WIAW: Veggie Enchilada Stuffed Shells

Hiya!

Well, it's that time again.

I did not feel like my breakfast or lunch were that interesting for What I Ate Wednesday, but dinner was soooo good!  We'll get to that in a moment.

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Breakfast: Fruit Shake & Egg Muffin

I've been having trouble wanting to eat my fruits lately, so I've been drinking them.  Whatever works, right?
I made a fruit shake containing: 1/2 of a frozen banana, a few frozen mango chunks, fresh strawberries and almond milk.  I also had a fried egg on half of an English muffin, because I can't stop...and I won't stop.

I love eggs!

Lunch: Pizza-dilla, Broccoli & Veggie Straws

I had brought grapes for my snack today, but totally did not want them (see above for weird fruit aversion).  By the time lunch rolled around, I was pretty hungry.  I made us some pizza quesadillas!  Or as I like to call them, pizza-dillas!  In a 100 calorie wrap I put marinara, Italian blend cheese, a few pepperonis, black olives and mushrooms.  Yum!! On the side, some leftover broccoli and veggie straws.

P.M. Snack: Bar

For snack I had this tasty, yet tiny snack bar.  It did the trick.

Dinner: Veggie Enchilada Stuffed Shells

Agghh!!!  Cheesy goodness!
My favorite things to stuff in enchiladas is sweet potatoes, spinach and black beans (sounds weird, tastes fantastic!), so since I had some jumbo pasta shells, I thought I'd make some different enchiladas...

They turned out great!  If you are looking for a satisfying meatless meal, this recipe is for you!

Veggie Enchilada Stuffed Shells

Serves 6 

18-20 jumbo pasta shells

2 small-medium sweet potatoes, cooked until fork tender

1 medium zucchini

1 cup frozen spinach, thawed

1 cup diced mushrooms

1 cup diced onion

1 can green chilies

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can enchilada sauce

1 cup shredded cheese

Boil water and cook shells until al dente. Cook onion and zucchini in a skillet until tender (5 minutes). Add mushrooms and cook for 2 more minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 425 F degrees. 

Add all ingredients (except cheese and enchilada sauce) in a large bowl and mix. Season with salt and pepper and/or taco seasoning to taste. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan and move it around to coat the bottom. Stuff filling in each shell, until it's gone and lay them in the pan (filling side up). Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. 

Top with sour cream and cilantro, if desired. 

After dinner, I walked Bizzy around the neighborhood..and had some unpictured frozen yogurt.  Use your imagination on that one ;)

Have a great Wednesday and beyond!

Sort of Skinny Cheese Stuffed Taco Burgers

Happy Friday, bloggy readers!  I got a good one for you today.

This recipe is way too good not to share, despite my hastily taken photos ;)

What?  I was hungry (shocking, I know).

I make lunch over at my parents' house for the family often on Sunday afternoons.  My cheese stuffed burgers are usually requested.

I do have a bit of a secret about these decadent burgers.  They are kind of low fat.  I think I'll keep it to myself and just accept the compliments about the burger in all its deliciousness.

So, I took my basic recipe and vamped it up a bit to make a sort of skinny cheese stuffed taco burger.

This burger was inspired by this incredibly unhealthy looking burger that I pinned on Pinterest a while back: Taco Burger.

Sort of Skinny Cheese Stuffed Taco Burgers
makes 6-8 burgers (depending on how big you want them)

For the burgers:
1 lb extra lean ground beef (90-93% lean)
1 lb 85% lean ground beef
2-3 tbsp taco seasoning
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
Lauging Cow cheese wedges (I used the new queso fresco & chipotle flavor)

Mix your two meats together with your hands, add in the taco seasoning and worcestershire sauce and combine.  Patty 6-8 burgers and make them really, really thin.  Cut a cheese wedge in half and sort of roll it in a ball.  Place cheese in the middle of super thin patty and fold the patty all around it (making a little pocket).  Smash it down with your hand to make it the size you want it.  The cheese will stay in tact if you are careful ;)

Fire up your grill; I prefer using gas for these burgers.  Put the grill on medium high heat and cook the burgers to your liking.

For assembly:
light buns (we used the Whitewheat brand)
guacamole (I used the 100 cal packs--1/2 a pack for each burger)
salsa
lettuce
taco chips

Assemble your burger by layering bun bottom, guac, burger, lettuce, salsa, crunched up tortilla chips & bun top.

Sooooo good!

See the cheese?  It's calling your name.

Well, hello. This is my first blog post. I have been avidly reading blogs for a few years and decided I need to try my hand at it. Well, I did a wine and cheese pairing party for my Mom's birthday this weekend, so let's start with that. My mom is my best friend and we have been wanting to have or attend a wine based event, but it seems as though there are very few options in our area. So I hit the Internet and made 4 wine pairings based on some googling.

The cheese went over really well, but we did not have the best wines. Most everyone likes a sweeter wine than what we got, but that's okay. Live and learn. I guess I should have sprung for bottles over ten dollars...Well, I'm frugal I guess.
Made a flourless chocolate cake and snickerdoodles for dessert. It was quite tasty.


Thanks for reading my first post! I hope to have more to share this week.