Pasta Palooza .... Crockpot Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Happy Sunday!  I usually don't post on the weekends, but I had this typed up and ready to go so why not share a warm meal that maybe you want to make for this Sunday Supper!

So technically mine is not spaghetti, but I do like I always do when I like a recipe but don't have exactly what I need on hand.  I do the next best thing, fake it until you make it!  So I thought it would be fun to use the spiral noodles I had in the pantry.  The boys could have cared less it had chicken, cheese and noodles and it was put in front of them ... hehe!   I found this great recipe on Cooking with Kim.

Ingredients:

16 oz. dry spaghetti, cooked

1 lb. Velveeta Light (2%)Cheese

2 cups cooked, chopped chicken (I use white meat only)

1 can 98% FF cream of mushroom soup

1 can 98% FF cream of chicken soup

1 can of petite diced tomotoes

1 4oz. can of mild green chilies

4 oz can mushroom stems & pieces, drained

1/2 cup water

1 small onion, diced--or less, to taste

salt & pepper to taste

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Combine all ingredients in slowcooker and stir to mix well. Cook on LOW for 2-3 hours. Stir before serving.

ALEXIS NOTES: I skip the spray and use a crockpot liner and call it good!  As you see I used spiral noddles instead of spaghetti. And yes I skipped the mushrooms, no one here likes them.  I also put in noddles in a 1/2 hour before serving, I HATE mushy noddles, AND no I don't precook them.

Another super easy recipe!  Throw in crock-pot and forget about it!

What's on your menu tonight?

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Noodles on the Skinny Side ... Spaghetti Pie

On my goal for the year is to get back on the healthy side I have been really good about meal planning.  On that planning I've been looking at weight watcher meals that will help me and also be good dinners for the boys.  I hit up my favorite websites for ideas.  I went to Emily Bites for Spaghetti Pie.  Mine is not as pretty as her's but it sure was yummy!

I skipped the spaghetti noodles for fettuccine noodles that where rice noodles, because that was all I could find at Grocery Outlet.  Well they had spaghetti noodles but not whole wheat ones so I used the rice fettuccine noodles.  I'm trying to stay away from carbs where I can and go for gluten free options if possible.  I mixed everything up instead of saving some sauce to top in the end, what can I say I'm all about the easy!

Spaghetti Pie

Ingredients:

10 oz dry wheat or high fiber thin spaghetti

¾ lb 95% lean ground beef

1 small onion, diced

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

8 oz can tomato sauce

15 oz can crushed tomatoes

½ teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning

3 oz 1/3 less fat cream cheese, cut into cubes

1/3 cup fat free cottage cheese

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup shredded 2% Mozzarella cheese, divided

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400. Lightly mist a deep dish 9” pie plate with cooking spray and set aside.

2. Cook spaghetti according to package instructions. As soon as spaghetti is done cooking (while it’s still hot), start step 4.

3. While the water is boiling for step one, bring a large skillet or saute pan over medium high heat and add the ground beef. Break the beef up with a large spoon or spatula and add the onion, salt and pepper. Cook until beef is browned and onions are cooked (about 5-7 minutes). Add garlic and cook for an additional minute. Stir in the tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, oregano and Italian Seasoning and reduce the heat to simmer for about 10 minutes.

4. When the pasta is done cooking, drain it and add the cream cheese cubes back into the empty pot. Cover the cream cheese cubes with the hot pasta and stir/toss to melt the cheese and coat the pasta. Add the cottage cheese, Parmesan and ¼ cup of the Mozzarella and toss until well combined. Add 2 cups of the meat sauce from step 3 and stir to coat. Continue to warm the additional sauce on low on the stove top.

5. Transfer the spaghetti mixture from the pot into the pie plate and press it down with a spatula and smooth the top. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup of Mozzarella over the top of the spaghetti pie and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until cooked through and cheese is bubbly. Let stand for a few minutes after cooking and cut the pie into 6 even wedges. Serve each wedge with ¼ cup of the meat sauce spooned over the top. 

Yields 6 servings. WW P+: 9 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com)

Nutrition Information per serving from myfitnesspal.com: 380 calories, 45 g carbs, 11 g fat, 30 g protein, 7 g fiber

Enjoy you will love this one!

Something to keep your belly warm in this cold season.

