Mexican Baked Spaghetti Squash

Mexican Baked Spaghetti Squash

 

The spaghetti squash obsession only continues...this week's new recipe was so good!! And possibly the best part of it all was that I didn't have to make it!!! We had this for dinner on Monday night, and I took off as soon as the hubs got home to go do a little shopping with my mom for some new clothes (since everything I have is too big!) and when I got home from shopping, this delicious casserole was in the oven ready to go, what a treat! The hubs did a great job, he doesn't think of himself of much of a cook, but he really did amazing! (I was also warned that this was not something I was to get used to happening :) This one had a bit of a kick to it, but not too much, trust me, I can't handle too spicy, and I thought it was delicious. But if you really don't like spicy, then just substitute the can of tomatoes and chilis for a can of regular diced tomatoes. We cut the 9x13 pan into 8 pieces, and they were big and only 4 points a piece! My whole dinner that night, with the salad, was only 5 points!! Spaghetti squash never ceases to amaze me!

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash

1 medium onion, sliced thin

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

2 cloves garlic

1 T. chili powder

1 tsp. dried oregano

½ tsp. cumin

Salt & pepper to taste

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 c. frozen corn kernels, thawed

1 can tomatoes with green chilis, drained

½ c. nonfat greek yogurt

1 c. 2% shredded cheddar cheese

 

Directions:

1.   Heat oven to 375. Cut squash in half length-wise and using a spoon, scoop out the seeds. Place halves face down on baking sheet and cook for 45-50 minutes. When done, using two forks, scrape out the insides and put all spaghetti squash in a separate bowl. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

2.   While squash is roasting, spray skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add the onions, bell pepper and jalapeno and cook about 5 minutes.

3.   Add garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Stir in chili powder, oregano, and cumin and cook another minute, stirring constantly.

4.   Transfer to a large bowl and add beans, corn, tomatoes, yogurt and half of the cheese. Allow spaghetti squash to cool at least 5 minutes, then add to the bowl and stir well to combine.

5.   Transfer to baking dish and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

 

Yields 8 pieces – WWP+ 4 per slice

 

Shown here with a 1 point salad: lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers and 2 T. fat free Caesar Italian dressing.

Recipe from Baked-In

Spicy Spaghetti Squash with Black Beans

Spicy Spaghetti Squash w/ Black Beans

So this was my first venture into the world of spaghetti squash and let me say, I am a HUGE fan! Dinner was so filling and so low in points!! My plan is to post a spaghetti squash recipe every week! Also, I will say, I was a bit nervous making this because spicy is not really my thing, but I'm trying to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and believe it or not, this was the first time I have ever cooked with jalapeno in my life. I omitted the chili powder when I made it last night because I wasn't sure how spicy the jalapeno would make it, and either I'm just really getting used to spicier things or it really didn't make that much of a difference, so next time I will definitely add the chili powder because it really wasn't what I would consider spicy. Tessa even ate it! Stay tuned for some more awesome spaghetti squash recipes...can't wait!!!

Ingredients:

1 medium spaghetti squash

2 tsp. olive oil

½ c. onion

1 jalapeno, seeded & minced

½ c. red pepper, chopped

1 c. black beans, drained & rinsed

½ c. sweet corn, frozen

1 tsp. chili powder

1/3 c. cilantro

1 T. lime juice

1 tsp. sea salt 

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 375. Cut spaghetti squash in half and clean seeds out of the inside. Lay face down on a baking sheet and roast for 40-50 minutes, or until tender. When cool, take 2 forks and scrape away at the inside, it will fall apart and look like little spaghetti noodles. Set all squash aside in a bowl. Save squash shells for serving (can also be served in a bowl).

2.   Heat oil in a skillet, and add onion, jalapeno and red pepper. Cook about 2-3 minutes. Add beans, corn and chili powder and sauté another minute or so. Add cooked squash, cilantro, lime juice and salt. Cook another 1-2 minutes until heated through.

3.   Fill squash halves (or bowls) with filling and serve!

When in the skillet, I just flattened out the mixture, then using my spatula divided into 4 portions. The hubs at 2 of them (and was completely full afterwards!) and I had 1 serving, so ¼ of the whole recipe.

