Low Calorie Spinach Lasagna

One of my favorite meals is Lasagna but finding a recipe that is low calorie and delicious is nearly impossible.  With that being said I decided that today was the day to change this.  I was going to revamp one of my favorite vegetarian recipes into an even healthier one!  By substituting most of the ricotta cheese with low fat cottage cheese, and using skim ricotta instead of whole milk I was able to cut a lot of the calories out.  Here is my finished product. Please let me know how you like it if you try this recipe out!

Low Calorie Spinach Lasagna

(This is not a picture of the lasagna I made, however mine looked just like this! I forgot to take a picture of mine when I took it out of the oven.)

Ingredients:
   Tomato Sauce:

    2 (28oz) cans diced tomatos
    2 tbs tomato paste
    1 small onion diced
    3 cloves garlic chopped
    1 tsp sugar
    1 tsp salt
    1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
    1/2 tsp black pepper
    1 tbs dried oregano
    1 tbs dried basil

    Filling:

    1 1/2 cups low fat cottage cheese
    1 cup skim milk ricotta cheese
    2 (12oz) bags frozen spinach
    1 egg
    1 (10.5 oz) bag shredded carrots
     1 box Barilla no boil lasagna noodles
     2 cups skim mozzarella cheese
     1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375°C
-In a pan saute onion and garlic with a spritz of nonstick cooking spray.
-When onions are translucent add tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, oregano and basil.  Let sauce simmer for 30 minutes.
-Spray lasagna pan with non stick cooking spray.  Add 1/3 sauce into the bottom of the pan.  Layer 1: 5 noodles, 1/2 filling mixture, 1 cup mozzerella cheese and 1/2 remaining sauce.  Layer 2: 5 noodles, remaining filling mixture, remaining mozzerella cheese. Layer 3: 5 noodles, remaining sauce and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.
-Cook for 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

*Makes 12 servings. Calories per serving: 293 Protein: 21g

Simple Vegetarian 'Tuna' Salad

When I first became a vegetarian I had to make the decision of whether or not I would still eat fish.  The only fish I ever enjoyed was Tuna, so I figured I would just cut out ALL meat all together.  Some days I still miss being able to make a quick tuna salad, so I came up with this quick and simple recipe substituting garbanzo beans for the protein source! I am not a low-carb person, but I do tend to cut out most bread and like to eat this salad on top of a bed of lettuce instead! Happy eating!

Simple Vegetarian 'Tuna' Salad

Ingredients:
    1 16oz can garbanzo beans, drained
    1/4 cup diced red onion
    1/4 cup diced celery
    2 tbs light mayonnaise
    1 tbs yellow mustard
    1 tsp lemon pepper
    1/4 tsp minced garlic

Directions:
-Drain garbanzo beans and place in a bowl.  Mash the garbanzo beans with a potato masher until mostly smooth.
-Dice onion and celery and add to bowl.  Mix.
-Add mayonnaise, mustard, lemon pepper and garlic to bowl.  Mix and taste.  Add other spices to your liking.

*Makes 2 servings. Calories per serving: 232 Protein: 12g

Corn on the cob made in an oven!

It is corn season and I couldn't be more excited about it.  Whenever I go to the store there is always a sale on corn. Last week was 5 ears of corn for $1. We got 5 because it's just me and my fiance in the house.  Once we got home I contemplated the best way to cook them.  Should I grill them, boil them, microwave them or was there another way.

Well all I can say is THANK YOU GOOGLE! I searched how too cook corn in the oven. My oh my it couldn't have been easier.  I was told you could cook it without soaking it, husks still on for 30 minutes at 350°. No Soaking required, well at first I was skeptical and thought I would end up catching the oven on fire but figured I would try it out anyway.  

So, I put the corn in the oven left it for 30 minutes and viola! The corn was done, and it was amazingly delicious.  No butter needed.  I did put a little cajun seasoning on top for 0 extra calories.  The corn was really sweet on it's own, and completely tender from being steamed in its own husk!

**One ear of corn has around 100 calories.

Vegetarian "Meatballs"

This is one of my favorite meals.  Nothing says comfort food like spaghetti and meatballs! I found this recipe a few years ago and it is still one of my favorites for vegetarian meatballs.  I tend to make the "meatballs" a little smaller so they can crisp up a little more. I've tried making them bigger and they end up being a little too soggy for my liking. These "meatballs" are delicious served over any kind of pasta and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese! (I originally found this recipe from cookin canucks blog.)

Vegetarian "Meatballs"

(photo from cookin canuks blog, I forgot to take my own when I made it.)

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cans (15 oz. each) Bush’s Cannellini Beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 roasted red bell pepper (2 halves), roughly chopped
• ½ medium yellow onion, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup chopped Italian parsley
• 1 ½ tsp dried oregano
• 1 egg
• ½ cup dried breadcrumbs
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 3 cups marinara sauce (canned or you can make your own!)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Thoroughly coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, combine beans and roasted red peppers. Pulse until chopped, but not smoothly pureed.
3. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized bowl and stir in grated onion, garlic, parsley, oregano, egg, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper until well combined.
4. Using a rounded 1 1/2 tablespoon portion of the bean mixture, form “meatballs” by rolling between the palms of your hands. Place the “meatballs” on the prepared baking sheet, spacing evenly.
5. Bake until the meatballs are firm to the touch and have developed a light golden brown coating, 15 to 20 minutes.
6. In a large saucepan, heat you favorite marinara sauce over medium heat until simmering. Add “meatballs” and stir to coat. Simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes.

Don't starve yourself

IMPORTANT: Temporary diets, yield temporary results. You don't have to starve yourself to lose weight.

If you want to lose weight and keep it off for good you need to change your whole lifestyle. You need to put in your full effort.  There is no quick fix, so stop restricting your calories so much and instead eat a healthy amount through out the day for your bodies needs.  That way your metabolism stays running high all day and can readily convert what you eat and drink into the energy your body needs. 

When you restrict your caloric intake for the day to something really low your body begins to use your muscle for energy.  So instead of losing that pesky fat you want to get rid of, you are losing your muscle.  Less muscle means a slower metabolism and a slower metabolism burns less calories throughout the day.  So now not only is your body getting rid of muscle, but it is burning less calories and you are losing less weight.  Does this sound like a good way to lose weight? NO! We want to keep our metabolism going strong all day and we want to lose fat not muscle!

If you want to lose more weight work on building more muscle. Our metabolic rate is partially due to the amount of muscle we have.  As said earlier less muscle means a slower metabolism, so if you have more muscle you will have a higher metabolism!  This is why younger people and men tend to have higher metabolisms. I know some women are afraid of weight training because they think they are going to look like a body builder but this is not the case (unless you are training to be a body builder, which takes years of dedication). So women, start doing weights it will do you a world of good in helping boost your metabolism!

In the end, eating too few calories can end up being just as bad for your body as eating too many calories is. It is important to remember that the less you consume, the less fat your body burns. So, eat healthy and skip the dieting.  Your body needs energy, let the food you put in it be that energy.