One of the common dilemmas these days is that the good things are usually hard to come by, while the bad things are easy to get. To some degree, that’s usually the problem with our diets. It’s hard to find the perfect balance between healthy and delicious.
What if I tell you I can offer you not just one but two healthy but surely scrumptious meals? I think you’ll like that. I mean, who doesn’t want to eat delicious food? Well, don’t you worry because we’ve got you covered! We’ll be introducing you to two healthy meals that will surely tickle your taste buds!
Mouthwatering Meatless Lasagna
Yes, you read that right. Meatless lasagna! If you’re having a hard time acquainting your kids with their sworn enemies – vegetables – then this will probably make them eat their greens. It would be easy as pie, or, to a certain degree, at least.
Before starting, you need to get your ingredients ready. You’ll need the following:
Kids’ enemies or the antagonists of this show — The Vegetables:
2 large shredded carrots
2 diced medium zucchini
1 diced medium yellow onion
1 diced medium red bell pepper
1 cup of sliced portobello mushrooms
4 ounces of fresh baby spinach
Everybody’s Favorite – The Cheeses:
4 cups of shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
15 ounces of part-skim ricotta cheese
½ cup shredded parmesan cheese
The Supporting Roles:
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces of silken tofu
2 large eggs
28 ounces of pasta sauce
The Lead of this Show:
16 ounces of dry lasagna noodles
Now, once you’ve prepared all your ingredients, it’s time to get the show running and let those investments bring you a delicious meal!
What you need to do first is to preheat the oven to 375 degrees F or 190 degrees C. While you do that, light salt a large pot of water and then bring it to a boil. Cook the lasagna pasta in that boiling water and then stir occasionally. Wait for it to be tender, but only to some degree. It should still be firm to the bite. That should take around 8 minutes. With cold water, drain and rinse your pasta, and then toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil. This prevents sticking while also adding flavor.
After that, mix the 1/2 cup parmesan, 2 cups mozzarella, and ricotta with the tofu and eggs, then combine the remaining mozzarella and parmesan in a separate bowl.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. After that, it’s time to add most of your vegetable investments: carrots, bell pepper, mushrooms, onion, and zucchini. Don’t add your spinach just yet! Saute until tender. That should take around 7 minutes. Now, add the spinach along with the pasta sauce and simmer. Wait until the sauce looks heated through and the spinach looks wilted. That takes another 3 minutes.
Next, you want to cover the bottom of the baking dish with a vegetable sauce. After that, you should also arrange 1/2 of the lasagna noodles already. Make sure they’re slightly overlapping each other! Layer with 1/2 of the cheese-tofu mixture over the pasta, and then add 1/2 of the remaining sauce. Repeat layers with the remaining pasta and mixtures, then top it with the mozzarella-parmesan mixture. While covered, bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake again until bubbly, which should take around 20 minutes more. There you have it! It’s the perfect diet investment for anyone looking for healthier and yummier meals.
Macaroni and Cheese Made Easy and Certainly Healthy
Our next dish will be a lot easier but still exceptionally delicious! It also won’t be heavy on your credit card.
For this show, you’ll need the following ingredients:
¼ cup of butter
1 ¼ teaspoon of salt
¾ teaspoon of mustard powder
4 cups of milk
¼ cup of cornstarch
4 cups of shredded Cheddar cheese
10 ounces of gluten-free elbow pasta
Like the previous recipe, you’ll need to preheat the oven to 375 degrees F or 190 degrees C, and then grease your baking dish. After that, lightly salt a large pot of water and bring that to a boil.
Cook the elbow macaroni in boiling water, occasionally stirring until it’s cooked through. Make sure it’s firm to the bite! That should take around 8 minutes. After that, drain.
After that, melt the 1/4 cup of butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Then, add and stir the salt and mustard powder into the melted butter and then remove the saucepan from the heat. Once that’s done, whisk the milk and cornstarch together in a bowl until smooth. Mix this into the butter mixture until the two mixtures become one.
Next, bring back the saucepan to the stove and cook the milk mixture. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat until the sauce looks thick to some degree. That should take about 5 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat.
Stir 3 cups of Cheddar cheese into the sauce until the cheese melts. Add pasta, stir, and then pour into the baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining Cheddar cheese over the pasta mixture. Bake in the preheated oven until the top looks crunchy. That should take around 30 minutes. Tada! One healthy macaroni and cheese!
Now, enjoy your healthy pasta party!
Photo Sources:
Cover – Pixabay / Veganliftz
Photo #1 – Pixabay / Veganamente
Photo #2 – Pixabay / Nawalescape