Baked Taco Salad

Recently, my mom and I took a drive to Tomah, WI and stopped at the famous Burnstad’s.  Back in 1944, The Burnstad’s opened a small, corner grocery store called “South Side Grocery”. Now, over 50 years later, the Burnstad operation consists of 4 supermarkets and a European Village with 16 unique shops and 3 restaurants.  The Burnstad’s European Village & café in Tomah has become a popular place for tourist to stop because of its hideaway charm & European-style atmosphere.  The Village has its very own town square – complete with a double-sided clock tower, a train station, courtyard with street lamps & wrought-iron, gates & fencing to guide you thru the Village shops.    I would definitely recommend stopping if you ever get the chance.  The restaurant makes wonderful baked goods & homemade soups. Oh yea and mom said the Bloody Mary was awesome!  This simple recipe comes from a collection of the Burnstad’s associates.  We are hoping to try one of the dishes prepare in the European café in the future.

Baked Taco Salad

~The Best of Burnstad’s/Cindy Eder

Brown 2 lbs of ground beef & add ½ cup chopped onions.  Mix in 1 package hot taco seasoning and 1 package regular taco seasonings.  Once cooked, take 8 ounces of crushed Doritos, either nacho or taco flavored & mix together with ground beef.  In 9x12 cake pan, spread mixture across the bottom of pan.  Spread 8 ounce bag shredded Cheddar or taco cheese across the top of beef mixture.  Bake in preheated 350 oven for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted or sticks to mixture of beef.  Take out of oven immediately.  Layer with shredded lettuce & top with chopped tomatoes.  Ready to serve.  Top with your favorite taco sauce or hot sauce.

Tupps Tidbits ~ needs sour cream

                                                                            

This was just another version of a taco salad but without shells.   I guess and since we both like taco salads, it would be a KEEPER but it was not worth the time and effort in baking the cheese & chips into the meat.  So NOT a KEEPER!               

Healthified Garlic Shrimp Pasta

One day my co-worker was eating this pasta dish for lunch that looked amazing.  She said she made it herself & it is healthy!   It looked so rich & flavorful….I said send me the recipe I would love to try it. 

  

Healthified Garlic Shrimp Pasta

~eatbetteramerica.com & Heidi Ganz

8 oz uncooked multigrain angel hair pasta or spaghetti

4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves

1 ½ cup halved cherry tomatoes

3 tsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)

1 ½ lb fresh medium shrimp peeled, deveined & tail shells removed

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

¼ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

½ cup dry white wine or reduced-sodium chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

¼ cup reduced –sodium chicken broth (from 32 oz-carton)

¼ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley

2 Tbs. butter

 

1. In 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven, cook pasta as directed on package. Drain; return to saucepan. Stir in spinach, tomatoes & teaspoons of the oil.  Cover to keep warm.
2. While pasta is cooking, in 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat remaining teaspoon oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion; cook & stir 1 minute.  Add shrimp, garlic & pepper flakes; cook & stir 2 minutes.
3. Stir in wine, broth, salt & pepper; cook 2 minutes or until shrimp are pink & firm.  Remove from heat; stir in parsley & butter until butter is melted.  Add shrimp mixture to pasta mixture in saucepan; toss to mix.

Tupps Tidbits ~ add more garlic & parmesan to serve

We both enjoyed this dish.  My co-worker recommended adding lemon/lemon juice & we followed her lead.  Also, we both thought it needed more garlic & red pepper flakes & then it became a KEEPER!

Pumpkin flax bread

On a Sunday morning, a group my co-workers gathered to raise funds for Prostate Cancer Research by climbing the stairs of 4 of the tallest Mayo Buildings in Rochester. It was a healthy challenge and good team building event for all.  After the event was complete, and we caught our breath, we were discussing healthy meal options & the following recipe idea came up and was shared. Looking it over, I noticed it had flaxseed as an ingredient and also the calories were really low. Of course that intrigued me. 

Pumpkin flax bread
~Andy Larson

½ cup ground flaxseed

½ cup water

1 cup brown sugar or ( ½ cup Splenda brown sugar)

1 can pumpkin

2 cup white whole-wheat flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 ½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9x5 inch load pan with cooking spray and coat lightly with flour.  Mix the flaxseed and water in a food processor.  Add the brown sugar and pumpkin and process until combined.  Mix the Flour, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl.  Add the Flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

Tupps Tidbits ~ Store ground flaxseed in the Fridge to keep it fresh longer.

The bread was very moist, I think by adding the suggested raisins & cinnamon might make it more appealing to most.  I loved it but  Tupps did not....NOT a keeper for both!

Healthified Lasagna

This recipe looks very similar to other lasagna’s but I was amazed at the calorie/fat count when you just changed to a leaner meat, light cheese & 1 egg instead of 2.   Hopefully the replacement will make this just as yummy as the original.

Healthified Lasagna

~eatbetteramerica.com

9 uncooked lasagna noodles

1 lb extra-lean (at least 90%) ground beef

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 jar Muir Glen organic Italian herb pasta sauce

1/8 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)

1 ½ tsp dried basil leaves

1 egg

1 container (15 oz.) reduced-fat ricotta cheese

2 cups shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese (8 oz.)

1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

·         Spray 13X9 inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.  Cook & drain noodles as directed on package Place in cold water.

·         In 12-inch skillet, cook beef & garlic over medium-high 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain.  Stir in pasta sauce, ground red pepper & 1 tsp of basil.  Heat to a boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat

·         Heat oven to 350F.  In medium bowl, beat egg slightly.  Stir in ricotta cheese & remaining ½ tsp basil until blended.  Drain noodles. Spread about ½ cup sauce mixture over bottom of baking dish.  Top with 3 noodles, 1 ½ cups of the sauce mixture, half of the ricotta mixture & ¾ cup of the mozzarella cheese.  Repeat layers once.  Top with remaining noodles, sauce & mozzarella cheese; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Spray 15-inch piece of foil with cooking spray.  Cover lasagna with foil.

·         Bake 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 10 – 15minutes longer or until bubbly.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Tupps Tidbits ~  I used home made sauce

At first glance you could already see of difference with no meat/cheese dripping grease on your plate.  But as they say – Eat Better America - and we did!  We added some extra peppers & used our own pasta sauce & this ended up being a delicious dish we both enjoyed. A little bit of a spin on a classic Italian favorite & it definitely lost the fat but not the flavor. (I forgot the shredded mozzarella cheese in the ingredient picture but we did use it.)   KEEPER!