Yields 4 servings – WWP+ 3 points

(Pictured above with a 1 point salad – lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms, and 2 T of fat free Caesar dressing)

Recipe from WholeFoodsMarket

Macaroni & Cheese

Macaroni & Cheese

This is one of the very first Weight Watchers recipes that I ever made. When we first joined Weight Watchers 6 years ago, I bought this Pure Comfort foods cookbook at one of the meetings. I made a few different recipes from it, but this one was by far, my favorite. And this is about the only recipe that I ever use fat free cheese in. Typically, I don't use it because I don't like it, and it doesn't melt well, and it can have a weird texture, however, it melts really well into this macaroni & cheese recipe, and if you substitute it for regular cheddar cheese, the points per serving go from 6 to 11, and I just don't have the points to eat an 11 point cup of macaroni & cheese! I love it with the chunks of tomatoes and the toasted bread crumbs on top, kinda like a macaroni & cheese casserole. Soooo yummy!

Ingredients:

½ pound whole wheat elbow macaroni (about 2 cups)

3 T unsalted butter

1 small onion, chopped

2 T all-purpose flour

2 c. skim milk

2 c. fat free shredded cheese

1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

1 (14oz) can of diced tomatoes with their juice

¼ c. plain bread crumbs

 

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350. Spray 8 (1 cup) baking dishes with cooking spray.

2.   Cook macaroni noodles according to package

3.   While noodles are cooking, melt 2 T of the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the milk. Increase the heat and cook, whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes. Whisk in cheddar cheese, parmesan, salt and pepper. Cook, whisking occasionally until the cheeses melt, about 1 minute.

4.   Remove pan from heat. Stir in the macaroni and can of tomatoes (with the juice). Divide mixture evenly among the 8 baking dishes. Put all baking dishes on a cooking sheet.

5.   Melt remaining 1 T of butter in a small skillet. Add bread crumbs and cook, stirring constantly, until they are evenly coated, about 1 minute. Sprinkle toasted bread crumbs evenly over the macaroni dishes.

6.   Bake about 25 until bubbly.  

Yields 8 servings – WWP+ 6 points 

recipe from Weight Watchers Pure Comfort cookbook

Margherita Pizza

Margherita Pizza

Last night we had a truly rare occurance, s quiet house. My parents came and picked up Tessa to take her to their house for the evening, so David and I had dinner just the two of us. Then he left for class and I had the house to myself. What a weird feeling! So for dinner, I made this margherita pizza, it's the second time that I have made it and it was just as good as the first time. I never had tried to make pizza sauce from scratch before (except the one time I mixed ranch with garlic in attempts to make Papa Murhphy's garlic cream sauce). I just wanted to hold my head over the skillet while the sauce was cooking, it smelled SO good. This time I made a double batch of sauce, used half on the pizza and stuck the other half in the fridge as I'm planning to make portabello mushroom cap pizzas next week, and I wanted to get the most use out of the ingredients I had. Turns out, I think I would have had enough to make a triple batch. I do that whenever I can to maximize waste with the ingredients that I buy!

Ingredients:
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. garlic, minced

¾ c. canned whole tomatoes

1 T tomato paste

1 T fresh basil, sliced thin

¼ tsp. oregano

¼ tsp. sugar

1 small bay leaf

Salt & pepper to taste

Boboli 12” whole wheat thin pizza crust

4 oz. fresh part skim mozzarella, sliced thin

8-10 fresh basil leaves

½ tsp. Italian seasoning 

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 450

2.   In a small saucepan, heat oil over medium heat and add garlic. Cook until fragrant. Combine the canned tomatoes and paste in a blender or chopper and blend. Add the tomato sauce, sliced basil, oregano, sugar, bay leaf, salt and pepper to the saucepan. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until sauce is thickened.

3.   Remove the bay leaf (you should have about ½ c. of sauce) and spread sauce on pizza crust. Lay mozzarella slices on top of sauce. Spread basil leave on top of mozzarella (if they are big leaves, I sometimes cut them in half before spreading them). Sprinkle the Italian seasoning on top.

4.   Put pizza on foil covered baking sheet or preheated pizza stone (what I do) and bake 8-10 minutes.

 
Yields 6 slices – WWP+ 5 per slice

recipe from Emily Bites