Mock mac and cheese

One of life’s true pleasures is a big ole plate of macaroni and cheese.  I’m talking homemade oven-baked cheesy glory.  Once fall rolls around, I start to get some serious cravings for comfort food.  I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.  Comfort foods.  The foods that make you feel warm and cuddly from the inside out.  The foods that make you want to hug your belly and sway side to side just because they taste so dang good.  The foods that you’d like to pour into a giant tub so you could jump in and swaddle yourself in their heavenly gooey warmth….  What.. that’s just me?!

Anyway, tonight I decided to give healthified mac and cheese a go in an attempt to satisfy my comfort food craving.  I remember seeing a recipe a while back on the Hungry Girl email blast, and that was the basis for my dinner (though I couldn’t find the email).

The main components of my mac and cheese were Carba Nada pasta and lightly sauced broccoli:

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 And 1 light French Onion laughing cow wedge:

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Carba nada only takes 5 minutes to cook, so this meal was ready for chowing in no time!  While the pasta cooked I also threw together a small salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, onion, and some Ken’s Lite Caesar dressing (LOVE that stuff).

All together:

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The flavors were a little mild, so I added some red pepper flakes and black pepper on top:

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Cheesy goodness:

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Not too shabby!  If you could get laughing cow in light cheddar that would take this dinner to a whole new level!

Stats on 1 serving mock mac and cheese:  235 calories, 32g carbs, 5g fat, 16g protein, 8g fiber

On a separate note, I’m debating on whether or not to join a gym for the winter.  Twice in my life I had succumbed to signing up for a year-long gym membership, and BOTH times I stopped going after only a couple months… yet still had to pay for the entire year.  I’m really not big on gyms… but without a gym, I see myself simply not exercising this winter.  Any tips for making the gym FUN?

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Dinner in under 10 Minutes

Change of plans!  Due to the torrential down pour that’s being dumped on us in northeast Ohio, there was no cooking out today.

Instead, I was left with the task of cooking myself a dinner using only ingredients I had in the house.  I opened up the pantry to find a bag of Carba Nada pasta begging to be eaten:

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I also happened to have some grilled chicken breast leftover from Tuesday night’s cookathon, and in the deep dark depths of my freezer I was lucky to find a single serving of Classico Fire Roasted Tomato & Garlic pasta sauce.  Just another perfect example to validate my love and obsession for freezing foods in individual servings 🙂

Batch cooking your meats saves a TON of time throughout the week, but towards the end of the week the meat (especially chicken) can start to get a little dry.  When I make pasta sauce with any sort of meat, I like to steep the meat in the sauce, which makes it nice and juicy and tender.

So, while I was waiting for the pasta water to boil, I put the pasta sauce in small pan and added about 3 ounces of grilled chicken and my typical  pasta sauce barrage of spices:  S&P, Red Pepper Flakes, Dried Oregano, Dried Basil, Onion Powder, and Garlic Powder.  All you really need to do is open up your spice cabinet and toss in a few shakes of whatever sounds good to you 🙂

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Once the water was boiling, I dropped a serving of the Carba Nada pasta into the pot.  Carba Nada only takes 5 minutes to cook (awesome!) and is only 140 calories (AWESOMER!), 24g carbohydrates, 12g protein, and 6g fiber.  And it ACTUALLY tastes good.

While the sauce and pasta were getting their grooves on, I made a small side salad with some lettuce, tomato, onion, and Ken’s Steakhouse Light Balsamic Dressing.

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Dinner is served my friends!

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Pastalicious

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Chow time!

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Dinner in under 10 minutes… sure tastes good! 

Stats on dinner:  398 calories, 48g carbs, 8g fat, 32g protein, 13g fiber

If you are interested in trying out the Carba Nada pasta, I recommend ordering from Netrition because they have $4.95 flat-rate shipping.  (I also order my Mama Lupe low-carb tortillas, PB2, and Joseph’s Bakery products on this site)

 

QUESTION:  What’s your favorite done-in-under-ten-minutes dinner? 

 

 

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Shrimptastic Dinner

I’ve been eyeballing this recipe for Shrimp and Zucchini Pasta for over a week, so I decided to make it for dinner tonight.  I used the Skinny Taste recipe above as my starting point, and scaled it down to one serving.  I also omitted the olive oil and used extra chicken stock in its place.   

I haven’t had pasta in a while, and just the thought of eating it made me want a HUGE plate.  So I decided to peel the zucchini into thin pasta-like strips (rather than cubing as per the recipe) to really bulk up the pasta feel.   

I also used carba nada pasta.  I just love the stuff!   

Shrimp Zucchini Pasta Ingredients

 

I tasted the veggie/sauce mixture, and decided it needed a little extra oomph.  So I added about a tbsp of balsamic vinegar and a liberal dusting of red pepper flakes (I like it hot!).   

Shrimpy pastalicious

 

Take a closer look:   

shrimptastic!

 

My mouth was on fire after finishing this delicious pasta!  I had to eat a couple frozen grapes to cool things off 🙂   

Stats on the pasta:  342 calories, 49g carbs, 2g fat, 29g protein, 9g fiber   

Here’s a few shrimptastic recipes I’ve stumbled upon that look like things I need to try:   

   

Dinner is done, but I’m headed back to the kitchen to make BLD for tomorrow (breakfast, lunch, & dinner)… more about that tomorrow!

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