So last night when I came in from work, I was so tired I immediately went to bed for an hour and a half, and so did Mr. B. This led us both to wake up around nine p.m., each hungry enough to contemplate pouring mustard on the other, chomping, and facing consequences later. I asked Mr. B., "Do you want healthy?" He's kinda got to do the healthy thing, but at nine p.m. allowances can be made.
"Yes and no."
"Ok," I said. "That I can do."
Mr. B likes meat, cheese, and carbs. I like veggies, cheese, and carbs, and I like meat sometimes. I knew that his belly needed filling, and it had to be tasty, but I didn't want a nutritional travesty. I excel at pasta; I excel at casserole. These powers combined...
A Variation on Ziti.
-One pound of whole wheat penne (Barila was on sale for $1.39)
-One pound of ground turkey (3.99 -- this can usually be gotten cheaper on sale)
-One can of diced tomatoes (I use Hunt's Fire Roasted with Garlic -- thick, chunky, very little juice, and on sale for .97!)
-8 oz tomato sauce (I bought a 16 oz can of the store brand for .65 and used half--
The rest will certainly be used within days)
-One onion (had on hand, about $1 at the grocery store)
-One green bell pepper (had on hand, about .79 at the grocery store)
-Garlic clove (again, had on hand)
-1 c. lowfat cheddar cheese (Used Kraft -- it was the only lowfat, non-fake cheese I
could find. Unfortunately, the package cost $4.39. I can usually get two of the
store brand for that, but I was willing to compromise for lower fat)
-1 c. lowfat cottage cheese (I used a little more than a cup. I purchased a two-cup
container for 1.97, and will annihilate the rest on salads this week
Optional, but awesome: assorted herbs and spices, fresh parm for topping
The directions that follow are intended for someone with a dirty kitchen who might hurt someone if she doesn't eat soon.
Come in from grocery store, exhausted. Find only clean pot, add water, lid it and put it on heat to boil while you chop and fry. Preheat oven to 350. Start sauteing turkey while you wash the cutting board and knife so you can chop bell pepper. (I kinda halfass large-diced it. I was not concerned with looks.) Throw bell pepper in with cooking turkey (pepper needs longer than onion to cook). (Your water's probably boiling now. Add penne and stir.) Dice onion (we had a vidalia. Was tasty.) and add to pan. When turkey is about done, mince or slice a large garlic clove and add it to pan. Stir a bit and wait for some of the water to cook out of the pan. (By the way, there's enough water in the turkey that you generally don't even have to use olive oil. For real!) When everything's done and looking happily delicious, lower the heat and add the tomatoes (if you use regular diced tomatoes, drain off some of the liquid). Stir. Add some tomato sauce (you can use more than I did -- Mr. B just isn't a huge fan of lots of tomato sauce in a dish) and herbs to taste. I threw in some Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, a little sea salt and a few turns of the pepper mill. Then, I added the cottage cheese (lower fat than even the part-skim ricotta, and still tasty!) and a half cup of cheddar. Stir. Sniff. Get excited.
Put some cooked, drained pasta in your baking dish. (I think I used a 2 quart and still had some left over for a smaller casserole. You'll have to eyeball this.)Add some of the sauce mixture. Stir. Add more pasta and more sauce and stir. Do this till the ratio makes you happy and the pan is full. Sprinkle with about a half cup of cheddar, and bake for about 15 minutes. Everything's fully cooked and hot, so it doesn't have to cook long. Plate some and grate some fresh parmesan on top if you like. It went well with green beans, and today at lunch it went well with salad. Mr. B pronounced it good with a glass of merlot, and I did the same with a glass of vinho verde. (What versatility!)
Mr. B noted after dinner that it would have been good with half the amount of cottage cheese combined with an equal amount of the lowfat ricotta, and also suggested adding zucchini next time. (I will.)
As far as servings, he and I are fairly big eaters, so I don't want to say a cup is a serving. However, the fiberlicious whole grain pasta and turkey make it a fairly filling dish. We're getting about 7-8 meal-sized servings (again -- us-sized servings) out of it.
My total cost at the grocery store: $13.36 (and I have sauce and cheese left over for later culinary endeavors this week). Add in the onion and bell pepper, and it could cost around $15. Not the cheapest in the world, but feeding 2 people four times, and serving it with canned green beans ($1) or a bag of salad (Manager's Special -- $1.99), it's a pretty sweet deal.
Check out the blurry deliciousness (I really need to work on my photography...)
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