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Pumpkin 'n Peas Pasta Bake

9/28/2014

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Confession: I'm not really a huge pasta fan. *insert collective gasp!*

I know, I know...pasta is well-loved by many and usually a staple to easy, quick meals for a family household. Maybe it's because I was born with relatively no Italian blood in my body? Although I must confess that I enjoyed every single season of Jersey Shore.

Yes, Jersey Shore probably wasn't the most accurate take on reality for MOST Italian American families, but it made for a great television show. It was so riveting...I couldn't get enough. Pauly D, Snooki, J-Woww, and the whole gang. These names will always hold a special place in my heart for entertainment. No shame.

Though I'm not a huge pasta fan, I was inspired to create this dish to jazz things up a bit. Pumpkin season is in full swing and I wanted to include it as a major player in the baked pasta dish.

Now how to make a pasta dish a bit healthier and more nutritious?....Add more veggies of course! Hence, the addition of the peas. Peas not only are one of my personal favorite vegetables, but they also started with the letter "P" so I thought it would be clever to have a "P"umpkin and "P"eas "P"asta Bake.

Shout out to all of my high school English teachers for the lessons on alliteration.

This dish is perfect for a weeknight meal because it really is quite simple to throw together. If you happen to be looking for a nice option for a potluck or dish that will travel well, this is it. My recommendation is to just save the breadcrumbs to top off right before baking and serving.

I used penne pasta noodles, but you could certainly substitute them for other noodles you have on hand. Shells and bow ties would probably be great options. If you don't have nutritional yeast, feel free to replace it with cheese of your choice. The nutritional yeast is a vegan option for cheese.

Serves: 6-8 as an entree, 14-16 as a side dish

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. olive or coconut oil
13.25 oz. whole wheat penne pasta noodles
12 oz. frozen peas
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 Tbsp. whole wheat flour
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/3 cup unsweetened almondmilk
dash of nutmeg
2 tsp. marjoram
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
1/3 cup italian bread crumbs (I used Panko)

Directions:

Start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil and adding good pinch of salt to the water. Add the penne pasta noodles and cook according to package directions. Cook the noodles until just underdone (al dente) because you will continue their cooking process in the oven when baking the dish at the end.

In a large saute pan, heat butter and oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and clove of minced garlic. Cook until onions start to turn translucent and are tender. While onions and garlic are cooking, whisk together the almondmilk and flour. Add almondmilk mixture to saute pan with onions. Whisk all ingredients in saute pan until well combined.

Heat peas in microwave according to package directions. Remove from microwave and add peas to saute pan. Add nutmeg, marjoram, salt, pepper, canned pumpkin, and nutritional yeast to pan as well. Mix all ingredients until well combined, then fold in the peas.

In a separate saute pan, toast the breadcrumbs over medium heat until you just start to smell that toasty bread flavor (roughy 4-5 minutes).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once pasta noodles are done cooking, drain them and add the saute pan with pumpkin and all other ingredients except bread crumbs to the noodles and mix to combine. Pour into a 9x13 baking dish prepped with coconut oil or coconut spray to prevent sticking. Top with toasted breadcrumbs. Bake in oven for 8-10 minutes. Serve fresh.

This dish can also be made ahead, as it does travel well to a potluck. Just save the baking process until just before serving.

Healthy Recipe Tidbits

I used whole wheat pasta and whole wheat flour. Both of which will make this dish a more nutrient-dense rather than just calorie-dense food. The difference between nutrient-dense vs. calorie-dense is how many nutrients (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc) you're getting per calorie in a food or dish vs. the amount of calories in the dish. As an example, a small candy bar and a small apple may both have 60 calories, but which one will be filled with more good-for-you nutrients for your body?....The apple.
Did you know peas are being used in many plant-based protein powders and foods? This is because peas are actually are very good vegetable source of protein as they contain 8g of protein per cup.
Peas are also low in calories (a cup of peas contains about 118 calories) and low in fat but high in various antioxidants such as flavinoids, carotenoids, phenolic acids, and polyphenols.

Linking up withHeather over at Housewife Glamour for her Friday Favorites Link-up. Thanks, Heather!

Also linking up with Delicious Dish Tuesday for the first time! Thanks, Mary! Everyone head on over and check out her little space on the web, Eat Drink & Be Mary.

Do you have any guilty pleasure tv show favorites? Are you a fan of Jersey Shore perhaps?

