Chili macaroni

I wanted to make something hearty and healthy for dinner tonight so I decided to do a loaded chili macaroni. It was a real hit, the boys liked it because it had noodles in it and I was happy because of all the veggies in it. I served it with these cheese biscuits and thought it was a really good meal.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 green pepper, seeded and diced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced (small dice)
• 1 zucchini, grated on medium grate of box grater
• 1 can whole plum tomatoes
• 1 can roasted garlic tomato sauce
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 8oz macaroni, cooked

Heat oil in large pot. Add onions, peppers and carrots. Cook 5 minutes, add garlic cook 1 minute. Add zucchini cook 5 minutes. Add ground beef and brown, about 10-15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce and water, chickpeas and black beans. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer 1 hour.  Add macaroni, stir to combine. Serve with warm biscuits or buns.

Meatloaf (loaded with veggies)

I love meatloaf, it's simple and so tasty (I love meatloaf sandwiches the next day, however we usually don't have any leftovers...). I wanted to make sure we had our veggies with dinner as well though but instead of doing sides of veggies I opted to add them to the meatloaf. It tasted great and I really don't think anyone noticed they were there. A great way to incorporate vegetables into a meal. I'm not a great food photographer as you may have noticed, and meatloaf while it is tasty is not a pretty food to photograph so instead of the meatloaf you get a photo of my helper.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1/2 sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloved, minced
• 1 carrot, grated on small grate of box grater
• 1 small zucchini, grated on small grate of box grater
• 1/2 red pepper, seeded and very finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4-1/3 cup panko
• dash of milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons yellow mustard

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine ground beef, onion, garlic, carrot, zucchini, red pepper, egg, panko, milk, salt, pepper, and oregano. Place in loaf pan that has been lightly sprayed with a cooking spray such as PAM.

In a small bowl combine ketchup, mustard and sugar. When smooth spread on top of meat loaf. Bake 45-60 minutes (until cooked through). Enjoy!

Baked Spaghetti

I love spaghetti and love to play around with the sauce. Ryan loves baked pasta so I decided to do a baked spaghetti loaded with veggies and cheese. I did add ground beef to this dish to make it a little heartier for Ryan after a long day at work, but it would have been just as delicious with no meat added. It turned out delicious. Noodles and cheese, really who could complain about that!

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 small sweet onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 carrot, grated (I used the small grate on my box grater)
• 1 small zucchini, grated (I did the large grate for the zucchini)
• 1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1lb. extra lean ground beef
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 large can tomato sauce with garlic
• 1 can diced tomatoes with olive oil and roasted garlic
• 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• spaghetti noodles, cooked
• cheese, grated (I used marble cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan would have been great on top as well)

Heat oil in skillet, add onions and celery. Cook 5 minutes. Add peppers, carrot, zucchini and garlic. Cook 3-5 minutes. Add ground beef, salt, pepper and oregano. Cook beef through. Add tomato sauce and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes to an hour. Add chopped basil and stir.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine noodles and sauce. Spray an oven safe dish with a non-stick spray. Add pasta, top with cheese and bake 30-45 minutes. Until cheese is bubbly and the pasta is warm through out. I served with some warm buns, a salad would have gone nicely with this as well.