Go To Freezer Recipes

I love to cook, although during the week I def do not have time to prepare a whole meal. Between working 10 hours a day in the office, trying to squeeze the gym in twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as book club, wine tasting, and other obligations there's little time to be had to make a whole meal from scratch during the week. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I don't even walk through the door until 8pm and then to start making a whole meal would be impossible, we wouldn't eat until after 9 and then there's still showering, clean up and any preparations for the next day. We're also not into take out every night either.

My solution - freezer meals! I'm always telling everyone all about my strategy, it works so well for us. I would rather spend a whole day in the kitchen, making one huge mess, and freezing everything, than trying to squeeze in cooking on weeknights. I do try and cook sometimes on a Monday though if I'm home. Wednesdays, Mike is at softball for the summer, so it's just me. And we save Fridays & Saturdays for take out or anything else we have going on. This is how we fill in the weeknight gaps for meals.

I got these awesome freezer to oven ready gladware containers that are awesome, they keep everything fresh and it's so easy. And you can use them over and over again too. We just defrost one of the meals the night before and Mike pops it in the oven while I'm at the gym and then we can have 'real' healthy dinner when I get home. The other great part is that I got the 8x8 size containers, which is usually 4 servings so just two nights of a meal. Before when I would make a recipe we would have to eat the same leftovers over and over again to use it up. This way I get two sets of meals to use from one recipe,  which makes my efforts go even further.

I thought I would try to compile a list of some of our favorite meals that have frozen well and still tasty yummy. Most of them, hmm probably all of them, are skinny Taste recipes, really can't beat them!

• Spinach Lasagna Rolls 
• Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana
• Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole
• Skinny Chicken Enchiladas
• Lighter Eggplant Parmesan
• Cheeseburger Casserole
• Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas with Creamy Salsa Verde
• Skinny Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese

I'm sure I've got some of these and others in my freezer right now which make for the perfect weeknight meal! 

Summer May Be Over...

But that doesn't mean you can't still enjoy a good BBQ! In my family we grill all year round. My Dad is out there in rain, snow, sleet, or any other kind of rain inclement, the only thing that can stop him is running out of propane gas for the grill. Although now that I am thinking about it, we didn't actually BBQ this meal. We had an indoor BBQ last night, Mike for whatever reason hates to use our BBQ, which is really quite annoying, but anyway. He wanted to make the hamburgers on our grill pan that he recently discovered (when they were transporting Nick & Stephs gifts down this week, he noticed they got a grill pan, and inquired as to if we had one, we've had one for over 2 years...). I will say the burgers came out really good in the grill pan, although it could have been enhanced by the fact that we cooked the bacon in that pan first.

Anyway I digress. I made this salad once before and Mike absolutely loved it. The best part is it is so low fat, you can have an entire cup of the salad for only 4 weight watchers points, making it a huge win in my book and it's delicious! This salad is perfect for any bbq year round, or even for packing up with your lunch for work. I already can't wait to eat the leftovers! As a note, I used a pint of cherry tomatoes quartered in my salad since they were on sale, buy one get one free, and it worked perfect instead of using larger tomatoes and dicing them.

BLT Macaroni Salad 
Source: Skinny Taste (4 ww pt + for 1 cup!)

8 oz uncooked elbows
4 slices 25% reduced fat center cut bacon
2 large ripe tomatoes, beefsteak or vine ripe, diced small
4 tbsp reduced fat mayonnaise (I used Hellman's)
salt and fresh pepper to taste
2 cups baby spinach

In a large skillet cook bacon on medium-low heat until crispy on both sides. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package directions. Chop tomatoes and combine it along with any accumulated juice with mayonnaise and pepper in a medium bowl. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water to cool. Combine pasta with tomatoes and spinach mixing well. Toss in bacon right before serving.

Summer Time & Lemons

We managed to squeeze in our June Dinner Diva's night. Janet was ging to be leaving for Germany for the month so it was nice that we were able to get together before she left. It was just the three of us again as Gina is still out on 'maternity leave.' Maybe by August we'll be back to the 4 of us again. In any case we had a wonderful dinner at Janet's house this month.

