Food In Many Forms

Exams begin this week, and I am not going to be able to write as much, but I hope to still post recipes, starting with this squash risotto from Giada. I have been making super large cheese-filled Italian dishes that are not the healthiest, and I need to switch gears and start eating more vegetables and fruits . I have really gotten into making one big dish and having leftovers for the week, even though I was so against leftovers before. So far, both my stuffed shells and baked ziti held up really well, so we will see how the squash risotto holds up.

Voila! Three kinds of cheesy wonderfullness !

It seems as though I am on an Italian streak. I have been making so much pasta lately, and one of my favorites is Baked Ziti . But this time, I am going to make it healthy BEFORE I make it. The recipes is as follows: INGREDIENTS ( Nutrition ) 1 pound dry ziti pasta 1 onion, chopped 1 pound lean ground beef 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced 1 1/2 cups sour cream 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese DIRECTIONS Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 minutes in the...

I used the recipe calculator from Spark People and it says that my stuffed shells recipe had roughly 1900 calories and 70 g of fat. Assuming that I eat 1/6 of the whole, that is about 315 calories (which is fine) and 12 grams of fat, 6 of those 12 being saturated fat (which is not so fine!). This is a cause for concern for me, so I thought I would go through and see what is so bad about this recipe. Well, first of all, the biggest calorie contributor is actually the pasta shells. The 12 oz box of shells had 480 calories, but I know that I had at least 10 shells left over, so let's cut that dow n to 2/3 of that - 320 calories. Next in line is the parmesan cheese - 332 calories, but no surprises there. I already cut back by not adding a whole cup of cheese to the top. The crushed tomatoes weighed in at 256 calories, I guess just from shear volume of tomatoes? Not sure how I can help that. 1 1/2 cups of cottage cheese has 244 calories. I only had a cup of cottage cheese, but then agai...

While reading the Food Network magazine for October, scavenging for cute halloween ideas for our October 30th party, I stumbled upon this recipe for Cheesy Stuffed Shells . Well, after being sick for so long, I was craving comfort food, and thought of those jumbo shells that my mom used to fill with tomato and ricotta cheese, so I bought some from the grocery store last weekend. I had to get creative with a few ingredients and I left a few out, but it I think it turned out pretty okay. CHEESY STUFFED SHELLS Active: 40 min Total: 1 hour, 25 min Serves 4 to 6 FOR THE SAUCE Kosher salt 2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 cup grated carrot 1/2 cup grated zucchini (I didn't have any :( so I left it out) 1 small onion, finely chopped 1/2 cup chopped celery 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon dried oregano 2 Tablespoons tomato paste 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes Freshly ground pepper FOR THE SHELLS 1 12-ounce box jumbo pasta shells 8 ounces silken tofu (skippe...

It seems like I have been sick so long, Halloween is quickly approaching! My roommates and I are planning a "classy" Halloween party to be held on October 30. Something very relaxed, and well-planned with lots of food with which to impress our few select guests. We have to plan out what we need way in advance since it is right around exam time of course. So I thought I would use this space to do some preliminary planning. 1. There must be a punch bowl with jello eyes or a frozen hand (I saw an idea to make and ice cube with a latex glove) 2. There must be some kind of dip - there are so many good ones and we can either make it really healthy with veggies, or go in the opposite direction with chips. (We do have an unhealthy obsession with spinach artichoke dip) 3. Something with pumpkin, be it pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, or pumpkin cookies 4. Caramel apples are a fall classic - our guests can even help make them and add toppings like nuts or sprinkles ( Peanut Butter Crunch Ca...

I came home for part of the labor day weekend, and I thought I would take advantage of the most convenient proximity of an actual grocery store :) While reading Oprah's magazine last night I found an article about cooking for one. It reaffirmed something I already know but I wasn't sure how widespread this belief is - that you are worth cooking for. Just you, by yourself, deserve a good, healthy, satisfying meal. Well, with that in mind, I tried one of the recipes made for one and now want to share it. Penne with Tuna, Plum Tomatoes, and Black Olives (Oprah Magazine, October 2009) - Salt - 3 ounces penne (or fusilli or shell pasta) - 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil - 1 small onion or fat shallot, thinly slices (about 1/4 cup) - 1 clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced - 2 large, ripe plum tomatoes, cut into rough chunks - 1 Tbsp. white wine - 2 1/2 to 3 ounces canned tuna in olive oil - 10 Italian or Greek black olives, pitted and quartered - 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 1. Cook p...

I just made pizza, like I said I would. (I don't always follow through on these things, but it helps to already have the ingredients.) On the whole, I learned a lot. Mistake #1 I know that the crust gets less soggy if you cook it a little before, but I left it in for like ten minutes or more, until it was already golden brown. I should have left it in for five minutes and taken it out no matter what my gut told me because the end result was SUPER CRISPY crust. It had a CRUNCH . Mistake #2 The crust is my favorite part, so I didn't cover as much with sauce and ended up with EVEN MORE CRUNCH . Mistake #3 Don't skimp on the cheese. It looked like I ran out of shredded cheese and it barely had that stretchy, gooey-ness I crave from pizza cheese. Mistake #4 I forgot how hot the juices in tomatoes get when you cook them, they definitely need to be thinly sliced if you are going to put some fresh tomatoes with the sauce like I did. Any finally, it's not exactly a mista...

Classes started yesterday and already I am regressing to a meat and cheese diet! What happened? How did I suddenly forget the wonderfulness of salads and the simplicity of stir-fry? Why does heating a sandwich in the George Foreman make me feel like a chef? Some how I decided our group dinner this week is going to be pizza...PIZZA! And I am so stuck on it too! I am craving it! There has to be a way to make this college pizza easy and healthy! Maybe use tomatoes instead of sauce?Throw on some mozzarella, sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms, black olives...it can't be too bad, right? Well, it seems like I have been suckered in to the easy, uncreative approach of going to the product website and finding recipes, but I appreciate the fact that the nutrition info is listed, so I am going to have to look through... The Margherita Pizza  looks so gourmet...I even have every ingredient except the all-important basil. They use the pizza dough to make calzones, and they tell you how t...