Black beans and rice with sausage

This is a super-easy go-to dinner for busy evenings--(we got home from the park at 7:30 after running and boys riding bikes through mud puddles) This is a perfect quick dinner and not bad in the calorie department.

• Turkey smoked sausage--I use whatever brand I can find--tonight it was Hillshire Farms
• Packaged rice and beans--my favorite is VIGO brand Black Beans and Rice, but I have also used Mahatma brand Red Beans and Rice and Zataran brand

I cut up the turkey sausage into small pieces and brown it in a large skillet. In the meantime, boil water according to package directions. Add sausage to the rice and beans when done browning and cook for as long as recommended.

While rice and beans finish cooking, cut up tomatoes and onion (purple, if available)--salt and pepper and a little red wine vinegar to make an easy pico de gallo salad. Serve salad over rice and beans with a dollop of light sour cream or Greek yogurt--stir it all together and YUM!

(or just top it with a large spoonful of chunky salsa with the Greek yogurt--because some nights it is just too much trouble to make the simplest salad in the world--yes, I was tired and lazy tonight!)

This is easy and tasty--my boys like the sausage and tolerate the rice and beans--sometimes I let them dip their sausage in ketchup--tonight I just gave them some light sour cream for"dip." They gobbled it up--helped that they rode a mile or so on their little tiny bikes. Hungry boys always eat better! And there is a reason rice and beans are a staple food for half the world. Filling and nutritious--low fat, with some protein. Carbs in the rice, but I ran tonight, so there!

By the way, about 250 calories for a serving of rice and beans with sausage and only a little more for Greek yogurt and salsa!

Spaghetti and meatballs

OK--I know what you're thinking--not the healthiest meal tonight. Actually, it is pretty easy to make this old standard lighter. I consider spaghetti and meatballs to be a theme with variations, but since I make it pretty often I will not attempt to elaborate all the variations here, but I will mention the "easy" and "slightly less easy" versions of our dinner tonight. "Spaghetti & meatballs" tends to be my "I need to cook but I don't feel like cooking" menu. What is funny about that is that my boys jump up and down and dance around when I tell them that is what we are having! There are endless permutations of noodles, meat, and sauce so here is one to try

Noodles: Whole wheat spaghetti noodles are our favorite. But, honestly, I just use whatever pasta I have in the pantry--sometimes penne or bowtie (butterfly noodles, as they are called by the Atkinson boys!) I do tend to buy whole wheat pasta--if you are used to the white variety, it can be an adjustment, but an adjustment worth making if you really like to eat pasta often. I don't have a medical study to back this up, but I am pretty sure that all cellulite is made from pasta! So either stop eating it, or figure out a way to eat it healthier. Also, let your kids eat as much as they want, but if you are trying to lose weight, then measure out a smaller portion for yourself. Most weight loss plans recommend about a quarter cup! What the what?! OK, I will admit, I eat a little more than that, but I do make a conscious effort to have about half of what I would like to have.

Sauce: Super easy sauce = jar! I like Newman's Own Marinara, although tonight we had some off-brand "organic" tomato-basil. Just to be clear, if you add anything to the sauce from the jar, you completely redeem yourself! I usually add a little more basil (fresh, if I have it handy) or Italian seasoning and then pour a little red wine in the jar, put the lid back on, and shake it up to get all the sauce out of the jar. Then just heat it up on the stove. Really easy and tastes just fine.

Slightly less easy sauce = sauteed onion and garlic in olive oil, canned crushed tomatoes, red wine, fresh basil (about 20 leaves)--very light and tasty and really only slightly more difficult than canned spaghetti sauce.

Meatballs: I don't know why I used to be very intimidated by meatballs. I actually don't remember eating meatballs at all until I rented a room from an Italian lady for a month during an away-rotation in medical school. She was really sweet, and she would leave leftovers on the stove for me --that was the first time I had meatballs. They were fabulous, and certainly not healthy by any standard! I started making meatballs when I started using Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals. She has several good meatball recipes that I have adapted.

Tonight we had Turkey Sausage Meatballs

• 1 pound turkey Italian sausage
• 3 cloves garlic--minced or crushed
• Parmesan cheese (about a quarter cup)
• salt and pepper
• fresh parsley or a little dried parsley

Stir it all together in a bowl--divide into 4 pieces with your spoon and then make 4 small meatballs out of each piece. Form into ball with your hands (yes, a little gross, but just wash your hands well with anti-bacterial soap when you are done). Place meatballs on a baking sheet (spray with cooking spray first). Bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. Serve meatballs over pasta with sauce.

These meatballs calculate to about 55 calories per meatball. 3 meatballs with a reasonable serving of whole wheat pasta and sauce for less than 300 calories--not bad!

