Cheesy Spaghetti Squash with Bacon and Mushrooms

I love mushrooms, onions, bacon and Swiss cheese. I can’t help it. This recipe gives me everything I want in a comforting meal with very little guilt. It’s creamy, it’s filling, and it tastes wonderful.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 medium spaghetti squash

Cooking spray

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 shallot, finely chopped

5 strips chicken bacon (or any microwave ready bacon), diced

4 Laughing Cow light original Swiss cheese wedges

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup warm water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Spray the insides of the squash with cooking spray and place cut side down on the baking sheet. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove and flip the spaghetti squash over to cool until it is easy to handle.

Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium low heat in a large skillet. Toss in the mushrooms and shallots and cook, stirring often, until the veggies are soft, about 10 minutes. Add in the diced bacon. If you want to serve this to company, pull out some of the mushrooms and bacon when they are cooked to put on top of the dish when you plate.

Use a fork to scrape the insides of the spaghetti squash into strands and add the strands to the skillet with the veggies and bacon. If you want to serve this to company, pull out some of the mushrooms and bacon to put on top of the dish when you plate.  

Keeping the heat on medium low, add in the cheese wedges and stir until the cheese melts, adding the warm water to keep the sauce loose. Taste and add salt and/or pepper to taste. Serve hot with a bit of fresh parsley on top.

Malted Protein Waffles with Toasted Oats

I wish you could smell these warm, toasty waffles right now. They are not super sweet, have perfectly crunchy outsides and tender, moist insides-just perfect even to eat plain. I ran this recipe, using low fat cottage cheese and skim milk, through a nutritional calculator (myfitnesspal) and it showed that two waffles have 158 calories, 2 grams of fiber, 4 grams of fat, 4 grams of sugar, 20 g carb and a whopping 11 grams of protein.

Ingredients (makes 8 3x3 or 4x4 waffles):

1 cup old fashioned oats

1 cup cottage cheese

2 Tablespoons original malted milk powder (like Carnation®)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

3 Tablespoons milk (your choice of dairy/non-dairy)

Directions:

Toasting the oats (you can totally skip this step, but I like the toasty flavor): Preheat oven to 250 degrees F and spread the oats out on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 5 minutes, stir and then toast for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Place the cottage cheese, malted milk powder, baking powder, egg, vanilla and milk in a blender and blend until completely smooth.

Prepare your waffle iron as you normally would. Scoop ½ cup of the waffle batter into the iron and let cook for 4 minutes (my waffle iron makes two small [about 3x3 inch] waffles at a time, so ¼ cup in each section).  Remove to a plate and continue making waffles until all the batter is used. Top with nut butter, fresh berries, butter and/or maple syrup.

Kate’s Sausage Stuffed Poblanos

My sweet friend Kate was recently telling me how she and her husband are finding creative new ways to eat healthy and told me about how she stuffed poblanos with turkey sausage and I couldn’t get that out of my mind, so I had to do a riff on that. Instead of using rice as a binder, like I would for other stuffed peppers, I’m adding an egg white and some grated parmesan to make the filling hold together nicely. Kate’s husband is right-this tastes just like a sausage pizza, minus the guilt!

Ingredients (serves 4 as an appetizer, 2 as a main):

2 large poblano chiles

2 teaspoons olive oil

½ cup diced onion

1 cup diced zucchini

1 cup diced mushrooms

½ cup diced red bell pepper

1 teaspoon dried Italian herbs

Salt and pepper to taste

2 sweet Italian chicken sausages (I used Al Fresco™) brand

½ cup marinara, plus a little more for the plate, if you wish

1 egg white

2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

¼ cup low fat shredded mozzarella (I’m using fat free because it is what I have)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Cut the poblanos in half lengthwise, all the way through the stem. Remove the seeds and veins, trying to keep the stem intact to help hold in the filling. Place the poblanos on the baking sheet.

In a large skillet, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the onion, zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper and Italian herbs. Add in salt and pepper to taste.

Cook on medium for about 5-8 minutes or until the veggies are soft. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Diced the sausages and add those to the veggie mixture. Add in the marinara, stir, and then add the egg white and parmesan.

Stuff the sausage mixture into the poblanos (tip: if you gently spread the peppers out with one hand, you can put more stuffing in) and top with a bit of mozzarella.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

To serve, place a bit of extra marinara on a plate and top with 1 or 2 poblano halves.