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

 

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner ... Crock-Pot Italian Chicken

This was another simple recipe I made for the boys, it was just for the 3 boys and I knew they wouldn't be wanting left overs so I halved a recipe for Crock-Pot Italian Chicken on The Girl Who Ate Everything.  I even threw the recipe in my mini crockpot to have less to clean!  When it was all done I threw some spaghetti noodles on a plate and topped with the shredded chicken.  It smelled so good I wished I could have just a small bite, but I resisted (stupid diet .. lol).  So it's not the prettiest meal but packed with flavor.

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
1 packet dry Zesty Italian dressing (Regular is fine but I like zesty better. Sometimes I use a packet and a half.)
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1-2 cans cream of chicken soup (depending how cream cheesy you want it)

Instructions

1. Place the chicken in a crockpot and sprinkle Italian dressing over it. Combine cream cheese and cream of chicken soup in a small pot over low heat and pour over chicken. Cook on low in the crockpot for at least 4 hours. You can leave it in there all day. Once chicken is done you can leave the chicken breasts whole, cube it, or even shred it. I always cut the breasts into tenderloin size strips.
2. Once you have cut up the chicken, throw it back in the crockpot and stir into the sauce. If you feel the sauce is too thick you can thin it to your preferred consistency with a little milk. Serve over pasta or rice.

Alexis Notes: I halved the recipe and used my little crock pot.  I put the chicken once it was cooked in my mixer and used the paddle to shred the chicken and put it back in the sauce and mixed it all up.  I served of spaghetti noodles.

Give this one a try it was so simple and you can even put the frozen chicken in and let it go!   You know me anything that makes my life easier is a winner!!  This will be one I make when I can eat real food again :).

What's on your menu tonight?

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.

Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce (Ideal Protein Recipe Ph 1-4)

After being on this diet (Ideal Protein) it has been trying to find meals for dinner that I would love to eat let alone my family wants to eat too.  Most nights I make my meal and then make something for them that they would like.  I have been able to come across a few great recipes and the one I found that the whole family would eat is a Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce.  I had mine on some lean ground turkey, the boys had egg noddles (a no no for me but they can splurge).

Ingredients:

1 pound 90% lean ground beef or ground turkey (I used Turkey)
8 large tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, chopped (I used red)
2 Tablespoons minced garlic

2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
¼ tsp Red pepper flakes
½ cup water (I skipped this)

(optional) chopped Mushrooms (I Skipped this)

1 zucchini (I added this in for a little extra green)

2 pkg of Truvia/Splenda (this is something I added)

Brown turkey or lean ground beef, add garlic powder while cooking meat for more flavorful sauce, drain off any fat, add all vegetables and water, except tomatoes. Cook on low with lid until vegetables are cooked through. ** Alexis Note:  I decided to add all the veggies to my ninja and whirl them around (the boys aren't big on chunky sauce). **

In a magic bullet or blender (I used my Ninja), puree 6 of the tomatoes, add the Italian seasoning, garlic, red pepper flakes, and give it another little whirl.  Add in a zucchini sliced up at this time and the Splenda if you want it to be a little sweet. You need to boil this for about 20 minutes and skim off the water and froth. Pour into cooked ground turkey or ground beef mixture, turn on low heat. Chop remaining 2 tomatoes however small or large you like your chunks in sauce, add to mixture and simmer on low for 20-30 minutes. Makes 4-6 cups of sauce. Can freeze leftovers for later use.  ** Alexis Note: I just puree'd all the tomatoes (again my boys aren't big on chunky sauce). **

Enjoy this is one of the best sauce's I have had in a long time, it's so nice knowing it is healthy.

Tuesday Dinner Friends Spaghetti Feed!

Another yummy meal that was a hit with all this week.  Our normal Tuesday night guest was not feeling well but my other friend was planning to come.  I made a double batch earlier in the morning so we had plenty to send home with our new guest and left overs for the next day. 

Of course I found some amazing recipes of Pinterest first off on my list was Old-Fashioned Spaghetti & Meatballs.  I’ve never cooked with bulgar wheat before so I picked it up in the bulk section and made it.  They turned out fabulous and easy to make.

I then found this amazing light bread that was easy to make with what I had on hand.  This Lighter Cheesy Garlic Bread was a no yeast bread that I mixed up and threw in the oven and served hot and yummy!

Dinner is served!

