No Guilt, Only Big Hearts

First off… I tricked you. Haha! With a title like “No Guilt, Only Big Hearts” you likely expected some deep thoughts filled with wisdom or at least cute stories about kids or farm life. But it’s not. I’m choosing to share RECIPES with you!! If you read my recent post, you know I’ve been working hard at improving my health, body and overall wholeness.

I LOVE to cook and have a crazy wild dream of opening a tea room some day. But until then my husband has to put up with my ideas and anyone else who is suckered into coming over for supper. If you follow my Instagram (lstammeyer) you’ve seen my food pictures. They aren’t very good pictures, but oh well! Recently I made two recipes that I had a lot of requests for the recipe. I’m going to share them with you, with a couple of side notes. First, I make up A LOT of stuff as I cook. These measurements are as close as I can give to what I actually did. I usually just throw stuff in until it looks right! Second, I make substitutions ALL the time! If there is something here you don’t like, or something that you think would make a good addition, DO IT! I’d love to hear your ideas as well!!

First up, Fiery Hearts Chicken. I came up with that name all on my own 🙂

Ingredients: 4 chicken breast, 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, pre-made pesto sauce, 1 can artichoke hearts, and mozzarella cheese.

Set your oven to 350-425 (I give a range because my oven runs a little cold, so I always bump up it up a bit… whatever you normally bake chicken at is what you want!) Spray a baking dish, lay our your chicken. If you have thick chicken, I might recommend pounding it down to a one and a half-inch thickness. Drain the artichoke hearts and dice. In a bowl mix together artichoke hearts, tomatoes and 4-6 tablespoons of pesto. I love pesto and so does my family so I always add extra, you do you! Stir together, spoon mixture onto chicken and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. ENJOY! This one made for a great left over as well due to the flavors marinating together.

If you are following 21 Day Fix, I counted one serving as a chicken breast. This was 2 red, 1 green, 1/2-1 blue (depending on how much cheese you put on).

17321766_10101544431389623_27453479_n — I promise this is lasagna… it’s just hard to get a picture of it!

Next up is Guiltless Lasagna.

This recipe is going to be a little harder to explain as it’s a modification off a recipe I’ve been making for many, many years. But I’ll do my best! If you have any questions, please let me know and I’ll clarify!! But I hope this is helpful!!

Ingredients: 6 roma tomatoes, 1 pound hamburger (or turkey burger), 2 tsp diced garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 medium onion-diced, 1 can tomato sauce (14oz), 2 packets dry spaghetti seasoning, 1 cup V8 juice, 1 eggplant, mini peppers, 3-5 carrots (or a few handfuls of baby carrots), 1-2 zucchini, 1 medium container cottage cheese, 1 small container ricotta cheese, Mozzarella cheese.

Start by browning the meat in a large deep pan (sautee or wok style), along with the onion, near the end of the cooking process add the garlic. While the meat is browning, using a mandolin (or other thinly slicing device) slice eggplant, carrots, peppers, zucchini, and tomatoes. When the meat has finished cooking, drain and return to stove. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, V8, peppers, carrots, and seasoning to the pan. Stir well and let simmer at least 10 minutes. The longer you can simmer, the better.

Mix together ricotta and cottage cheese and a cup of mozzarella. Recently I made this recipe and didn’t have either of the cheese I needed, I substituted with a cup of sour cream, a cup of Greek yogurt, half cup of pesto, half cup of Parmesan cheese and a cup of mozzarella cheese. The results were fantastic!

In a deep baking dish, begin with a later of sauce, spread a layer of eggplant over the sauce covering the entire pan. Put a layer of the cheese mixture over the eggplant and a layer of zucchini over that. Repeat the process until you run out of pan or ingredients! End with a layer of sauce. Cover the pan with tinfoil and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes-1 hour. Remove foil and sprinkle mozzarella on top. Wait 15 minutes to serve for sauce to thicken. SO YUMMY!! This dish is also GREAT to freeze, so make two pans at once!

For 21 Day Fix, I counted a serving (12 pieces to a pan) as 1 green, .5 purple, 1.5 red (depending on cheese type), 1 blue, 1 tsp (if you use any oil to fry the meat)

The great thing about these recipes is that they are no to very low CARBS! Pair them with a side salad topped with some fruit and you will be sitting pretty for meals!!

I hope this all makes sense as, like I said… I make this stuff up as I go!

And because I didn’t want to leave you without ANY feel good feelings… my little girl turned THREE last week (I’m not exactly sure how that could happen…) and we celebrated in some very fun ways! My mom treated the girls of the family to Beauty and The Beast at the Fireside Dinner Theater. This was Charlotte’s first experience with live theater and I think it was a success! We also celebrated with family and a special castle cake! It was a fabulous few days of BEING THREE!! (it’s gone down hill from there… because…three)