Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon Cream Sauce

I love citrus season in Arizona – almost everywhere you look, there are lush green trees bursting with lemons, oranges, grapefruits and limes. It’s a deliciously welcome sight in the aftermath of the winter holidays and, well, to be honest I see it as free ingredients!

I walk my dog Marlow along a nearby canal and along the way, there is a huge lemon tree that hangs over the block wall fence. I first discovered it two winters ago and after passing by a few times that first week, I  realized that no one was picking the lemons on that side of the fence. What a sad waste of perfect fruit!  I quickly plucked a dozen lemons and realized that I hadn’t even made a dent in what must have been 40-50 lemons on just one side of that tree.

That year I used those lemons to make lemon rosemary cookies and lemon squares. Delicious, but this year I am on a healthier diet. I wanted to make an entree that also uses a little more lemon than a cookie dough calls for. It’s still technically winter, so a lemon cream sauce does fit the bill for a hearty dinner. After a lot of brainstorming and reading up on lower fat cream sauces, I came up with this lemon cream sauce recipe. I made it with whole wheat spaghetti to keep it healthier and rather than the typical broccoli or asparagus, I chose the sweetness of peas to compliment the slightly tart lemon cream sauce. The lemon and parsley give this dish a fresh and crisp taste, while the cream sauce, chicken and pasta maintain the heartiness of a winter dinner.

Now that I have my own brand new lemon tree in the backyard, I’ll be making this again and looking for some new ways to use fresh lemon!

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. dry whole wheat spaghetti
• ½ cup light cream cheese
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest
• 2 tbsp. chopped parsley
• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup peas

Directions:

Cook spaghetti according to package directions (when draining, be sure to reserve ½ cup of cooking water).

Melt cream cheese in a saucepan over low heat (make sure bottom doesn’t burn). Add olive oil, lemon juice and lemon zest.

Drain pasta, reserving ½ cup of cooking water. Stir reserved water into cream cheese mixture. In a large bowl, toss together pasta, chicken, peas, parsley and cream cheese mixture.

Whole Wheat Turkey Lasagna

Believe it or not, this is the first time I’ve ever made lasagna. I’ve always liked it, but it seemed like a lot of fuss for something that was made out of noodles and ground meat. Though out of sheer boredom from including penne, rigatoni or ziti in my weekly menus, I decided to give it a try.

My husband and I  agreed that it should be a healthier version, meaning substituting regular noodles for whole wheat noodles and ground beef for ground turkey. That being said, I used whole fat cheeses in order to keep most of the flavor and richness for which lasagna is known (and craved). In order to come up with this recipe, I stitched together a few different ones that I  came across online, from my best friend and on the back of the lasagna noodle box. I think it works really well and my husband likes it so much that he eats the leftovers for lunch, a snack and dinner the next night!

P.S. The garlic bread is the Texas toast from – Walmart! It’s pretty much the only thing I go to Walmart just to get. It’s in the specialty bread section and here in Phoenix it’s about $4 for a double loaf of it.

Ingredients:

• 1 box whole wheat no-boil lasagna noodles (15 noodles)
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1.5 jars pasta sauce
• ½ cup water
• 15 oz. tub ricotta cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella
• ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp. chopped oregano
• 2 tsp. chopped basil
• 1 tsp. salt
• ½  tsp. garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

Directions:

In a large skillet brown ground turkey.

Stir in 1 jar of pasta gravy, simmer 10 minutes, but don’t cook off too much of the sauce.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, oregano, basil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Spread about 1/3″ of pasta gravy in the bottom of a 13×9 glass baking dish. Arrange 3 lasagna noodles vertically over sauce, overlapping edges.

Spread 1/3 cheese mixture over noodles, then spread about ¾ cup of the meat/gravy mixture.

Repeat layers, beginning and ending with pasta. Top with remaining meat/gravy mixture, sprinkle with remaining ½ cup mozzarella cheese and add additional Parmesan cheese is desired.

Cover with foil. Bake 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Remove foil and bake for about 10 min. longer, or until lightly browned. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with a Caesar salad, Texas toast and a glass of wine! You also can bake in two separate loaf pans (just split the ingredients and do layers of two noodles lengthwise in each loaf pan) and freeze one for a future meal.

Whole Grain Pasta Caprese Salad

My best friend Erin sent this recipe to me after she saw it on the Curvy Carrot blog. It looked so delicious that we decided to make it when she came to visit me in Arizona. We agreed that using whole grain pasta would be the healthier route to take, so we found some whole grain penne. The original recipe calls for regular rigatoni, but this dish is so flavorful I think I could have made it with cardboard noodles and it would still have been delicious!

Earlier that day we had lunch at the Queen Creek Olive Mill (a Phoenix area MUST for all of you foodie’s) and we picked up a fresh loaf of their rosemary bread (which cancelled out the healthier whole grain pasta) and a bottle of their own olive oil.

What a feast! I didn’t modify the actual recipe at all, except for using whole grain pasta. However, when Erin made the recipe for her in-laws the next week, she added some grilled shrimp and it was a hit!

Ingredients

5 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced. 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

Fresh ground pepper, to taste

Pinch cayenne pepper (if you don’t normally cook with this, go to CVS Pharmacy and get a bottle for 99 cents!)

1 pound whole grain penne pasta

8 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced or cubed as desired

Approximately 15-20 fresh basil leaves, finely shredded

Instructions

To peel and seed tomatoes, cut a shallow “X” on the bottom of each tomato.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and place the tomatoes in the water for about 15 seconds.  Immediately remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place into an ice water bath.  This will stop the tomatoes from cooking.  Now the skins should be easy to remove and the tomatoes can be easily de-seeded and diced.

Place the peeled and diced tomatoes in a colander for about 15 minutes to remove excess juices.

In a medium bowl, combine the drained tomatoes, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper.  Mix the ingredients well and let sit for 20 minutes at room temperature.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil over medium-high heat.

Cook the pasta according to package directions until al dente.

Drain the pasta and return it to the pot.

Add the tomato mixture, mozzarella, and basil.  Toss gently, and serve immediately.