I made a yummy dessert then I remembered our guest doesn’t eat dessert. I know who doesn’t eat dessert, a smart person that is … Hmmm maybe I should have ate her and my helping … lol.  This Baked Apple Streusel was simple to make and I add a dolop of non fat whipped cream.

So there you have it another Tuesday Dinner meal .  On our menu tonight will be Crock-Pot Creamy Chicken Soup.

Tuesday Dinner Twist on Spaghetti & Apple Pie

We had our Tuesday dinner friend come over tonight and I found some yummy things to try (yes on Pinterest).  I wanted to try this braided bread but the dough it called for I couldn’t find so I made my own!  I found this Italian Parmesan Bread for Bread Machine that smelled so yummy and made the recipe pop!  I put it on the dough cycle and let it do the work for me!

The recipe I needed the bread for was this Braided Spaghetti Bread that was so YUMMY!  I made a few tweaks the bread I made (was half white & half whole wheat flour), I added low fat chicken sausage and used whole wheat noodles.

Last on my list was a yummy dessert that was lower in points and so delish!  Apple Dumplings with Orange Sauce for you weight watcher people this is 5 points.  Enjoy a sweet treat, you deserve it!

Happy Wednesday!  Hope you have a fab day!

Feeding the Troops

For Christmas I used my bonus to buy Rick a new garage door with an opener.  Tonight he had some buddies come over to help him install and my Tuesday night dinner friend came over tonight instead of last night so I switched my meal plan up at the last minute.  I was pretty darn excited with what I came up with.

First off I saw this on my new obsession Pinterest and found a recipe for Cheesy Artichoke Bread.

Then I saw this Scooters Spaghetti that looked easy to do and how can I go wrong with friend onions on top?

And I had a bag of cranberries that I had to use up so my friend Google lead me to Apple-Cranberry crisp.

In a way I can’t wait for next week then I might be back on track.  For now some more recipes .  Hope you might enjoy one of them!

Anything special on your menu tonight?

Can Pasta be light? Well let’s try …

We love our pasta around here, but trying to find ways that are low fat are far and few between.  I found this Baked Beef Ziti on Nancy’s Recipe Box a great blog with weight watcher recipes.  This was a good recipe I of course would love more sauce but that of course would be fat … lol.

Next on our list was for this Spaghetti Pie which Cole asked for a double helping of which is always a good sign.  I used whole wheat pasta but you can use regular.

So there you have it pasta overload!  It’s Tuesday right so this week is moving along?  Oh man it’s a train I think that may have run over me, it may have backed up over me a few times … lol.

So what’s on your menu?  Pasta?  Light or high fat (If so I’m so living threw you)!

Manic Mondays ~ Meatloaf with Round 2 Recipe

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On a request from Rick I have made a "just meat dish" hehe well it's not a simple dish but it's still in a form that he likes so he actually enjoyed this one! :) Then since my family won't eat left overs I found a way to remake them into a form they would eat! Hope you enjoy!

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Chili Cheese Meatloaf

by CD Kitchen

Ingredients: 2 eggs, slightly beaten 1 pound bulk pork sausage, spicy 1 pound very lean ground beef 1/4 cup chopped onion 1 cup quick-cooking oats 2 teaspoons garlic salt 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese 1 cup chunky salsa salsa for topping, optional Cheese for topping, optional

Directions:

Heat oven to 350F. With hands, gently combine all ingredients except topping options in a mixing bowl. Shape into a loaf and place in baking dish or loaf pan; bake for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, until cooked through.

ALEXIS NOTES: I used all ground beef (what I had on hand), used my chopped onion in a can since I had no onions on hand, garlic powder with onion salt (yup figure a merge of the two would equal the garlic salt) and Mexican cheese.

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Then the next night with my half of meatloaf left over I did this:

Meatloaf Spaghetti

by Busy Cooks

Ingredients

16 oz Spaghetti or linguine

left over meatloaf, any quanity

26 oz pasta sauce

1/3 cup water

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

ALEXIS NOTES: Prep like you normally would, I took my special meat masher from pampered chef to to crush up the meatloaf. Add the sauce and cooked the noodles. Served with some steamed broccoli.

Happy Monday Everyone!!! We got home late Sunday night as usual so I'm always in a panic for a great easy meal on Mondays, hope you like and make it.