Taco Pizza

If I cut anything into uniform pieces and hand Justin a fork, he'll usually at least try it. Still, I was shocked that he seemed to really like Taco pizza! It's SO simple, really yummy and pretty darn healthy!

1/2 of 1 package of Wegmans Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
1 diced red pepper
1 diced vidalia onion
1 20oz package "Jennie-O" seasoned lean ground turkey (Taco flavor)
8oz shredded mild cheddar cheese
1/2-1 cup taco sauce (your preference)
sour cream optional

*Preheat oven to 375.
*In a large skillet, saute turkey with the peppers and onions. Sometimes I'll stir in additional taco seasoning mix, just to make it more flavorful.
*Spread dough out. I didn't have a pizza pan so I shaped my pizza into a small enough circle to still fit on a cookie sheet.
*Spread taco sauce on dough
*Top with meat/pepper&onion mix.
*Top with shredded cheese
*Bake 15-17 minutes

*After it cools a few minutes, cut into slices. I put some sour cream in a baggie. Snip off one corner and gently squeeze out sour cream.

Zucchini Casserole!

I LOVE zucchini. I know I've said it before but it's just so good and so versatile. We have several zucchini the size of my arm in the garden so I knew it was time to get cracking with one of my favorites. Yes, it has a stick of butter & condensed soup but served as a side dish it does have lots of yummy nutrients. Growing up- my mom would make this with homemade croutons but it was really hot out and I was in a hurry. The dish is 90% zucchini. Jody & Justin both gave me the thumbs up.

Zucchini Casserole (adapted from allrecipes.com)

• 1 large cubed zucchini (mine came to about 4 cups of diced sized pieces) To prep the zucchini, make sure you peel it. Then I cut it in half length wise and scrape out any large seeds with a spoon.
  
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 (6 ounce) package chicken-flavored dry bread stuffing mix

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Boil the zucchini and onion in water for 5 minutes; drain well. In a medium bowl, combine the soup, sour cream and carrots. Stir in the zucchini and onion and mix well.
3. In a separate medium bowl, combine the butter and stuffing mix. Spread half of this mixture into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Spoon the zucchini mixture over the stuffing, then top off with the other half of the stuffing.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 25 to 30 minutes, or until stuffing is golden brown.

Stuffed Peppers

On the night we have stuffed peppers I made Justin the "stand-by", Grilled Cheese. I was super surprised when he looked at my plate and said, "meat please?"Then gobbled up half my dinner. Now that I think back of it; stuffed peppers are a great meal. I picked the green peppers just minutes before I stuffed them from our garden so they were nice & sweet. The other ingredients; lean turkey, brown rice, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce... totally kid friendly! You'll noticed in my picture I cook them in individual ramekin mugs. That way I can give them a little "bed" of extra filling. *Tastes better than it looks, I promise*

Stuffed Peppers
2 or 3 large green bell peppers (depending on how full you stuff them)
1lb lean ground turkey (browned)
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/2 vidalia onion-diced.
1 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce

*Preheat Oven to 350
*Cut the tops off of the peppers to make a little "bowl".( I used any discarded pepper around the stem to cook with the onions)
*Place peppers in a pot of boiling water for 5 mins to soften- set to dry.
*In a skillet saute diced onion and any diced pepper until slightly soft.
*Add browned turkey and brown rice.
*Stir in 1/2 cup tomato sauce and Worch. sauce. salt & pepper to taste
*Add filling to peppers and top with the rest of the tomato sauce

*Bake for 1 hour at 350. With 15 minutes left, top peppers with shredded mozzarella!

Homemade tater tots

YUM! These were so good. I'm not going to lie, they were kind of a lot of work. Tater tots are a favorite of Justin & Jody right now so I think it was well worth it. Also, I added some cheese to the original recipe, as part of my "add-calcium-because-my-kid-hates-milk" cooking.

Recipe adapted from http://momsensenj.wordpress.com/

1 Large Potato, cut into approx 2 inch cubes
Salt

1/4 C shredded cheddar
1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Egg, whisked
1 Cup homemade wheat breadcrumbs
Olive Oil Spray

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Boil the potatoes in salted water in a pot for 12-15 minutes or until fork tender.
3. Drain off all the water and cool the potatoes.
4. Using the side of a box grater, grate all of the potatoes into a bowl. (mine made about 1.5 cups shredded potatoes) Mix in shredded cheese
5. Place the flour, whisked egg and breadcrumbs in THREE separate bowls.
6. Take about 1 tbsp of the potato mixture and shape into “tater tots”.
7. Roll the tots into the flour, followed by the egg, then the panko bread crumbs, coating lightly.
8. Place onto a lined/greased cookie sheet and coat evenly with cooking spray.
9. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden.
10. Cool and serve.