cumin. Seasoning may not be needed if you purchase a “seasoned” marinara sauce.

Brown turkey and onions in pan.
When meat is browned add marinara sauce.
 Mix together cottage cheese and egg white.
 Slice Zucchini.

Layer as follows:
1/2 sliced zucchini
1/2Meat Sauce
1/2 Cottage Cheese Mixture.
Repeat and top with mozzarella cheese.

Cook at 350 for 30min.


387 calories
55g protein
16g carbs
12g fat

Butter Lemon Shrimp

2 packages, uncooked,  peel and eat shrimp (31-40 count)
1 stick butter
2 lemons, washed and sliced thin
1 packet Italian Dressing and Seasoning Mix

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Make sure shrimp is thawed out, if you bought them frozen.  Lay sliced lemons down in 13x9 casserole dish. Peel shrimp, if desierd. Place uncooked shrimp on top, spreading evenly. Pour butter over top of shrimp. Sprinkle Italian seasoning all over shrimp. Bake uncovered 15 minutes. You could even broil for a few minutes to sort of caramelize the Italian dressing on top. No more than 2 minutes

Haystacks

For the gravy:
3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2-3 tsp. chicken bullion crystals (or 1-2 bullion cubes, smashed)
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cube butter, sliced in 8 pieces
4-5 baby carrots (or 2 regular carrots, sliced)
1 stalk celery, sliced
salt & pepper
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
2 cups chicken broth (may not need to use it all)

In crockpot, place the chicken breasts, onion, carrots & celery. Sprinkle bullion over the top. Place slices of butter all over the top. Salt & pepper the top. Place lid on crockpot and cook for 3-4 hours on high.

After chicken is cooked and veggies are tender, remove all of the ingredients from the crockpot. Be sure to reserve the drippings as well (if vegetables still seem a little crunchy, remove the chicken and leave the vegetables to cook a little longer in the drippings). Shred the chicken and set aside. In a blender, place the cooked carrots, celery and onion. Pour some of the drippings in and then blend the mixture. If it's really thick, add more drippings (or chicken broth).

In the crockpot, add the cream of chicken soup & sour cream and begin to heat the mixture, stirring well. Add the shredded chicken and some of the blended veggie mixture. Use the drippings and the extra chicken broth to thin the sauce to the desired consistency. You can add as much or as little of the blended veggies as you'd like. This just gives it a delicious, homemade taste that's a notch above other chicken gravy recipes I've tried.

To Serve:
Serve gravy over a bed of rice and top with the following Haystack Toppings:
Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Olives
Chow Mein Noodles
Chopped green onion
Chopped green pepper
Chopped cucumber
Chopped celery
Pineapple tidbits
Coconut
Chopped nuts (almonds, pecans, or macadamia)

recipe from gatherroundourtable.blogspot

Favorite Hamburger

Another great recipe from the Pioneer Woman.

2 pounds of 80/20 ground beef.
One red onion, sliced not too thick, not too thin. I cut the onion in half from bottom to top, then lay each half on its side, cut off the top, then slice away.
Crumbled blue cheese. If you think you’re not a big blue cheese fan, please give it a try on this burger.
Throw the hamburger into a medium mixing bowl. And here’s why I use 80/20 for burgers: It’ll stay juicier and more flavorful than lean ground beef will.
Never just grab a hunk of ground beef, form it into a patty, and season the outside—sacrilege! You must season all the meat evenly.

So to the bowl, add 1 teaspoon salt.Next, add 1/2 teaspoon, give or take, of ground black pepper.

Add a few dashes of Tabasco to the meat.Don’t be afraid! It adds just a tiny bit of spice, but a nice burst of flavor. I added a good five or six dashes.

Reach in one of your claw-like hands, and give it a good mixin’. Set the meat aside.

Next, for the onions, heat a medium skillet over low heat. Add in 2 tablespoons butter. Dump in the sliced red onions…And 2 (generous) tablespoons brown sugarGive it a toss to combine the ingredients, then allow the onions to caramelize over low heat for about twenty minutes, tossing occasionally, while we prepare the other ingredients and cook the burger itself.

While the onions are caramelizing, make the spicy mayo: Place 1/4 cup mayonnaise into a small bowl… And simply add a few dashes of Tabasco. Stir it together, and give it a little taste. You’d be surprised at how much Tabasco you can add before the spicy takes over.

Next, slice the Kaiser rolls in half (if they aren’t already halved) and spread each half with about 1/2 tablespoon butter.

Then throw ‘em on a skillet or grill pan over medium heat. We just want to lightly grill/toast the rolls so they’ll be tough enough to hold the spicy mayo…and the burger itself.