For this month's theme Janet chose "Lemon & Lime." All of the dishes had to contain one of these citrus fruits in it. Which is perfect for the summer time, a refreshing juice. Michele and I traded, since she prefers to make appetizers versus baking which I don't mind at all. She started us off with these delicious zucchini fritters I guess you would call them, and they had a delicious sauce on top of them, it was like a yogurt sauce, that had the lemon it. I loved them, I saw a similar recipe on Skinny Taste (of course) I can't wait to make them myself, hopefully I'll have some of my own homegrown zucchini to use to make them with. I def want to get the recipe from her on what she used for the sauce, even though she said she made it using the wrong yogurt, it was still really good.

Everything Janet made for the main course was absolutely delicious as well. We had a cucumber and tomato salad, a shaved asparagus side, even a cold pasta salad with cucumbers as well and finally the most deliciously moist chicken I think I have ever had. To prepare the chicken it was butterflied which ensures that it cooks evenly, I never would have known what a difference this would make. The cold, raw shaved asparagus salad was also fantastic, I never would have known raw asparagus could be so good.

Finally for dessert I finished our meal with Skinny Honey Lemon Bars. I was originally going to make a coconut lime cake I had seen, but when these lemon bars were posted the week of our dinner I took it as a sign, and I'm glad I went with these bars. They were light and delicious, and overall pretty easy to make. I had wanted to take a picture of the bars I made with the leftovers but someone ate them before I could. Although he did report that he liked them. Next time I'll have to take a picture!

Skinny Honey Lemon Bars (5 pt +)
Source & Photo: Skinny Taste

For the crust:
6 tbsp white whole wheat flour
6 tbsp all purpose flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar (not packed)
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp kosher salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits and chilled
1 tbsp fat free Greek yogurt

For the filling:
1/2 cup honey
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
2 tbsp white whole wheat flour
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest
5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp powdered sugar, for dusting on top

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare an 8-inch square pan by lightly spraying the inside of the pan with baking spray before lining it with 2 long sheets of aluminum foil folded to fit inside and placed perpendicular to each other in the pan.  This is so you can get the bars out after they are cooked, so don't skip this step.Cut the sheets long enough to hang over the sides to use as handles to lift out the baked lemon bars before cutting into squares.  Spray the inside of the foil lined pan with baking spray.

For the crust: In a food processor combine the flours, brown sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, baking powder and salt and process until well combined.  Add the butter and yogurt to the flour mixture at once and pulse at least a dozen times before turning out into the prepared pan and pressing into an even layer. Bake until evenly browned about 20-22 minutes.  Cool the crust on a metal rack for at least 15 - 20 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

Prepare the filling by whisking together the eggs, honey, lemon zest, flour and the salt in a medium bowl. Stir in the lemon juice and pour over the cooled crust.  Bake until filling is set, about 22 minutes.  Cool completely before lifting the bars out of the pan with the foil.  Cut into 9 squares and dust with confectioners sugar.

Recipe for My Bridget

I'm posting this recipe for two reasons, one because it was really good, but two (and the main reason) because I think Bridget will really like it. It seems like it is right up her alley. I know she loves Skinny Taste recipes as much as I do (who doesn't?) and because I am pretty sure she loves all the ingredients in it. The original recipe calls for using escarole but I don't have any of that in the house, but I did have baby spinach which worked just as perfect, and I know Bridget loves spinach!!! 

This was one of those throw together meals since I had all the ingredients in the house and had to use up chicken sausage links that I had defrosted. Mike must have really liked it because he went back for seconds right away. My only problem is I am a terrible Italian wife because we did not have any parmesan cheese in the house but we managed to survive without it. He said this could def go in the make again pile.

Penne with Italian Chicken Sausage, Escarole and Beans (pts + 8)

Source: Skinnytaste

10 oz Ronzoni Smart taste pasta (or whole wheat or low carb)

1 tsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

12 oz uncooked Italian chicken sausage, removed from casing

1/2 cup fat free, low sodium chicken broth

1 cup cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 

1 medium head (7-8 cups) escarole rinsed and torn into bite sized pieces - Or baby spinach!

