Monday, January 25, 2010

Recipe - Turkey Skillet Pasta

Two posts in two days! That might be a record. I wanted to post my recipe for Turkey Skillet Pasta -- although that's a pretty bland name for a recipe, this is a great one! It's my go-to quick dinner on busy nights.

Here's the ingredients - Seasoning, Parmesan Cheese, Pasta, Ground Turkey, Beef Broth, Diced Tomatoes, Zucchini.
Wait! Where are my zucchini?

There they are... whew!

I usually brown a bunch of ground turkey at once and freeze it in 1 lb. packages, but if you don't, go ahead and brown the turkey, drain, and set aside. Or feel free to use ground beef if you'd rather.


Into the pan goes the beef broth...


and the diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil.


Then you can throw in the pasta, and lower heat to a simmer. Cover.


Go ahead and throw a seasoning blend in there. I like my Italian blend, but this recipe is pretty forgiving if you want to mix it up a little. Let that simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the pasta is almost done.


While that's cooking, we can give the zucchini a chop.


After the pasta has simmered for 15 minutes, the ground turkey gets returned to the pan...


and the zucchini gets added. Let the mixture simmer an additional 5 minutes.


A bit of Parmesan cheese sprinkled in while the last bit of moisture is absorbed by the pasta, and the dish is complete! YUM!

I've tried this recipe with a variety of pasta shapes and sizes, as well as subbing in different veggies for the zucchini.

Hope you enjoy!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Menu Plan Monday - 1/25

One of my goals is to participate more regularly in Menu Plan Monday. Of course, this means I'll have to start posting to the blog at least once a week, but we'll see how that goes... lol.

Anyway, this week seems to be a little heavy on the Mexican items, but my hubby loves my enchiladas and the salsa chili recipe is a new one -- I hope we like it!

Here's my plan for the week:

Monday - Enchiladas

Tuesday - Salsa Chili (found this on a healthy eating calendar - might post on this later)
Wednesday - Turkey Skillet Pasta (This is my go-to meal for busy nights)

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Soup

Saturday - Bean Burritos

Hopefully I can stick to this meal plan, because that'll help me with my WeightWatchers goals. Breakfasts will be either oatmeal with blueberries or a scrambled egg on an english muffin and lunches will be leftovers. I made a batch of super-easy meatballs the other night and neither G nor E really liked them, so I foresee lots of meatball lunches this week.

Check out Menu Plan Monday over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for more meal plan ideas!