So let’s make the patties.Reach into the bowl and grab a hunka hunka burnin’ beef.Form a patty and throw it on a grill pan or skillet over medium to medium-low heat. Not too hot or the burger will smoke somethin’ silly.Allow it to cook about 3 minutes, then use a spatula to rotate it 45 degrees. Continue cooking it for 3 to 4 minutes. Rotating it will cause lovely little grill marks on the burger. Flip patty and cook other side.

With tongs, add a heapin helpin’ of the gloriously delicious onions to the top of the patty.Immediately add a nice helping of crumbled blue cheese

While the burger is finishing cooking, slather the spicy mayo on both halves of the Kaiser roll. Now just grab a nice handful of greens and plop them on the top.

Ranch Chicken

I got this recipe from the Pioneer Woman. I love her recipes, but beware nothing she makes is low fat.

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Thick cut bacon
Bacon grease
Honey
Dijon Mustard
Lemon juice
Paprika
Crushed Red Pepper (optional)
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Canola oil

To begin, mix together 1/2 cup Dijon or country/grainy mustard with 1/2 cup honey. Add juice of 1/2 lemon, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle in some crushed red pepper flakes or cayenne if you like things a little spicy.
Whisk it together until smooth.

Next, rinse the chicken breasts under cool water and pat them dry.

We’re going to pound the chicken breasts so they have a more uniform thickness, which means they’ll cook more evenly and won’t be dry around the edges.

Place one chicken breast between two sheets of waxed paper…Lightly pat the waxed paper so it adheres to the chicken. With a mallet or a rolling pin (you can also use a heavy can!) lightly pound the chicken breast so that the thickness is uniform. By the time it all evens up, it’s usually around 1/2 to 3/4″ thick.

Also, if the chicken breasts are overly huge, I often cut them in half just to create more manageable (and kid-friendly) pieces.

Next, just add all the chicken to the bowl with the marinade. You’ll want to cover this with plastic wrap and let it marinate in the fridge for at least an hour—usually I let it go about 2 to 3 hours.

While the chicken is marinating, go ahead and fry up some bacon: any kind of bacon will do; just keep in mind that the bacon will eventually go into the oven, so you don’t want to get it too crisp in the skillet.

Next, and this is important, reserve 1/4 cup of the bacon grease, and go ahead and clean out the skillet. Otherwise, it’ll get too smoky.

When you’re ready to prepare the chicken, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and pour off excess marinade into the sink. Heat half of the reserved bacon grease with an equal quantity of Canola Oil in the clean skillet over medium-high to high heat. (We want to sear the chicken, not cook it completely.) When the grease is sufficiently heated, add a batch of chicken to the skillet. Don’t overcrowd the skillet—just 3 pieces is usually enough.

Watch the chicken, and when it starts to get brown/black on one side…Flip it to the other side. Cook just until brown/blackish areas appear. Each side should cook for a maximum of 1 to 1 1/2 minutes.

Repeat with all the chicken breasts, then set them on a large baking sheet. If you look a little closer, you’ll notice the chicken is definitely not fully cooked.

Go ahead and throw the pan of chicken into the hot oven for about ten minutes to continue cooking. Then remove the pan from the over and lay a couple of bacon slices over each chicken breast.

Next, grab some grated sharp cheddar and sprinkle it over the top as generously as you’d like.

Just return the pan to the oven for an additional five minutes, or until cheese is melted and bacon is sizzling.

Then serve immediately…

Homespun Pot Pie

1 Tablespoon Vegetable oil
2 Cups Onions
2 or 3 Cloves of Garlic
1 teaspoon of Salt
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Marjoram
4-5 Cups sliced Mushrooms
1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly oil 9x13 inch casserole pan.

Warm the oil in a soup pot. Add onions and garlic, cover and cook on medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt, thyme, marjoram, mushrooms, and mustard. Cook until mushrooms start to release their juices, about 5 minutes.

2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potatoes
2 Cups chopped potatoes
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper
3 cups water or stock
3 Tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup cold water
1 cup fresh or frozen green peas
1 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 Tablespoon of soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon of salt

Add the sweet potatoes, white potatoes, black pepper and water or stack and bring to a boil. Reduce the hear, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until vegetables are just tender. Stir the dissolved cornstarch mixture into the simmering vegetables, stirring constantly. When liquid starts to thicken, mix in the peas corn, soy sauce and salt. Pour the vegetables into the prepared pie crust. (I like Marie Calenders)

Bake 25-30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Italian Cheese Shells

Ingredients:

12 oz Jumbo Pasta Shells

4 cups of Ricotta Cheese

2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

3/4 cup Parmesan Cheese

3 Eggs

1 Tbsp chopped Parsley

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

32 oz of Spaghetti Sauce

Cook shells approximately 10 minutes in boiling water. Mix all ingredients together, expect spaghetti sauce and stuff into shells. Spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom of cake pan. Place filled shells in pan (open side down) Pour remaining sauce over the top of shells. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.