I have a toddler that loves pasta. She could eat the stuff all day everyday and be happy. I’ve played around with different kinds of pasta with great success (homemade spaghetti-ohs, white bean mac-n-cheese) but she was ready for something different. After the fifth round in a row of homemade spaghetti-ohs, she was moping around and even asking for peeup-and-belly-witches.

So the other day, while she was chomping down her sandwich, I experimented with a new pasta dish for dinner. I had fresh carrot juice in the fridge along with a bit of Greek-style yogurt. Yes, they don’t sound like a good pairing, but along with the help of some cheddar cheese, anything is possible.

And, I was right.

This is a really easy recipe, you just need the ingredients. Most markets carry carrot juice, but make sure you don’t pick up a blend with orange or cucumber. If you’ve got your own juicer, you’re totally good to go.

Ingredients

8 ounces dry fusilli pasta cooked (which makes about 4-cups)

1/2 cup carrot juice

1/2 cup Greek-style plain yogurt

1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt (you know, that Lawry’s stuff)

1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Bring a big pot of water to a boil, toss in a bit of salt, and then your pasta. Any shape works, but the fusilli really is perfect. While things are bubbling away, mix together the carrot juice, yogurt, oil, seasoned salt, and salt in a bowl. Give things a whisk to make sure it’s all creamy. Go ahead and shred your cheddar, too.

Once your pasta is cooked and happy, give it a strain. While it’s hanging out, toss the carrot-yogurt mixture into your hot pot and turn the heat down to medium-low. Give things a stir while the sauce starts heating up.

As soon as the sauce starts bubbling, add the pasta back to the pot. Stir to coat the pasta and then add the shredded cheese. Keep stirring and simmering until the cheese is all melty.

Now is the time for taste testing – this is a kid-friendly recipe, so it’s low in salt and also not too strong in flavor. If you know your kid loves garlic, add some in with the mix. Got a child that loves the spice? Kick things up with a few shots of hot sauce. Mine can’t get enough of that tangy yogurt flavor, so I added an extra dollop at the end, along with a dash of pepper (and another sprinkling of salt).

The finished faux mac-n-cheese has an almost neon-orange color and is good hot or cold. My tot scarfed down 2-bowls for dinner, and happily ate a big serving cold the next day at preschool.

*The first time I made this recipe, I included shredded, slow-roasted turkey breast, which was out of this world. For an adult version, finish the pasta with a couple of good handfuls of spinach, top with extra shredded cheddar and pop under the broiler for a fabulous side dish.

We had chicken for dinner the entire week. It just worked out that way – we had chicken in the freezer, so chicken we ate. I’m also seriously feeling a bit of a pinch after getting our final tax bill. Let’s just say we’ll probably be eating cheep cuts of meats and lots and lots of beans and veggies for quite some time. And, with all the drama over pink slime this week, chicken every night was more than fine by me. While at our local market the other day picking up a few essentials (milk, eggs, chocolate…), I asked my meat guy about the dreaded pink slime. He waved his hand behind him showcasing several butchers grinding up choice bits of beef, packaging them up nice and neat, and then proudly handing the freshly ground goodness over to smiling customers.

I grabbed some and added it to my cart looking forward to breaking the string of chicken dinners…

But, it was a wonderful challenge finding a few fun new ways to make tasty chicken dinners. We had a winner with pineapple chicken, tried making foil-wrapped chicken (which was good but needed some tweaking), and simply roasted both dark and white meat  with fresh herbs and garlic. Chicken really is yummy – even with only a few ingredients.

Top row from left to right: Pounded chicken breasts dredged in flour and seared in canola oil over garlic mashed potatoes and fresh spinach, French green lentils stewed with carrots and onions topped with hot roasted chicken thighs, Pineapple simmered chicken over couscous and green beans. Second row from left to right: Ham and spinach stuffed chicken breasts with beets and garlic rosemary white beans, Foil-wrapped chicken thighs with steamed asparagus and sticky rice, Shredded steamed chicken tacos with lettuce and chopped scallion alongside carrot, celery spicy beans.

This week pretty much all our meals included spinach. I love fresh spinach and had picked up a couple of big bunches, which were happily added to our meals through the week. Even the tot enjoyed some finely sliced on her pasta. At first she wrinkled up her nose, but then hunger took over and she ate a whole bowl of her tuna, spinach mac-n-cheese.

Spinach is good stuff, full of healthy vitamins and antioxidants. Loaded with vitamin C and folic acid, spinach tastes great on just about everything. And, if you aren’t a big fan, purée some in your pasta sauce, mix fresh spinach with your dinner salad, or chop it up into itty-bitty bits and that spinach will blend right in with whatever you’re making.

