Life in our house has been a little busy the past few nights. Relatives came to town, two dinners at my parent’s house and husband took me out to dinner to celebrate my first day back at work in twelve weeks (wood fired pizza, Italian beer and gelato). I made baked ziti for husband and my parents before heading out to the comedy club to see my cousin perform Saturday night. It was so cold out that the baked ziti was perfect and kept us away from bar food (pickled pig’s feet and chips as my dad calls it). Wednesday night husband had a meeting after hours for a local organization he’s a member of, so I decided to whip up Mexican! I think husband is a little tired of Mexican after my constant craving for anything wrapped in a tortilla for nine months. I visited Weight Watcher’s again for these recipes. After the barley and bean incident I wanted WW to redeem themselves in my cooking world. I’m glad I did, these two recipes were delicious.
Baked Ziti
This dish was absolutely fantastic. It can feed a large group of people easily and it was a breeze to make. The mozzarella on top adds some wonderful saltiness to the dish! I added half an onion and a red pepper to the marinara sauce because they were in the fridge and needed to be used. Ground beef (ground turkey in our house) could very easily be added to this dish without any problems. No pictures – I cooked this at mom and dad’s.
1 lb. uncooked ziti
¾ lb. ricotta
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
¼ cup parmesan
4 cups marinara sauce
8 oz. mozzarella, shredded
¼ cup basil, cut into ribbons for garnish
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat bottom and sides of a lasagna pan with cooking spray.
Cook pasta according to package directions; rinse with cool water and drain.
While pasta is cooking, in a medium bowl, combine ricotta cheese, red pepper flakes, 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese and 1/3 cup marinara sauce.
To assemble ziti, spoon ½ cup sauce on bottom of prepared pan; top with half of pasta in an even layer. Evenly spread pasta with ricotta mixture and cover with half of remaining sauce. Top with remaining pasta and spoon remaining sauce over top. Sprinkle with mozzarella and remaining Parmesan.
Bake until cheese melts and is browned, about 20 to 30 minutes. Allow ziti to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing into 12 pieces.
Adapted from www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=224411
Baked Chicken and Jack Cheese Chimichangas
Easy to make, quick on the cooking side and very tasty. I used homemade salsa which is a little watery compared with a store bought brand but I don’t think it made any difference. I’m not sure the chili peppers were necessary considering the amount of salsa used. I also didn’t add any scallions – not because I didn’t think they would be any good, I just didn’t have any on hand. I did not warm up my tortillas, they were soft enough. I think my tortillas were a little smaller than they should have been so I had a difficult time wrapping up ½ a cup of filling in each but I did make it work.
The filling was very easy to make. Little one was in his bouncer the entire time I cooked. He was done with sitting in his bouncer right as I was finishing folding the tortillas. As a quick meal for someone with a newborn, this was perfect! Because I was on a time limit with little one – no pictures.
½ lb. ground turkey breast
16 oz. fat free refried beans
1 ¾ cup salsa
4 oz. green chilies
1 tsp. chili powder
3 T. scallions, sliced
1 cup Montery Jack, shredded
8 whole wheat tortillas, burrito size
1 cup salsa
½ cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray.
Coat a 13- X 9- X 2-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Add turkey to skillet and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned, about five minutes. Drain any excess liquid from pan and then add beans, 1 ¾ cups of salsa, chili peppers, chili powder and scallions. Cook until heated through, about three minutes. Stir in cheese.
Wrap tortillas in foil; warm in oven for 10 minutes.
Assemble chimichangas by spooning about ½ cup of turkey mixture onto each tortilla, fold in sides and roll up.
Place chimichangas, seam-side down, in prepared baking dish. Bake, uncovered, until tortillas are crisp and browned, about 20 minutes.
Serve each topped with 2 tablespoons of salsa and 1 tablespoon of sour cream.
Adapted from www.weightwatchers.com/food/rcp/index.aspx?recipeid=90081
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