1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, or to taste (optional)

salt and fresh pepper to taste

Rinse escarole (or spinach) and tear into bite sized pieces.Cook pasta according to package directions for al dente in a large pot of salted water. Reserve 1/2 cup water before draining. While pasta water boils, heat a large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Add olive oil; when hot add onions, garlic, salt and pepper until soft, about 4-5 minutes. Add sausage, breaking up with a wooden spoon and cook until golden, about 6 to 8 minutes. Set aside in a dish. Add chicken broth and beans to the skillet.  Add the escarole; stir and cook about 4 minutes or until wilted. Gently stir in sausage, pasta, red pepper flakes, 1/2 cup of the reserved water or more if needed and grated Parmesan. Adjust salt and pepper if needed and toss well; transfer to a large serving bowl. Enjoy with some extra cheese on the side.

Mother's Day Feast

This year for Mothers Day I wanted to treat the Mom's to a nice meal where they could relax and didn't have to do anything since they deserve it! We settled on coming over our house for brunch. I've never hosted a brunch before but boy was I looking forward to it. I quickly researched tons of recipes from my favorite website to prepare for the meal. I found so many I wanted to make it was hard to narrow it down, I really didn't do a good job narrowing it down either. I could have fed a small army with all the food I made, it was way too much for just 7 people but it was worth it.

I made so many different dishes from french toast, to eggs, to casseroles, baked goods and more. Most of the menu was inspired by Skinny Taste (of course) but there were a few other items on the menu as well. I don't think there was anything we were missing!

• Broccoli and Cheese Mini Egg Omelets
• Make-Over Breakfast Sausage and Mushroom Strata
• Bananas Fosters Topped Overnight French Toast
• Ricotta Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins
• WW Blueberry Streusel Muffins
• WW Mini Zucchini Quiche
• Vanilla Blueberry Pound Cake
• Ore Ida Potatoes O'Brian 
• Turkey Sausage Links & Center Cut Bacon 
• Plus my mom brought fruit salad and Long Island Bagels
• And my Mother-in-Law brought Red, White and Blue Trifle for dessert 

All of the food was so delicious. Everyone particularly enjoyed the Bananas Foster overnight French Toast and the overnight breakfast strata. I think those were the two biggest hits. The French toast really was incredible, I highly recommend that dish. But I also loved the mini zucchini quiches and the mini blueberry strudel muffins too. 

The men after Brunch passed out in their usual spots in a food coma downstairs. All of them sleeping on the couch as usual. My dad is sleeping too on the left althought you can't really see him.

We had such a great day. I can't wait to do it again next year.
Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom and Mother-in-Law a girl could ask for!!! 

Blog-worthy Casserole

While I have been doing a fair share of cooking, I have not put any of the great recipes I've tried on my blog lately. I'd say about 99% of the recipes I make lately are all from Skinny Taste. Anyone that has talked to me about cooking knows how much I love this website and how many great recipes I have tried. Way too many to list or blog about since it's just a straight replica from her website. I've even started a binder now to keep track of all my recipes of hers that I have been making.

I thought this recipe deserved to be an exception and needed to make it on my blog so I could share it with my friends and family in case they want to enjoy it as well. Even Mike said he loved it without me even asking and said it was delicious! It was a little intricate to make with the different steps, and multiple pots and pans to make everything. I did cheat a little and use jarred sauce in mine but it was just as good. It was the perfect cheesy rice combination with meat and peas, I even loved the ground turkey and chicken sausage it in (it does need both so don't skip the sausage!).

I am already planning to make this to bring over to our friends Mike and Sarah's house when she has the baby and we get to go visit, it's the perfect change from bringing over baked ziti or pasta. It says it freezes well also which is great, maybe next time it'd be worth it to make a double batch, oh the possibilities! For now I have been loving the leftovers!!

Sicilian Rice Ball Casserole
Source & Photo: Skinny Taste  (Points+: 9 pts)

I didn't even get to take my own pictures because we devoured it so quickly!!! 

