Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Unfried Rice

This recipe is great for those of you that love fried rice, but wish it was a little more healthy. You can substitute items to suit your tastes. You could opt for other vegetables, different grains of rice, shredded chicken, or soy sauce if that suits your tastes.

UNFRIED RICE
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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 8
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Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cups instant white rice (or rice of your choice
2 cans (14 1/2 oz) chicken broth
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
salt, to taste
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Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, brown ground beef with onions ans salt until meat no longer pink and drain excess fat. Return meat to saucepan.
2. Meanwhile, cook instant rice according to box directions, but substitute the two cans of broth for the water in the recipe.
3. Cook vegetables in microwave according to bag directions.
4. Combine all ingredients into the saucepan and heat thoroughly until excess liquid absorbed.
5. Enjoy!

Friday, March 12, 2010

Cheesy Pasta Bake

Cheesy Pasta Bake
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Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 8
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Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
garlic salt, to taste
1 jar Ragu (your favorite flavor), 1 1b. 10 oz
1 12 to 16 oz. bag of egg noodles, divided in half
8 oz. bag of shredded Italian cheese
24 oz. container of 4% milkfat cottage cheese
8 oz. bag of shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. water
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Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Brown beef until almost fully cooked then add onions and garlic salt. Cook until meat is no longer pink.
3. Drain beef and return it to the pan. Add Ragu and heat thoroughly.
4. Meanwhile cook egg noodles two minutes shy of suggested al dente time.
5. Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick spray and evenly pour the sauce mixture into the dish.
6. On top of the sauce, evenly spread the Italian cheese.
7. On top of the Italian cheese, evenly spread half of the egg noodles. So far your layers should look like this.
8. Spoon the cottage cheese evenly over the noodles. So far your layers should look like the picture below.
9. Next, add the remaining noodles in an even layer. Your layers should look similar to the picture below.

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10. Place 1/2 cup of water in the Ragu jar. Shake it up and pour over the noodles.
11. Top with the mozzarella cheese
12. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the cover and bake a final 15 minutes.
13. When you remove the pasta bake from the oven it should look like the picture below. Enjoy!