I like tossing a few fresh leaves under toasty chicken or on top of grilled hamburgers. The big winner of the week was the garlic and oregano marinated chicken breasts over roasted chick peas (with spinach and homemade tzatziki sauce).

I’m not going to lie – it was a long week. The tot went to preschool on her own, which was big in our world. This was the first time we’d ever left her with anyone other than her Gamma and Opa, and the hubs and I were a bit on edge about the whole thing.

At pick-up, she told me to, “go home!”

Awesome.

We also did our taxes on Saturday, which went as I expected. I planned on owing, and owing I shall. We did enjoy a fun pizza night with friends and the husband had a successful photo shoot (even though his lame-ass (and not so awesome) beauty dish fell on my head). I’m looking forward to another fun week and also taking on the first challenge from the Yahoo! Shine Supper Club!

How was your week? Leave a comment and share your favorite recipe of the week!

*Top row from left to right: Slow roasted pork tenderloin over barley spinach risotto, garlic oregano marinated and seared chicken over spinach and white rice, alongside roasted chick peas (and homemade tziatziki sauce). Bottom row from left to right: Turkey sausage stuffed mushrooms and parmesan pasta with spinach, big mushroom simmered chicken thighs with spinach over mashed potato, boneless pork ribs over spinach polenta with fresh steamed asparagus and peas.

It was a bit of a challenging week. We just got back from vacation and then had a day to flip and head back to our regular routines. I’ll be honest – we all had a pretty hard time adjusting. The tot wanted to go back to Gamma and Opa’s house at the beach (which she told me over and over and over and over again) and I was having a difficult time getting motivated about anything.

Oh well.

After moping around most of the day on Monday and then having an action-packed Tuesday, it almost slipped my mind that it was Valentine’s Day. YUP. I really almost forgot. The husband and I don’t really do much of anything for each other (although he is pretty good at providing me with flowers and some amazing chocolate), but I did want to make something tasty for dinner. I made a last minute run to the grocery store and found some fresh clams at the grocery store – yum.

The week continued on without much else of interest. We had a nice lunch with friends at our new favorite restaurant, Miller’s East Coast Deli, which was totally tasty and ended with the befuddling experience of watching a very, very old man back up and then slowly pull forward repeatedly while just barely grazing the car next to him. We all stood a bit wide-eyed trying to figure out what to do alongside a nice group of people. Eventually someone helped the guy back out of the parking spot, he screamed off (at a big whopping 4-miles an hour) jabbering in some unknown language, and the woman walked up to her car, jumped in – without blinking an eye, and drove off.

HA!

This all happened before any of us had a chance to even tell her what happened – or determining what the proper action was for dealing with the nonsensical driver.

(I’m sure we will all be highlighted on one of those exposes showcasing people behaving badly.)

The winner this week was our spaghetti squash dinner – it was so good! Look for the recipe coming soon…

Don’t forget to link up your favorite recipe of the week below!

*Top row from left to right: Leftover try-tip tacos with veggie beans, garlic and white wine steamed clams with asparagus, capellini, and garlic toast, rosemary, oregano chicken breasts over carrot and celery lentils. Bottom row from left to right: spaghetti squash with fresh tomato sauce, spinach and Wisconsin mozzarella, homemade beef and broccoli over white rice, oregano garlic chicken thighs and zucchini fries.

So, we’re on vacation – but that doesn’t mean there’s no cooking going on. I’m just a bit more distracted with the beach and stuff, which means this post is going to be short and sweet. To start off, the hubs was concerned everyone was going to raid our house after I publicly let the world know we were heading out. But, then I reminded him that our crazy ass mean neighbor was going to be watching the cats.

And, really. He’s crazy – and mean (but loves cats). So, whatever.

When you’re going away, the last thing you want is a bunch of stuff smelling up your fridge, so it was all about leftovers at our house this week. Some looked like a bunch of brown mush – but tasted amazing, while others were awesome the first and second time…. (hello, slow roasted barbecue turkey things!)

I hope you all had a great week – what was your favorite recipe? Link up!

Top row from left to right – Slow roasted barbecue turkey things over quinoa and zucchini casserole, breaded and baked eggplant with fresh garlic tomato sauce over polenta and spinach, garlic and spinach pasta with leftover barbecue turkey thighs. Bottom row from left to right - half a rib eye over polenta spinach cakes topped with caramelized onions, Trader Joe’s Beef and Broccoli and TJ’s Fried Rice, slow roasted barbecue turkey things over quinoa and zucchini casserole, grilled balsamic orange chicken breasts with roasted sweet potato and steamed cauliflower and broccoli salad.

I like to make something homemade every night for dinner, but I do like to get some help from time to time. This week we even braved going out to dinner, which is something we never ever do.

Really. Ever.