2 cups uncooked long grain rice
4 cups water
1 (2.5 oz) sweet Italian sausage link, casing removed
10 oz (.65 lbs) 93% lean ground turkey (1/2 package)
1/4 cup onion, minced
salt and fresh pepper
5 oz frozen peas
16 oz homemade tomato sauce
1/3 cup egg beaters or egg whites
1/2 cup pecorino romano
cooking spray
4 tbsp seasoned breadcrumbs, divided
1 1/4 cup shredded part skim mozzarella

Cook rice in water according to package directions. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, sauté sausage meat; cook until brown breaking up into pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Add turkey and onions and cook until browned, breaking up as it cooks. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then add peas and 8 oz tomato sauce and simmer on low, covered, about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°. In a large bowl combine rice, pecorino romano, eggs, and 3-4 oz tomato sauce and mix well. Rice should be a bit sticky. Spray a 9 x 12 casserole dish with cooking spray, making sure to spray sides too. Add 2 tbsp breadcrumbs to the dish and roll around to coat the bottom and sides.

Take half of the rice mixture (a little more if needed) and cover the bottom of the dish and up the sides; press to form the bottom layer. Add the meat and peas.  Sprinkle mozzarella on top. Top with remaining rice and press until even. Top with remaining 4 oz of sauce, remaining 2 tbsp breadcrumbs, and remaining mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 more minutes. Cut into 8 pieces.

I Made Pancakes!

In my house growing up there were two meals that we left to my Dad to make, breakfast and BBQ. Those were the only two meals he ever made, he did manage to do pretty well at those two. Mom was never one to mess with making breakfast, not that it's overly complicated or anything. But there was one time when she tried to serve me a raw pancake that oozed out and my friend a burnt one. I think from then I was turned off from making pancakes. Luckily for me, I married someone that makes a really good breakfast too. Breakfast has always been Mike's claim to fame, if it doesn't work out for him in the corporate world he should open up "Mike's Breakfast Shack."

I've attempted pancakes before but they never turn out well, but today I finally got them down! Now normally I would have just waited for Mike to get up and beg him to make me pancakes but he slept really late today and I was getting hungry waiting for him so I went for it. We'd also normally just use the box mix to make pancakes but I decided to make them from scratch. I wasn't even going to blog about this recipe, it's just pancakes after all, how special could they be? Well I was so proud of my delicious pancakes I decided they were worthy of posting the recipe. Mike even agreed they were really good!  I would highly recommend giving this recipe a shot, it was so easy to make them from scratch and the proportions of everything was perfect, from the chips to using a quarter cup to pour out the batter.  This recipe is Rachel proof :-)

Chocolate Chip Banana Pancakes
Source: Skinny Taste
Servings: 6 • Serving Size: 2 pancakes • Points+: 5 pts*

1 cup unbleached white or white whole wheat flour (I did a blend of both)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large banana, ripe, mashed well
1 cup 1% milk (or almond milk)
3 large egg whites
2 tsp oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
cooking spray

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine milk, egg white, oil, vanilla and mashed bananas in another medium sized bowl and mix until smooth.  Combine wet ingredients with the dry and mix well with a wooden spoon until there are no more dry spots. Don't over-mix. Heat a large skillet on medium-low heat. If you are using a heart shaped pancake mold, you will want to spray it lightly with cooking spray so the batter doesn't stick to it. Lightly spray a skillet with cooking spray, place the mold on the hot skillet and pour 1/4 cup of pancake batter. Add 1 teaspoon of chocolate chips in each pancake. When the pancake starts to bubble and the edges begin to set, flip the pancakes. Repeat with the remainder of the batter.

Makes about 3 cups of batter which yields 12 pancakes. *Syrup extra points and calories.

Mini Chocolate Chip Goodness

One of the benefits of working from home is that if before work I feel like whipping up something for breakfast I have my whole kitchen at my fingertips. I was originally planning to make these muffins to bring into the office one day but never got a chance to make them. When I was craving them before work I decided to make a quick batch since they are ridiculously easy to make, just add all the ingredients together, stir, no fancy equipment or lots of ingredients needed. My awesome Mother-in-Law also recently gave me a mini muffin (and jumbo muffin) tin when I had mentioned I didn't have one, so thoughtfully picked one up for me. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to try out my new muffin tin.  Of course this is another win for Skinny Taste. These muffins were absolutely delicious, and require a great deal of self restraint to not go back and want to keep eating them, especially the mini size that I made!

