Healthy Recipes

My aunt asked for some healthy recipes. Just this week I made one of my favorites! It's a Zucchini Pizza Casserole and the recipe I use is from Taste of  Home. I would post a picture of mine, but it's half eaten and wouldn't make for a pretty picture :) I'm actually not a big fan of zucchini by itself, as a vegetable, as a side item, etc, but in this recipe it really just tastes like a crust and I don't even realize I'm eating it. Each serving is 1 cup and 311 calories, which, for something that tastes like pizza and pasta, is great in my opinion!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole                                               
Ingredients
4 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese
2 cups of shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 oz) Italian tomato sauce)
1 medium green pepper, chopped

Directions
Place zucchini in a strainer, sprinkle with salt, and let sit for 10 minutes.
Squeeze out as much moisture from the zucchini as possible.
Combine zucchini with eggs, Parmesan, and half the cheeses. Press into a greased 9x13 pan.
Bake uncovered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. While you are waiting, cook the meat and onions over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain the meat.
Add the tomato sauce to the meat and onions and spoon mixture into the baked zucchini crust. Sprinkle remaining cheeses and green pepper on top. Bake for 20 more minutes or until cooked through.

For those of you who like fish, I found this recipe on Pinterest a while back and think it's really tasty. It's originally from Rachael Ray and is super simple to make. I don't have an exact calorie count on this, but a fillet of tilapia is less than 100 calories and the other ingredients are just spices and some cheese, so this is a very low calorie dinner, especially if paired with some vegetables as a side item.

Parmesan-Crusted Tilapia 

Ingredients
4 tilapia fillets
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons paprika
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Olive oil
1 lemon, cut into wedges

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a shallow dish, combine the cheese, paprika, and parsley. You can season with salt and pepper (I didn't do this). Drizzle the fish with olive oil and put it in the cheese picture, making sure to get the mixture on both sides of the fish. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake about 10-12 minutes. Serve the fish with lemon wedges.

A great website that someone recommended to me is Skinnytaste.com. I encourage those of you trying to be healthier to visit this website. She organizes her recipes by category (at the top click on Recipes) and almost all of the recipes have a calorie count and weight watcher point values. This is one of my go-to websites for when I need a dessert or dinner idea and want to eat healthy.

As I find new healthy recipes I like, I will post them on this blog. I have several on my to do list already!

--T