Tasty Tuesday on Monday.....so I don't forget tomorro

Ok......I realize that my goal of having a "focused" blog went out the window a few weeks ago. But tonight I cooked something I feel is pretty good and wanted to blog about it before life got in the way and I forgot.

So...what did I make? Lasagna soup! I must seem to have a knack for finding main dishes that have been turned into soups considering that my last Tasty Tuesday was "Taco Soup."



Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground beef (90% lean) (I used ground turkey. I think it would be great with Italian sausage instead)
• 1 large green pepper, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cans (14.5 oz. each) reduced sodium beef broth
• 2 cans (14.5 oz. each) diced tomatoes
  
• 1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2.5 cups uncooked spiral pasts (I used a gluten free variety)
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

(I know. That doesn't sound like any of the lasagna ingredients I use....but I didn't come up with this thing.)

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, cook the beef, green pepper, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.

2. Stir in the broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, corn, tomato paste, Italian seasoning and pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in pasta (I cooked the GF pasta before hand because it tends to make things mushy and thick if put in uncooked). Return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until pasta is tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.


Review:

Again, I didn't come up with this. This recipe came from my favorite magazine, Taste of Home. My husband thought it smelled delicious. He also thought it tasted delicious. However, he only ate 1 bowl. He usually does 2 bowls if it's really, really good. I would have to say that it was good. A little bland. But good. Like I said in the ingredients, Italian sausage might make it taste better. Or, possibly, it was the ground turkey that made it bland. Hmmm.....I will have to remake and update this one.

This also is supposed to serve 8 people. So, either make it for a family or plan on left overs. I'm not sure about freezing, but I'm sure it would work.

For those of you who want nutrition info, here it is. According the the recipe, for a 1 1/3 cup serving:

• Calories: 280
• Fat 7 g
• 41 mg cholesterol
• 572 mg sodium
• 35 g carbs
• 4 g fiber
• 20 g protein

Weigh Watchers: 5 pts. per serving....give or take a point for using turkey instead of beef and GF pasta.

Training Update:

I still haven't heard back from my PT friend about my shins. She's going to get back to me some time this week, hopefully. I ran yesterday with my husband. If it weren't for him, I would have quit because of the pain. I probably should have quit, but I wanted to finish my second attempt at Week 3 Session 3. And I did it. I might be taking a break this week. It depends on the amount of snow we get and how quickly the pain comes back when I head out again. Fingers crossed things work out :)