Ricotta Cheese Chocolate Chip Muffins

Source: Skinny Taste

2 cups self rising cake flour (Presto)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light

3/4 cup sugar

3 large egg whites

8 oz fat free ricotta cheese

1/2 tbsp vanilla

9 tbsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels

Preheat oven to 375°. Mix flour and baking soda. Mix and cream butter and sugar. Beat egg whites and add to butter/sugar mixture. Mix in ricotta cheese, then flour mixture and vanilla. Fold in chocolate chips and spoon into lined muffin tins about 3/4 filled. Bake at 375° for 15-16 minutes and let cool.

Mini Muffins WW p+ = 3 / Full Size Muffins WW p+ = 5

Rockin Mac & Cheese

I have yet to come across a bad recipe on my favorite website, Skinny Taste. I love everything that I've made on there, and I've made quite a few recipes. This one was worthy of posting because of how much we enjoyed it. When I was finished making it before I put it in the oven we tried some and Mike said right then and there that this was a definite make again recipe. Which coming from him says a lot. He is always complaining about how the sauces in a lot of recipes don't get thick enough and they're too watery. I was sure to keep this one simmering for a little longer and it seemed to help do the trick because this sauce was the perfect consistency and not watery at all. I added some chicken sausage to mine as well and it was the perfect addition. I enjoyed the leftovers this week and I already can't wait to make it again. This was the perfect low fat macaroni and cheese recipe and I loved the broccoli added in too! Highly recommend giving this one a shot.

Skinny Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese (8 WW pp+)
Source: Skinny Taste

12 oz high fiber elbows like Ronzoni Smart Taste
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp light butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup minced onion
2 cups skim milk
1 cup fat free chicken broth (vegetarians use vegetable broth)
8 oz (2 cups) Sargento shredded reduced fat sharp cheddar
salt and fresh pepper to taste
12 oz fresh broccoli florets (I used pre-cut bag)
1/8 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
cooking spray

Cook pasta and broccoli together in a large pot of salted water, according to package directions for al dente (or slightly under cook 2 minutes). Spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 375°. In a large, heavy skillet, melt butters. Add onion and cook over low heat about 2 minutes, add flour and cook another minute, or until the flour is golden and well combined. Add milk and chicken broth and whisk, raising heat to medium-high until it comes to a boil; cook about 5 minutes or until the sauce becomes smooth and thick. Season with salt and pepper.Once the sauce is thick, remove from heat, add cheese and mix well until cheese is melted. Adjust salt and pepper to taste, add cooked macaroni and broccoli and mix well.

Option - Pour into prepared baking dish. Top with grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Spray a little more cooking spray on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then broil for a few minutes to get the breadcrumbs golden.

Skinny Brunch

I don't think I ever mentioned how much I absolutely love the website Skinny Taste. This website is amazing, every recipe I've tried on there has turned out absolutely delicious and beyond my expectations. They've all been incredibly easy to make, but the best part is that the recipes are all healthy and Weight Watchers friendly (with the points included and all). My old roommate Carmen used to, I don't want to say make fun of me, because that's not what it was, he'd comment that of course  when I used all my fat free ingredients things would be low fat, but this website is not about using all fat free and artificial ingredients, it's just about using healthy ingredients and not everything has to be fat free, it's all about moderation which I love, because I wouldn't consider most of her recipes to be "diet" anything - just healthy and delicious!

I tried to go back and see all of the great recipes I've made from this website but I guess I never added them on here, which is surprising because everything I've made on there has turned out fantastic and I absolutely plan to make again in the future. I know some of the recipes I've tried already included:

Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice (although mine was a little too spicy) 

Sesame Encrusted Chicken Tenders and Brown Fried Rice - Delicious!

My masterpiece Chicken Cobb Salad that took an hour to make but was so worth it!

Lemon Pepper Shrimp Scampi 

Lemon Feta Chicken served with Orzo with Broccoli

Crock Pot Minestrone Soup - My first time making minestrone

Even 3 Bean Turkey Chili, although it wasn't as good as my mom's, still delicious

This one was REALLY good, Mike LOVED it - Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmagina

Mike even made Tuscan White Beans with Spinach, Shrimp & Feta  served over Orso for us

Even Light Macaroni & Cheese was good, the spinach was the perfect addition

I also just made her Lighter Eggplant Parmesan and it was incredible, I meant to blog about it but we ate it all before I could even take a picture, it was really good!

