Happy Monday! 😀 I hope everyone had wonderful weekends & enjoyed honoring all the mothers in your life. Lily’s wiggly butt and kisses were enough to make me the happiest mom in the world 😉
It was a wonderful weekend which makes starting a work week more than a drag. Oh well, it was a 3-day weekend…I shouldn’t be complaining 😉 Any weekend with friends, family, wine, and home cooking…with some exercise thrown in for good measures, is bound to be a good one. I have to get the name of this wine from my mom…it was SO good.
This meal was the healthy entree my mom whipped up to follow-up her show-stopping antipasto appetizer. My mom LOVES Taste of Home recipes. We are both subscribed to their daily email list serve — some recipes catch my eye more than others. While I don’t remember this one coming into my inbox, it was one my mom saved to make while I was home. Not surprising seeing as it’s really, really healthy. And luckily, it was also really, really good 🙂
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Eggplant Zucchini Bolognese slightly adapted from Taste of Home
1 lb whole wheat penne pasta
1 small eggplant, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 medium yellow summer squash, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb lean ground beef (90% lean)
28 oz tomato puree
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp brown sugar
8 tsp grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the eggplant, zucchini, squash, onion, oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Transfer to two 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425 F for 20-25 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions.
In a large skillet, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in the tomato puree, Italian seasoning and brown sugar. Drain pasta; stir in tomato mixture and roasted vegetables. Sprinkle with cheese. Yield: 8 servings (1 1/2 cups each).
Nutrition Information (per serving): 425 calories, 12.4 g. fat (3.5 g. saturated fat), 51 mg. cholesterol, 400 mg. sodium, 56.6 g. carbohydrate, 10.6 g. fiber, 27.4 g.protein
Result: A hearty, delicious meal! My brother even rewarmed this for a late dinner after getting off work and he loved it, too. And uh, he’s a picky eater 🙂 I love all the fiber and the fact that this is a low-sodium meal! It’s also plentiful in protein and good fats — a great, balanced meal! Enjoy!
[/print_this]And a late, but fun, weekly menu!
Weekly Menu: May 9th-12th
- Monday: Whole Wheat Buttermilk Waffles
- Tuesday: Mango-Habanero Glazed Salmon
- Wednesday: leftovers
- Thursday: Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing and grilled shrimp
In completely unrelated news, Mr. Prevention and I booked a trip to Singapore and Thailand this weekend! We will be going for 10 days over my birthday and the 4th of July weekend. I’m very excited! We have a friend, Lena, who is currently working in Singapore so it will be wonderful to visit her and have a “local” tour guide 🙂 Thailand was my honeymoon dream destination….we went to Puerto Vallarta instead. But since we’re making the 20+ hour flight to Singapore, I figured a short flight to Thailand only made sense…right? 🙂 I’m very excited! We’ve been talking about planning this trip for the last year, so it’s great to see it come to fruition!
Question: What’s your dream travel destination?
Have a great week!
A trip over the date of our party?! WHAT?!?! haha, no, it’s ok, Singapore sounds fantastic and after reading Sophia’s blog I would LOVE to go there!! I can’t wait to read some posts from Singapore, and hear all about it.
I’m glad you had a nice weekend in Chicago, with the family. This recipe sounds fabulous.
Yay!! 😀 We will find lots of good food here….won’t promise that it will be healthy but we can walk it off :).
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I will save up all my calories! I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!!!
What a great trip you have planned!! Can’t wait to read about it 🙂
Singapore! That’s amazing! You’ll have so much fun…
My dream destination is Greece I think… I’ve heard it’s just gorgeous and the history in that place is amazing…
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Greece is…stunning. You will love it!
That sounds like an amazing trip.
I would love to go to Australia or the Great Wall of China…those are two of my trip fantasies.
I love the idea of that pasta – I think it would be great subbing the ground beef for lentils like you did the other day.
Thanks for sharing.
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I totally agree! Lentils in a red sauce are delicious as I now know 🙂
Sounds like a really amazing trip!!! My dream vacation is to Namibia, where my husband’s parents helped start an orphange.
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That is the sweetest thing…it sounds like your in-laws have hearts of gold 🙂
OMG that sounds like one heck of an amazing trip! I’m so excited for you!
wow! How exciting and amazing for you! I have always wanted to get to Australia for as long as I can remember. Maybe some day!
i saw the pic of your mom’s anitpasto salad on fb…and omg, i was droooooooling! lol
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It was seriously amazing…I’m craving it now!!
OH MY GOSH, THAT LOOKS AMAZING! Have to add this to my “my try” recipes!
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I hope you like it 🙂
How exciting!! I cant wait to hear all about it. 🙂
My dream trip would be to Ireland. Or Italy, but Im part Irish, so I’ve always wanted to go there.
I am SOOOOO excited for you!!!! What a great trip you have to look forward to! THAT must make coming back to work after the weekend a bit easier too! My dream trip? Tuscany. One day I’ll get there. Have a great day Nicole!
That is so exciting Nicole! I’ll be lucky if we go to Wisconsin this year 🙁
Glad you had fun at home and we had good weather for you – even if Saturday was a bit on the chilly side.
I want to go to Italy with my husband! It was going to be a 10th anniversary trip, but health issues got in the way – maybe we’ll make it for our 15th!
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I hope so! You guys deserve it 🙂
I’m so jealous! That trip is no doubt going to be amazing.
That is so exciting about your upcoming vacation with your hubby!! I hope you two have a fabulous time, Nicole!
The eggplant zucchini bolognese looks amazing…your mom is quite a cook!
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Thank you! And yes! She is 🙂
Sounds like a great trip..can’t wait to hear all about it…
Pasta looks yum!
I have signed up for the Healthy Cooking daily email from Taste of Home. They send out some great recipes every day. I’ve seen this one but haven’t gotten a chance to try it yet – I love the pasta recipes that really use veggies to help bulk up the serving size!
Love the eggplant pasta dish, it looks delicious! And what an amazing dream destination. I would love to go to Hawaii 😀
That looks delicious and super comforting 🙂 I love a good pasta dish.
Dream honeymoon? That’s a toughy! I guess Australia. I really want to go there some day.
Singapore and Thailand!! What a lucky girl! There are so many places I would love to travel it’s hard to narrow it down. But I think Brazil is on the top of my list!
The pasta looks super yummy! I love hearty tomato sauces!
Saving this one! I have eggplant, zucchini, and squash growing in my garden right now!