Healthy, Easy, and CHEAP!!

I realize the title could be seen in a very bad light by those of us with a dirty mind. 

But I'm talking about RECIPES!! 

Once a week, I'm going to give you two recipes that will be healthy and cheap and as easy as I can find. :)

Hopefully what this will do is start to give all of us a portfolio of recipes that we can rely on to keep us on track. 

So here is recipe # 1!

Mama's Homemade Ziti!

From: www.hearthealthyonline.com

1 pound 95%-lean ground beef

2 cups shredded carrot

2 cans reduced-fat and reduced-sodium condensed tomato soup

2 1/2 cups water

2 1/2 cups dried cut ziti pasta (or just use elbow macaroni)

2 teaspoons dried basil, crushed

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese 

Directions:

In a 4-quart Dutch oven, (or any big pot with 2 handles) cook ground beef and shredded carrot over medium heat until meat is brown. Drain off fat. Stir tomato soup, the water, uncooked ziti, dried basil,  onion powder, and garlic powder into meat mixture in Dutch oven.

Bring mixture to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and cook about 25 minutes or until ziti is tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in fresh basil (if using) and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle individual servings with Parmesan cheese.

Nutritional Information:

Servings Per Recipe 6 

cal.420, Fat, 11 g, sat. fat 4 g, carb. 49 g, fiber 2 g, sodium (mg) 649,

Recipe # 2! 

Chicken and Dumplings Casserole:

From: www.foodhero.org/recipes

3 tablespoons oil

1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)

1 cup chopped celery (about 2 stalks)

1 cup chopped carrots (about 2 small)

3 cups low sodium chicken broth

3 tablespoons flour

2 cups cooked chicken, bite sized

1 cup frozen peas

salt and pepper

DUMPLINGS

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1⁄4 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1⁄3 cup non-fat or 1% milk

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet and saute onions, carrots and celery until soft.

Add a small amount of unheated broth to the flour and stir until smooth. Slowly stir in remaining broth and add to skillet. Stir over medium heat as the mixture thickens.

Add the chicken, peas, salt and pepper. Heat on low while making dumplings.

Dumplings: sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a mixing bowl.

Add the egg to the milk and beat until well blended. Stir into the flour until well combined.

Pour the chicken mixture into a lightly oiled or sprayed casserole dish. Drop dumpling dough by spoonfuls onto chicken mixture. (makes about 8 dumplings)

Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until the dumplings are golden brown.

Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours.

I'm sorry, I couldn't get nutritional information for this recipe. But if you plug the recipe into an app like "my fitness pal" you should get all the info. 

Hope you have fun making and eating these yummy recipes!! :)