Greek turkey burgers

Dinner tonight was one of my favorites--Greek turkey burgers! Really yummy and easy to make. This started out as a Weight Watchers recipe, but I like more vegetables so this is my version:

• 1 pound ground turkey (93/7 or all white turkey breast--even leaner)
• 2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves (you can use dried oregano--1 tablespoon)
• 3 tablespoons reduced fat feta cheese
• Salt and pepper

Mix ingredients together in a medium bowl--once it is well mixed divide into 4 equal portions and form into patties. Cook on grill pan or in skillet on stove top--you could also grill if you have the time. Spray pan with olive oil cooking spray and respray when you turn the patty over. Cook 5-7 minutes on each side--it is poultry so it needs to be cooked well.

• 1/2 onion- thinly sliced
• red bell pepper-thinly sliced

Saute veggies together in olive oil cooking spray--OR eat them raw and fresh on your burger. Also, Mezzetta brand makes really good roasted red pepper in a jar--a great substitute for fresh or cooked veggies in a hurry.

• Cucumber
• Tomato
• Greek yogurt
• Pita bread OR these healthy sandwich buns (2 slices for the calories of 1 and better for a burger than pita bread)

Spread Greek yogurt on the sandwich slices and pile the veggies on the burger.

How do I cut up herbs and vegetables? This may seem like an odd question, but I feel compelled to address it. The answer is always with a BIG, SHARP knife! Italics and boldface may seem a bit extreme, but, seriously, the only thing more painful than watching someone try to cut up vegetables with the wrong knife is watching an intern do a C-section in July! PAINFUL! So pick the right knife--big with a curved blade so that you can just rock it on the cutting board. Those smaller knives in your kitchen drawer have their own purpose, but keep them away from your vegetables. Thanks!

http://www.kitchenkapers.com/choosing-kitchen-knives.html

What do I feed the kids? My boys actually eat these patties pretty well--I usually cut them up and let them dip it in ketchup or the yogurt. Tonight they ate their meat with cheese and crackers and grapes and they both ate 1 cucumber slice(E dipped his in ketchup, S dipped his in strawberry-banana yogurt!)

Burritos

Why in the world would I start a blog? I love to cook--I hate to gain weight. I love my sister--a fabulous baker who also hates to gain weight. That is the main reason for this blog. I cook quite a bit, but I hardly ever go by the recipe. I am always shaving off some fat/calories and changing things up just enough that I can't remember how to cook it again. So I am going to start writing things down, so I can make the same recipe twice and so that my sister (who loves to bake, but hates to cook) can think of something to cook for dinner.

OK, sis--here are the basics: olive oil, olive oil cooking spray, regular cooking spray (like Pam), herbs (buy one of those pre-filled spice racks on clearance or plant a little herb garden), lemon juice and lime juice (buy fresh fruit or the bottles to keep in the fridge), brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat tortillas--you need this stuff in your house all the time.

Tonight, we had an old stand-by at the Atkinson house: Burritos! Yes, burritos--does not sound healthy, but actually very easy to eat burritos that are pretty healthy--here we go:

• Whole wheat tortilla
• Grilled chicken (leftover chicken from grilling this weekend--also grocery store rotisserie chicken works great for this purpose)
• Black beans (again, we had leftover homemade beans from this weekend, but canned black beans are good. I especially like Ranch Style brand black beans--seasoned well straight out of the can)
• Salsa ( I like Pace chunky or the Sam's choice equivalent)
• Cheese (optional--if you are trying to lose weight, just skip it or use fat free cheese--not so great by itself, but not bad mixed in with lots of other ingredients and saves a lot of calories)
• Greek yogurt (a new favorite--sometimes you have to look for it--make sure you get the fat free version--tastes very much like sour cream, but NO fat! Fat free sour cream SUCKS, but light sour cream is not bad. Overall, Greek yogurt is healthier because no fat and quite a bit of protein)
• Grilled vegetables (again, leftover from this weekend, but easy to cut up some onion and bell pepper and saute with a little olive oil spray to add some nutrition and taste to your burrito. It is a nice addition, but don't forget you are getting some vegetables in the beans and the salsa if you don't have more veggies)

Just pile the ingredients on the tortilla and pop in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Eat with a fork--it will fall apart, but very tasty. If you want to go a little lower carb--cut out the tortilla and pile the ingredients on a bowl of lettuce and eat it like a salad. Also, you can smash up the beans or buy "refried" style black beans if you like that taste better--just look for fat-free or low-fat labels.

What am I going to feed my kids? My answer is almost always--THE SAME THING! They are smaller than you and you can make them do what you want! HAHA! Actually, this adapts easily for kids: chicken, beans and cheese on a tortilla--just make a little quesadilla with your cooking spray and let them dip it in salsa or the Greek yogurt (yes, my kids like to dip in sour cream or Greek yogurt--I am not making this up)

Do as I say--not as I do! Do not follow healthy burrito with leftover birthday cake no matter how depressed you are that your baby turned 5 this weekend! Not worth the calories--throw it away!