What's your favorite pasta dish?

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Skinny Spinach Dip

9/22/2014

This past weekend was filled with lots of adventures which included Wade visiting, weiner dog races at a local festival, saving a turtle from the road while out driving (always on the lookout to save the turtles), the Arkansas Razorbacks winning their football game (Go Hogs!), trekking through nature to discover beautiful scenery and waterfalls, and partaking in one of the best game day meals I have had in quite a long time. Which included this skinny spinach dip I came up with for our football feast.

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Before I get to the skinny spinach dip, I wanted to do a brief recap of these fabulous events from this fabulous weekend that left me feeling so dang happy and....fabulous!

First, the weiner dog races. Yes, they do exist. And these annual weiner dog races have only grown in popularity in Bella Vista, AR each and every year. Since Wade was visiting for the weekend, we decided to get out on Saturday and take a short drive to a local festival. This was my first year actually attending the races when they were held at the Bella Vista Hay Days Festival. Wade and I decided to go see what all the fuss was about with these famous weiner dog races and we met up with a couple of new friends to enjoy the show.

The races started with a short parade of the weiner dog king and queen for the year with all of the dog contestants entered into the races this year following behind. I bet those dogs felt like royalty. Or maybe they just felt ridiculous dressed up in costumes and being paraded around on a wagon...(I kinda have a thing against dressing dogs up in outfits. I just...I can't.)

The event was definitely an interesting one! How often do you get to say you've witnessed weiner dogs racing for trophies and prizes?

After those festivities, we headed over with our friends to grab a snack for lunch at the local Dairy Queen before Wade and I headed back to the house to start prepping for the game day feast. The menu included grilled BBQ ribs with homemade bourbon BBQ sauce, grilled corn on the cob, roasted okra, and skinny spinach dip. While my parents prepared the ribs, corn and okra, I whipped up the bourbon BBQ sauce and spinach dip.

By the way, these were the "best damn ribs" we have ever had. My parents used a dry rub and baked them in the oven on low heat for a couple hours prior to grilling. That's the secret to keeping ribs extra juicy and tender. You know, the kind of ribs where meat just falls off the bone? If you're looking for a recipe, try this one I found from Bon Appetit that's pretty similar to the method we used. My mother made up a mixture of dry rub spices while I made the bourbon BBQ sauce to baste on the ribs while grilling and also save afterwards for extra sauce on the side.

And HERE is where you'll find the recipe I used for reference in making the bourbon BBQ sauce. I went with a Jack Daniel's Tennesee Honey Whiskey Bourbon. It's delicious, but I managed to not take a shot of it while cooking. Points for Kaylin.

I did change up the BBQ sauce recipe a bit from this one found on Allrecipes based off of what we had in the kitchen and my own creativity. Either way, this recipe will get you similar results of awesome sauce.

Best. Damn. Ribs. EVER! Excuse my vulgarity, but these ribs deserved it. Try them, folks. You won't be disappointed.

The other contribution I made to our football feast was the spinach dip. Of course, I had to create my own healthy spin on it. I wanted to cut out some of the cream cheese and cheese topping. I'm not a big fan of cream cheese anyways. After finding some inspiration from a few recipes around the web, I decided to replace the cream cheese with a mixture of greek yogurt and cottage cheese. I also reduced the amount of cheese topping and included my own healthier topping of nutritional yeast. If you don't have nutritional yeast, that's a-okay! Just add a bit of additional parmesan and/or mozzarella on top before baking.

Whether you're needing a dip to prepare for some weiner dog races or a football watching party, this is the perfect spinach dip. It is very rich, so you don't need much. But the richness is due to the fact that it's packed full of healthy nutrients; particularly healthy fats and proteins.. So you don't even have to feel guilty about double dipping.

Skinny Spinach Dip

Ingredients:

1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 tsp. oil
10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of water
2 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 cup full fat plain greek yogurt
3/4 cup 2% fat cottage cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast (optional)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Start by sauteing chopped onion in 1 tsp. oil in pan over medium heat. While onion is cooking, combine garlic cloves, cottage cheese, and greek yogurt in food processor and process until smooth.

Thaw spinach and squeeze of excess water. I did this by placing spinach in 2 layers of paper towels and squeezing water out of spinach over a bowl.

