Spaghetti squash turkey lasagna

Well, hello there! Where have I been, you ask? I've been enjoying the weather at the top of this forecast (minus the lightning bolts) for the last few days while trying to ward away the weather at the middle and bottom of this forecast. Is this real life? 81 degrees to 39 degrees and SNOW?!? In April?!? Yes, it's real life in Iowa, folks. And I'm not amused. I went on 2 runs/walks yesterday just to soak it all up. I guess, if anything, it does make you appreciate the days of good weather....

 

I copied this pic from my cousin's facebook page who was nice enough to let us all know what to expect.

It's also been Main Man's birthday weekend (shoutout to my hubs who turns 32 years old today!!) so we kept pretty busy with that while also throwing in a baby shower and wedding shower. Thus, I had no time for you...but I thought about you alot :) Pinky swear! I'll prove it to you by sharing another spaghetti squash recipe, because you know just how I feel about that! This one is a lasagna so it feels like comfort food to carry you into the next few cold days with leftovers,  but is light since it's not actually pasta so you can still enjoy it on an 80 degree day. How's that for versatility...and segues?!

 

1 large spaghetti squash

1 container low fat ricotta cheese

1 lb ground white meat turkey

3 cups fresh kale (or spinach, I just happened to have kale on hand to get rid of)

1 can mushrooms

4 cloves garlic, minced

italian seasoning to taste

2 cups 2% mozzarella cheese

1 jar your favorite marinara or spaghetti sauce

1 T olive oil

crushed red pepper to taste

 

First thing is first...you prepare your spaghetti squash by baking it the way we did for the spaghetti squash alfredo I shared last week. Mix your squash noods with your ricotta cheese and layer in the bottom of a greased baking dish evenly.

 

Warm your olive oil in a skillet and add your garlic to the mix. Stir until you can smell it and add the turkey to brown. Add the mushrooms and kale (or spinach) and stir till everyone is mixed together dancing the night away. Add your sauce to the skillet and warm, stirring everything thoroughly. Add that mixture as the next layer above the squash and ricotta mixture.

Sprinkle with mozzarella, crushed red pepper, and italian seasoning and toss this guy in the oven. I baked it a little long so my cheese got overdone, so don't do that. I  would throw it in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes with tin foil on top and check it then. If you take it from the fridge because you pre-made it, you'll need more like 40 minutes to heat. All ingredients are cooked so you just want them to warm and melt together. Serve it up!

Main Man actually told me he couldn't tell the difference between the spaghetti squash and real pasta in this one. I'm pretty sure he was telling the truth, and not just trying to get a good birthday present because I couldn't tell much of a difference either. The other spaghetti squash recipes you can tell something is different, although the different is good in my opinion. But this one tastes exactly like real lasagna...I'll take it! Now, to get out and enjoy one last afternoon of running weather before Old Man Winter and Mother Nature have another domestic dispute. Jerks.

MyFitnessPal puts this meal at 406 calories per serving, and the picture above is a serving (its on a salad plate). I was stuffed to the gills afterwards and stayed full for a long time, so you see why I'm loving this stuff lately. Volume without calories=a win in my book!

Steak and asparagus stir fry

I had a crockpot meal to share with you today but the weather outside made me feel Springy and the crockpot doesn't make me feel Springy. Not that stirfry is particularly Springy, but you know what I mean. Maybe you don't know what I mean. And maybe you're sick of reading the word Springy. Either way, you get steak and asparagus stir fry today, and you're going to eat it and like it. Do you like how I sound like Big Dan (my dad)? Springy.

 

Main Man was perdy lovey on this stirfry the night we had it. The Campbells Skillet Sauces Fire Roasted Tomato packet was a total experiment, but sure made things easy peasy in the heazy. Could I be any more annoying today? Sorry, I get froggy when the weather turns awesome. Point of the story is...try these. I have a toasted sesame one I'm wanting to give a go at, but the marsala and the creamy chipotle look mighty tasty as well. The last two have a little more in the caloric department so I passed them by, but I may give them a try if they're all as good as the fire roasted tomato one we devoured, I mean taste tested.

 

Here's what you need:

 

1 lb flank steak, seasoned with salt and pepper

1 T olive oil

1 bundle of asparagus

1 can mushrooms

1 bag Uncle Ben's ready rice, flavor of your choosing (I went with brown and wild)

1 Campbells Skillet Sauces, fire roasted tomato flavored

 

Add the olive oil to a large pan, and warm. Add full steak to the skillet to brown on medium heat. Cut the hard ends off the asparagus and then cut the stems in half so they're a little shorter. Makes it easier to jam into your mouth, ya know? It's always key to be able to jam things in your mouth quickly when you're eating. At least at our house...

Add the asparagus to the skillet as well. Continue moving it around, flip the steak after about 8 minutes. You don't want to overdo flank steak or it gets really tough, you want to leave some pinky pink the middle there.

After 5-8 minutes on each side, remove the steak and slice it into bite sized pieces. Add all of it back to the skillet and add the sauce package to mix and marry everything together. Wedded bliss. Just like Main Man and I :)

Add the Ready Rice to the microwave for 90 seconds to cook like the package says, and then throw it into the skillet to stir and fry together. Because that's what stir fry is, ya'll. Stirring and frying. And marrying. Bliss, remember?

After the nuptials, you serve! I used a little soy sauce because I like to spoon drink the stuff, but you don't need it. There is a little bite to the sauce, a little crunch to the asparagus, a little love juice from the steak, and a whole lot of good flava flav coming out of that skillet there. I'm tellin' ya.

I actually tracked the recipe ingredients and broke them down per serving with MyFitnessPal and it comes out to 754 calories for a huge helping of 3 cups. I realize that sounds like a lot for some people, but when I'm done throwing down 675 calories at Kosama, I need me some meat and I need piles of it. This ends our Campbells experiment, don't worry though, I'll share the next one with you too!  Now get outside and love on this weather a little, if you're an Iowan like me! We've been waiting for this....