But, things went really well, and I also had fun putting together something with the help of Chef Boyardee. This week was all about taking it easy. Our tot came down with a cold (which the husband now has), we were all super busy, and the weather was just wonderful. We enjoyed a weekend of soaking up some some sun – and hopefully getting rid of all that sick.

What’s your favorite go-to pre-made dinner item? Share your favorite recipe or awesome tip!

Top row from left to right: Trader Joe’s fish nugget tacos with big veggie black bean salsa, garlic, oregano, and olive oil marinated and roasted chicken legs with green onion rice and a cucumber yogurt sauce. Bottom row from left to right: Mushroom cap meatballs with spinach garlic pasta and a sprinkling of fresh Parmesan, cheesy chicken Florentine with Chef Boyardee, breadcrumb coated and fried yogurt honey mustard marinated chicken breasts with steamed green beans and rosemary garlic rice-a-roni with fresh Parmesan.

After a long day I want things super simplified when it comes to dinner. I try to cook a homemade meal every night, but sometimes I need a bit of help.

There’s nothing wrong with using a boxed or canned item to make dinner easier.

I’ve also got a budding chef that’s really into helping right now, so while cruising up and down the aisles at the grocery store, something caught my eye.

Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese. Already made in a can.

Sure, I’ve loved Chef Boyardee products forever with their saucy good pastas. But this? Mac & Cheese in a can had to come home with us.

Cooking with your kids encourages them to try new things and also introduces essential kitchen skills. Even young tots like mine can do lots of things to assist with making dinner.

I had a tasty idea for using that Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese, and she could totally help.

After getting out a cutting board, butter knife, and a handful of mushrooms, she got busy cutting away while I had time to prepare the rest of the meal without her attached to my leg.

The thing is, Chef Boyardee is running a contest right now (December 29 through March 11, 2012) with a final winner getting a year’s worth of groceries and ten weekly $500 cash prizes.

If that’s not encouragement to get in the kitchen and get creative with the Chef, I don’t know what is!

While prepping our dinner I kept finding myself distracted while watching my daughter cut her way through those mushrooms. I was so proud of her and her budding knife skills.

She helped me mix things together and then was more than excited to sit down to dinner and enjoy what she had helped to make.

Cheesy Chicken Florentine!

This recipe is so good, super easy-and healthy (for real-under 300 calories per generous 1 cup serving and full of vitamin-packed spinach)!

This dish, that easily serves six, can be on the table in less than 30 minutes and uses one pan, which makes clean up a snap.

Serve alongside garlic toast and a few sliced tomatoes for a complete meal.

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 lb chicken breast tenders, cubed

1 c chopped mushrooms

1/2 t pepper

1/2 t dried rosemary

10 oz box of frozen chopped spinach at room temperature and drained of water

2 15 oz cans of Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese

1/2 c reduced fat sour cream

1/2 c shredded mozzarella

Directions

Place a 12-inch frying pan over medium-high heat and add the oil, chopped onion and garlic and stir.

Add the cubed chicken tenders along with the pepper and rosemary and let things brown for about five minutes stirring as needed so the chicken doesn’t stick to the pan.

While you’re stirring the kids can chop the mushrooms and squeeze the water from the spinach by pressing it in a colander.

Once the chicken has started to get toasty around the edges, add the spinach and mushrooms to the mix and stir.

Go ahead and turn off the heat under the frying pan and crank the oven to 400 F.

While it’s preheating, mix in the Chef Boyardee Mac & Cheese along with the sour cream to the chicken.

Sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella and pop into the oven for about 20-minutes or until the top is all bubbly brown. Dinner!

What’s your favorite Chef Boyardee product? Use it to create your own unique recipe and then share on the Chef Boyardee Facebook page for a chance to win!

Enter Chef Boyardeeís Make It Boyardeelicious Recipe Contest from December 29, 2011 through March 11, 2012 for your chance to win free groceries for a year as well as one of ten $500 weekly cash prizes. Then visit Chef Boyardeeís Facebook page from March 26, 2012 through April 8, 2012 to vote for your favorite recipes from the ìMake It Boyardeelicious Recipe Contest.î Each day, one voter will be selected to win a $100 cash prize.

Be sure to visit the Chef Boyardee Roundup page on BlogHer.com to check out other bloggersí recipes!

This week was totally overwhelming. We are in the process of refinancing our house and were waiting on pins and needles at the beginning of the week on the appraisal, I headed into the city to meet with someone up close and personal about an exciting work adventure, there was preschool with the tot, and then two conference calls on Friday.

We had high hopes of getting a sitter for a friend’s party on Saturday night, but things just didn’t work out and the husband went solo. As much as I would have enjoyed hanging out and enjoying much needed adult time, I was exhausted, so spent a few hours with a book and some silence.

This week’s dinners started out with a bang and then kind of lost momentum. Our stuffed chicken breasts didn’t look nearly as appealing as they tasted, and frozen pizza dough saved me on Saturday evening.

