It's Pinspired Friday! {Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie}

Happy Friday all! It's Pinspired Friday!

Let's talk about healthy dinners today. Dinners are one of those things that can be completely based on mood. You know what is nice sometimes? Getting your cooking out of the way so that tomorrow, you can reheat and still have an awesome meal that doesn't taste reheated. In fact, I completely recommend that you make this one a day before you want to eat it and then don't touch it until tomorrow. It's kind of like a pan of lasgana - better the next day, as it gives all of the flavors time to settle and come together (or so they tell me, I hate lasgana. haha!) But really. Make this one today and eat it tomorrow. When it comes time to figure out what to make tomorrow for dinner... you'll thank me. ;)

It all started when I ran across this recipe from Skinnytaste.com.

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/11/sweet-potato-turkey-shepards-pie.html

I was able to modify her original recipe to get rid of all of the dairy, and also to modify it more with what I usually have in the pantry and freezer (I can't say I ever have parsnips!), and it still tastes great!

So let's gather our ingredients. This will make plenty for two people.

• 2 small sweet potatoes/yams
• 3 tablespoons of minced garlic - I use the kind that is in a jar, it saves a bit of time.
• 1 3/4 cup of chicken broth
• 1 lb of ground turkey
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• Onion powder
• 10 oz of mixed vegetables. I use the green bean, corn, carrot, and pea mix from Meijer.
• 2 tbsp of flour
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp rosemary
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Optional: paprika

Preheat your oven to 400.

Get a pot of salted water going until boiling, you'll want enough water to completely cover your sweet potato chunks. Add 1/4 cup of chicken broth to the water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of minced garlic. Peel and chop your sweet potatoes, and add the sweet potatoes to the boiling water. Cook until soft, about 20-25 minutes. Drain and mash. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper over your sweet potato mash, set aside. I usually mash right in the colander and let it sit in there until it's needed again.

This is the garlic I use!

In the same pan you used for the sweet potatoes, cook your ground turkey until browned, season with salt and pepper. Once cooked, drain and set aside on plate.

In that same pot, add your olive oil and saute the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic with a generous amount of onion powder. Saute for a few minutes, until some garlic pieces brown. Add your flour, salt and pepper (yes, this recipe takes quite a bit of both), remaining 1 1/2 cup of chicken broth, Worcestershire sauce, and rosemary. Mix well. Add your frozen vegetables and cooked turkey, mix. Let simmer for 5-7 minutes.

While the mixture is simmering, spray a 2.5L glass dish with cooking spray or oil of your choice. After the mixture has simmered, add the mixture to the bottom of the dish, and top it with the sweet potatoes.

You can add paprika here if you want, but I leave it out. Bake for 15 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes or so, then put tinfoil on top of the entire pan and put it in the refrigerator. Enjoy... tomorrow! :) You can eat it the same day, but I prefer the taste the next day.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! :) It's nice to be able to modify something to your tastes and what you have in your pantry, AND have it taste great.

Share it with your friends! Thank you for following along and have a great weekend!

Fiesta Stir Fry Recipe

In keeping up with this diet/lifestyle change (we're following Bob Harper's 'The Skinny Rules'), we are supposed to eat quite a bit of stir fry, and it can't be drenched in Panda Express Orange Chicken sauce (bummer).

Well, I am trying so hard to like my veggies... but man, I am just not a fan. The normal "stirfry" bag has water chestnuts (blargh), mushrooms (nope), red pepper (meh), broccoli  carrots, and celery (tolerable). So looking through the other combinations that our Meijer offers, I stumbled upon a "Fiesta" mix.

The Fiesta mix had red beans, white beans, garbanzo beans, carrots, broccoli, snap peas, and red pepper. Sign. me. up. All things that I enjoy. So I grabbed one of those (mistake, should have grabbed more than one... oh well, next time) and decided to make a fiesta stir fry with chicken for lunch one day.

Looks yummy eh? It's low calorie and has just a hint of fiesta flavor when you add the spices and chicken. A great way to get your veg in! :)

Want to make it? You'll need:
• 1 small chicken breast, thawed
• 1 bag of Meijer Fiesta Style Mixed Vegetables
• Cumin
• Onion Powder
• Chili Powder
• Garlic Powder

You'll also want:
• A pot of boiling water
• A little bit of Olive Oil
• A resealable bowl with lid
• A colander

Cut up your chicken breast into small chunks. When your water is boiling, throw in the chicken pieces and let them cook until they are just white. (Isn't chicken cooking attractive?)

Once your chicken is just white, add your bag of veg. I added the whole bag as I was making lunch for Mr. LOC and I, plus leftovers are always good.

Cook your veg and chicken together. I put a lid on and let it boil for about 5-7 minutes. Once the vegetables are just soft (not mush!), remove and drain in a colander into a sink.

Place the vegetables and chicken into a resealable bowl (one with a lid), and drizzle the mix LIGHTLY with some olive oil. This gives the spices something to stick to on the veg. Dash the cumin, chili powder, onion, and garlic in to your taste. I gave just a light dash of each. Now place the lid on tightly, and shake. This will help distribute the spices evenly.

What a beautiful mix, eh?

Serve this one hot - It doesn't taste super awesome cold. If you're not following a low calorie regiment right now, you could definitely add some salsa, add some cheese, put in tortillas or something different. :) We ate it just as you see it.

Hope you enjoyed this simple recipe! :)

P.S. - This post is not affiliated with Bob Harper or Meijer. I'm just featuring things that are working for me! :)

Parmesan Pepper Roasted Cauliflower

As promised... we're going to chat about Parmesan Pepper Roasted Cauliflower today.  Diets/lifestyle changes are still going strong (woo!), I am down about 5.4 lbs and Mr. LOC is down about 8lbs so we're happy as we've not even been at this for a week yet.

This is a recipe from Bob Harper's "The Skinny Rules" that I modified very slightly. If you're wondering about that fish in that picture... check out my post on roasted chili lime tilapia.

So let's gather our ingredients:
• 1/2 head fresh cauliflower or 1/2 bag of frozen cauliflower florets
• Olive Oil
• Salt and pepper, freshly ground is my preference.
• Parmesan cheese
• Red pepper flakes

You'll also want:
• A toaster oven or regular oven. I used toaster as my tilapia was cooking at the same time in the other oven. :)
• A pot to boil water in

First, preheat your oven to 425. Then, start boiling water in pot - you need enough water to cover your cauliflower, plus a little more.

If you are using fresh like me, cut up your cauliflower into florets, meaning the heads and the little stems. If your water is boiling, go ahead and drop the florets into the boiling water. Boil them for about 5 minutes, or until they are cooked al dente.

Once the time has passed, drain and move the florets to a baking pan. Drizzle a little olive oil or spray a little olive oil onto the florets, dash a little salt, pepper, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes. The oil olive will help the spices stay on. Remember, we're trying to eat healthy, so don't coat the cauliflower with olive oil... it will make them mushy and not cook right if you put too much.

Your oven should be ready to go, so go ahead and place the pan in the oven and let the cauliflower roast for about 15 minutes. You're watching for the tops to brown slightly.

Those nice crispy parts are in part to the fact that we didn't spray down our pan with cooking spray before hand... you actually want those slightly brown (not burnt!) parts, as they have a great flavor!

Enjoy! We're having them again tonight and I can hardly wait! :)