Skillet Tomato Beef Rotini

30 min meal are truly the best.

Using left over ingredients to create that meal, even better. 

The story goes as such: 

My husband had been asking me "what's for dinner"  for quite sometime that day and I was at a standstill. I really didn't want to cook a crazy meal.

I opened my fridge and found half a pound of ground beef, half a jar of pasta sauce,  and half an onion. I chuckled at my luck and said: spaghetti it is! But my husband had other plans. 

Noticing I was going for the spaghetti noodles, my husband hollered out, "hey what kind of past noodles do we have?" I listed the names elbow, rotini, linguini, penne, and spaghetti. He looked at me with a cute but puzzled face, so I rephrased my sentence and said, "mac and cheese noodles, swirly noodles, round noodles, thicker spaghetti noodles, and spaghetti"; he got it. 

"I want the swirly!" he said with a smile; 

and thus I give you Skillet Rotini. 

Ingredients: 
3 cups  whole wheat rotini, uncooked
1/2 lb 97% fat free ground beef*
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 jar of  pasta sauce, any type you want!( I used Prego heart healthy traditional)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp organo
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes, not rinsed --I didn't have this, but would HIGHLY suggest it!
  
 *If you can't find ground beef at that percentage  just cook your beef like normal. When fully cooked, rinse under hot water in a colander/strainer. Quick rinse skillet and place rinsed meat back in skillet, then season. You are rinsing away the accumulated grease. 

Directions: 
Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. Add 3 cups of rontini and let cook  on boil, uncovered for 10 min. when done, drain and set aside.
meanwhile, heat a large skillet on medium high heat. Add ground beef and chop and cook until no longer pink.  
Add onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, and the rest of spices to beef and let cook for 2-3 min, until onions start turn transparent. 
Turn heat to medium low. 
Stir in pasta sauce and mix well.
If pasta is done, add drained noodles to large skillet and and mix  very well noodles with meat mixture. 

Serve hot with some homemade french bread and a side salad!

ENJOY!!!

Nutritional Information: 
Makes ~ 5 servings (a little more than 1/2 cup each)  
251 cal * 35 carbs * 5g fat *  14g protein * 6g fiber

   

Delicious Baked Pasta

 Or "Deliziosa Pasta al Forno" in Italian

 Mainly because it is filled with all the ingredients I love in pasta: 

Whole Wheat penne, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, greek yogurt (okay that one is my own twist), red pepper flakes, and, of course, CHEESE.

 So why this combo? 
Because I had it all in my fridge. Can't get much better than that. 

Why bake it? 
The recipe could be eaten once its all mixed together but who could resist gooey, bubbly, baked-on cheese? Not me. 

So give it a try. You won't regret it.

 Ingredients: 
2 chicken breasts 
2 1/4 cup whole wheat penne pasta
1/2 chicken bullion cube
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 
3 tbs sun dried tomatoes, chopped 
1/2 onion, chopped 
1/4 cup plain greek yogurt 
1tbs olive oil 
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pepper 
1/2 tsp salt 
1/2 tsp crushed red peppers 

Directions: 
Bring a sauce pan boil with 4 cups of water and 1/2 of bullion cube. 
When water is boiling dump in pasta and bring to a simmer for 8-10 min or until al dente. Remove from heat but keep covered. 
 
Meanwhile,
Heat a skillet with 1tbs olive oil on medium high heat.
Dice chicken into small cubes. 
Chop onion and then toss both chicken and onion into skillet-season with a little salt and pepper. 
Cook until chicken is fully cooked (no pink).

When chick is done set aside on a warm plate or in covered bowl.
Add greek yogurt to skillet and season with garlic powder,salt, and pepper. Stir constantly. Add spinach and sun dried tomatoes, and stir together unto spinach is wilted. 

Created sauce and cooked chicken and 1/8 of both cheeses into pasta pot (or bowl) and stir together. 
Dump into a 7x11 baking pan and top with the rest of cheese.

Place in the oven for 15-20 min until cheese is melted and a little golden brown. 

ENJOY!!!!