But we did have two vegetarian dinners this week and I tried to keep going with our plans to ditch the carbs. By adding additional veggies to our meals we still had full plates – and full tummies.

What was your favorite meal this week at your house? Link up a recipe to share, or leave a comment telling me which recipe from our meals this week you would like me to share tomorrow!

*Top row from left to right: Mushroom stuffing stuffed chicken breasts with roasted celery and white beans, healthy beef stroganoff made with plain yogurt over spinach and egg noodles, noodle free eggplant lasagna. Bottom row from left to right: Pounded boneless chicken things over veggie filled rice with a green onion pan sauce, lean cheeseburgers with baked zucchini fries, mushroom and garlic cheese pizza with fresh ricotta.

I just love quinoa – and I’m a big fan of butternut squash. Quinoa is easy to cook (really) and so healthy for you. Not only is it packed with protein, it’s also low in cholesterol, carbohydrates, and has hardly any calories. With a nutty, crisp flavor, it’s great as a side or main dish. And, butternut squash isn’t anything to complain about either. Full of antioxidants and also low in calories, butternut squash can be enjoyed savory or sweet.

This was our winner from last week’s dinners, and I enjoyed the leftovers cold the next day for lunch. Even if you’ve never cooked quinoa before, you’ll have success with this dish – really, it’s that easy.

And, hey. Not a fan of blue cheese? Leave it out – or crumble some feta or shred on some Parmesan.

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, skin and seeds removed then diced

1 small onion chopped

1 big clove garlic chopped

1 t olive oil

1/4 c water

Dash of salt and pepper

4 c fresh spinach leaves

1/4 c crumbled blue cheese

Cooked quinoa (don’t worry, I’ll tell you how to make it later)

How to make it

Start by cutting off the skin from the butternut squash and then cutting in half. Scoop out the seeds and then chunk the squash into 1-inch pieces.

Go ahead and crank your oven to 400 F and dig out your biggest non-stick-but-safe-for-the-oven sauté pan. 12-inches is a good size, and if you don’t have a non-stick, you can use a regular one – things might just stick a bit.

Slice and dice the onion and garlic and add to the butternut squash along with a couple of good dashes of salt and pepper and the water and olive oil. Give things a stir and then toss into the hot oven.

Now get 2-cups of water boiling with a dash of salt. Once things are simmering away, add 1-cup quinoa, turn down the heat, and cover things up for about 10-minutes or so. Check back every once in a while to make sure your quinoa isn’t burning at the bottom or to add more water if things look dry. Give things a stir and then taste for doneness. You should end up with lots of itty-bitty swirls that are nice and tender and fluff with a fork.

Turn the heat off under the quinoa and leave covered. Give your butternut squash a stir and keep on roasting for another 20-minutes or so.

While the squash is finishing up, wash and dry your fresh spinach and add to a nice sized mixing bowl.

Give your butternut squash a doneness test after about 30-minutes of roasting by poking a chunk with a fork. If it goes in easy, you’re ready to go. Pull the squash out of the oven and dump in your quinoa. Give things a gently toss and return to the oven for another 5-minutes to toast up the quinoa.

Mix the hot butternut squash and quinoa with the spinach and then top with the blue cheese. You can also add another drizzle of olive oil and add additional salt and pepper to taste.

Tasty AND healthy!

This week was all about cutting back on pasta, pasta, pasta, pasta, and potatoes. I’ve gotten into a bit of a rut lately and giving myself the challenge of finding other fun sides was really exciting this week. I experimented with quinoa, mashed cauliflower, and did make one night of light pasta with olive oil, fresh pepper, and lots and lots of garlic. Sure, I didn’t eliminate carbohydrates altogether, but it’s a start, right?

We also worked on watching our portions and not heading back for seconds. I often make extra so the tot and I have something for lunch the next day (or for double-duty another night as dinner), so before serving I popped leftovers in the fridge making them  unappealing for more munching.

There were a few winners – and a couple of losers. The yogurt marinated rice crispy coated chicken tenders were really tasty – as well as the hot roasted butternut squash quinoa salad. I really wanted the mashed cauliflower to be phenomenal, but the hubs and I both agreed the texture was spot on, but the flavor a bit cabbage-y.

What did you make for dinner this week? Leave a comment with a recipe or link!

I’ll be sharing our favorite recipe of the week tomorrow….

*top left – basa fish tacos, top right – hot roasted butternut squash salad with half a rib-eye, middle left – yogurt marinated rice crispy coated chicken tenders with garlic spinach pasta, middle left – pulled turkey thighs over carrot couscous, bottom left – chuck roast with peas over mashed cauliflower, middle bottom – chicken/turkey sausage with caramelized onions over polenta, right bottom – the wine of the week: Bannus