Once onions are translucent in color and tender, add the cinnamon, pepper, salt, and spinach to pan and mix well.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Use coconut oil to grease a small baking dish. Empty cottage cheese and greek yogurt mixture into prepared baking dish. Add the spinach and onion mixture from the pan to the dish as well. Gently fold the ingredients together until it's mixed well and evenly throughout.

Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and nutritional yeast on top. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Serve right away with veggies, chips, or crackers for dipping.

Healthy Recipe Tidbits

The cottage cheese and greek yogurt add a whopping 35g of protein to the entire dip recipe.
By using cottage cheese and greek yogurt in substitution of cream cheese, you greatly reduce the amount of saturated fat in this spinach dip.
Nutritional yeast is one of the few plant-based foods to find folic acid and vitamin b-12. This is why nutritional yeast is a major player in the nutritional wellbeing of vegans and vegetarians.
Nutritional yeast is also known for being high in fiber, protein, and is a gluten-free food.

The next day was just as great as the last. Except for having to say goodbye to Wade for now of course...he made the 3 hour drive back to where he lives that afternoon. But Sunday started off with some trekking through nature to get the best views of some beautiful waterfalls in Bella Vista. The sun was just peaking out around 11am after it had been raining and cloudy all morning and the weather couldn't have been more beautiful for Fall in Northwest Arkansas. Here's a summary of our Sunday adventures in pictures.

Linking up again with the lovely Heather's Friday Favorites this week over at Housewife Glamour.

What is the craziest or quirkiest festival/event you've ever attended? (Like weiner dog races...)

What's your favorite type of dip?

Health Foods that make me go "Ewww..."

9/16/2014

Linking up with the lovely Heather's Friday Favorites this week over at Housewife Glamour. With a post about some of my not-so-favorite foods...:)

IF you've been reading Enticing Healthy Eating for a while now, I'm sure you can figure out that I do support a healthy diet and lifestyle. I enjoy cooking up healthy recipes and eating for both fuel and pleasure.

That doesn't meant I eat healthy ALL the time. Just as I can crave a giant, hearty salad with lots of veggies or a bowl of fruit bigger than the size of my head, I also crave a giant cheesy slice of pizza or a big bowl of cookie dough ice cream. Just because I'm a self-proclaimed health nut doesn't mean I will turn down an offer for going out for a Dairy Queen blizzard.

With that being said, as much as I do actually enjoy eating a "mostly" healthy diet, there's some health foods out there that I just cant' get on board with. Let's dive into the health foods that make me go "ewww...."

Quinoa

I wish I liked quinoa. I really REALLY do. Especially because I know it's a superfood powerhouse of nutrients! But it's the texture....I just...I can't.

Protein Bars

First of all, I'm talking about packaged protein bars you buy. Not homemade protein bars. I have tried my fair share of protein bars out there and have yet to find one that tastes great. I challenge you, companies that make and sell protein bars to send me a protein bar I actually enjoy!

Where's the fun, protein bars?! Where's the fun?

La Croix

Tastes like a weak soda, in my opinion. No thank you.

Cantaloupe or Honeydew

I don't even know what it is about cantaloupe or honeydew, but my taste buds just say "no!" Even as a child, I was never a big fan. Now, watermelon, on the other hand, I'm ALL over. I could eat an entire watermelon by myself. I'll pass on the other melons.

But I never get tired of that food pun...

Basil

As much as I would like to enjoy those pretty little basil leaves I frequently see decorating a fresh pizza or caprese salad...No.

Almonds

It's not that I CAN'T eat almonds, I just prefer not to. They do not get my taste buds at all excited. Oh, and another thing? I don't really enjoy nuts IN other dishes--especially baked goods. I do not enjoy chomping through boulders of nut pieces in my cookies, cupcakes, or pies. Yes, I'm getting a bit picky, but nuts are a prime "healthy" food so I thought they should be included in my list of food dislikes.

Cilantro

I know it's not necessarily a "health" food, but I must add this one in because it is by far my least favorite ingredient of all time. I. Cannot. Stand. Cilantro. Turns out there's evidence that suggests it's actually due to a genetic variation that us cilantro haters can't stand this herb. Plus, Julia Child didn't like it either. So, I feel like I've got a support group out there.

On a side note: I do NOT appreciate the fact that Chipotle restaurants put cilantro in ALL of their salsas and guacamole. And I love Chipotle food! Why do you do this to me, Chipotle, why?!