I really need to start keeping better track of all the Skinny Taste recipes I make because as I said they're all so good and I absolutely want to make all of them again in the future. I'm sure I've made others as well but I can't keep track of them all. That website is always my first place that I look for planning out my menu for the week and it's better than any cookbook I have.

So it was no surprise that when my Mom told me that her and my "Aunt" were coming over for brunch to see how Rocky was doing I looked to my favorite website for inspiration on what to make. I settled on Broccoli and Cheese Mini Egg Omelets and a Zucchini Casserole. These two recipes could not have been any easier to make. The prep work was so easy and the outcome was magnificent. I absolutely loved the serving portion of the egg omelets, this was the best brunch idea. Plus I wound up eating the leftovers for breakfast in the morning the following week, it was so easy to pop them in the microwave and heat them up quick. The Zucchini Casserole was also a huge hit my aunt even asked me for some to bring home with her she loved it so much. I think next time I would even try cooking it in a bunt pan for a different presentation and to make it easier to cut. But with the prep work with these being so easy, it was low in weight watchers points and huge on taste, I would make these both for myself to have in the house anytime!

Broccoli and Cheese Mini Egg Omelets (2 p+) 
Source: Skinny Taste

4 cups broccoli florets
4 whole eggs
1 cup egg whites
1/4 cup reduced fat cheddar
1/4 cup good grated cheese like pecorino romano
1 tbs olive oil
salt and fresh pepper
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°. Steam broccoli with a little water for about 6-7 minutes.
When broccoli is cooked, mash into smaller pieces and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix well. Spray cupcake tin with cooking spray and spoon broccoli mixture evenly into 9 tins. In a medium bowl, beat egg whites, eggs, grated cheese, salt and pepper. Pour into the greased tins over broccoli until a little more than 3/4 full. Top with grated cheddar and bake in the oven until cooked, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately. Wrap any leftovers in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator to enjoy during the week.

Zucchini Casserole (3 p+)
Source: Skinny Taste

4 cups grated zucchini
1 cup bisquick (using heart smart)
1 small onion, grated
3 egg whites, 1 whole egg
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 tsp parsley

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix everything together in a bowl. Spray a pie dish or a casserole with Pam and pour mixture. Bake approximately 45 minutes, until golden brown. Put a toothpick in the center to test if it is done. If it comes out clean, it is ready. Divide into 12 equal parts.

Another Winner

I meant to post this one before the Holidays but we just got so busy I never got a chance to. Mike does help out in the kitchen occasionally, he's most known for making his sauce and meatballs, which I do enjoy, I always leave that one to him, and he seems pretty happy to be the one in the family that makes the sauce in meatballs. Sometimes he'll help get dinner started or throw in some simple things like chicken nuggets but he's not usually one for making an intricate recipes on a regular basis. Lucky for me he agreed to help make this recipe for dinner while I went to my step class at the gym. It was wonderful coming home to a delicious meal on the table after the gym.

This is another recipe from Skinny Taste, which is def my all time favorite cooking blog, all of her recipes are absolutely delicious and they are healthy too (even weight watchers friendly). I also recently made her Chicken Rollatini with Spinach alla Parmigiana, which got rave reviews as well from both Mike and my brother. I can't take any credit for making this one but Mike said it was really simple. I loved the flavor of it, the feta cheese with the saltiness really complimented it well. We served it over some orso which went great. It was so easy to make that even Mike didn't seem to mind too much, which makes it a great addition to any quick, mealtime rotation.

Tuscan White Beans with Spinach, Shrimp and Feta
Source: Skinnytaste

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined (weight after peeled)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup low sodium, fat-free chicken broth
15 oz can no-salt added cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (Eden)
5 cups baby spinach
1 1/2 oz crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

Heat 1 tsp oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook shrimp until just opaque, about 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Heat remaining oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat and add onion, garlic and sage; cook 4 minutes stirring occasionally until golden. Stir in vinegar and cook 30 seconds. Add broth, bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes. Stir in beans and spinach and cook until the spinach wilts, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in shrimp. Top with feta cheese and divide in 4 bowls.