Swiss Mac & Cheese

You and your family will not believe how tasty this dish is! And what is even harder to believe if how low the calories are! This is a great way to get your cheese fix while not putting on extra pounds! It's a great side dish for the holidays, and it's also great by itself for a quick and easy dinner!

Ingredients:
Shell pasta
Laughing cow swiss cheese
Butter substitute or magarine
Spinach
Dried Italian herbs (any that you have on hand will work, nothing fancy!)
Parmisean cheese

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain. Turn the stove temperature to low. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Unwrap a few cheese triangles and stir in with the pasta. Also, add the butter substitute or margarine. Add the herbs and parmisean cheese last. Serve, and enjoy!



French Onion Soup

Unfortunately, a lot of restaraunts make this soup with beef stock, so I don't get to enjoy french onion very often. This is my vegetarian version that is guaranteed to taste just as good as the restaraunt version, if not BETTER! It's super tasty, easy, and cheap to make!

Ingredients:
Yellow onion (sliced)
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Vegetable stock
Soy sauce
Garlic croutons
Mild white cheese (I used Meunster, but Swiss and Provalone are good choices too!)

Slice the onions and cook over medium heat in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes. Add desired amount of salt and pepepr and continue to sautee for another minute. Add the veggie stock and turn the tempurature to high. Bring to a boil. Add a couple tablespoons of soy sauce. It adds a lot of flavor to the soup! Continue to boil until the stock has reduced by a third. Turn your oven on broil and let it get nice and hot while you're waiting for the soup to reduce. Ladel soup into a ceramic bowl or cup. Top with desired amount of croutons. Then top the croutons with a slice of cheese. I like to tuck the conrners of the cheese in so the edges don't burn. Put the soup in the oven and watch closely. It usually takes only about 1 1/2 - 3 minutes before the cheese is nice and melted and slighly crispy. Remove VERY cafefully, it will be EXTREMELY hot!!! Let cool for about 5 minutes, then enjoy!!!



Rustic Style Pasta

This pasta is great, and you can make it all year round with these veggies! It's so healthy and not too filling. It's a great dinner to make when you've had a long day and don't feel like doing a lot of cooking! It practically cooks itself!

Ingredients:

Angel hair pasta

Chunky marinara

Zucchini (chopped)

Yellow squash (chopped)

Shitaki mushrooms (stemmed)

Olive oil

Parmisean cheese

Cook the pasta in a pot according to package directions. In a seperate pan, sautee all the veggies on medium heat in olive oil until desired tenderness/ sear. After draining the water from the pasta, add marinara and veggies and toss together. After serving, top pasta with desired amount of parmisean cheese, and enjoy!



Grilled Veggie Sandwich

One thing that annoys me about being a vegetarian is that people assume that the things you eat are very limited. Like, all you can have is tofu and veggie burgers... Which is why I created this blog! So people can understand how versitile this lifestyle is! Just because I don't eat meat, doesn't mean I can't enjoy one of the BEST sandwiches ever! This is so delicious and gives you an excuse to whip out the grill or BBQ (Yes, vegetarians can BBQ too!) This is a must-try sadwich!

Ingredients:

100% whole wheat bread

Mayo or light mayo

Zucchini (sliced)

Yellow squash (sliced)

mushrooms (I used shitaki, but portabellos work just as well!)

Bell Peppers (I used mixed colors- sliced)

Tomato (sliced)

Olive oil

Feta cheese (Fresh cheese block, NOT CRUMBLED!- Sliced)

Get your grill nice and hot while slicing the veggies and marinating the zucchini, squash, mushrooms, and bell peppers in olive oil. Grill bread to desired doneness. Set aside. Add the veggies to the grill. Grill to desired doneness. Add mayo, cheese, and cold tomato to the bread, then layer on the grilled veggies, and enjoy!



Raspberry and Goat Cheese Salad

I love goat cheese! And when it's paried with fruit, it's even better! Add some nuts in the mix, and you've got a party! I absolutely love this salad! You can use any fruit you like, I just happened to think the raspberries looked beautiful this time of year!

Ingredients for the salad:

Spinach

Raspberries

Crumbled goat cheese

Candied walnuts

Ingredients for the dressing:

Greek yogurt

Raspberry vinigar

Olive oil

To make the dressing: Combine 1 Tablespoon of yogurt with 1 teaspoon of vinigar and 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Stir or whisk until combined. For the salad, just layer on the desired amount of spinach, cheese, walnuts, and raspebrries. Toss with dressing. Bon Appetite!



Raviolis with Pumpkin Butter

Canned pumpkin can do sooooo much more than just make pumpkin pie! Did you know it also has one of the HIGHEST levels of anti-oxidents than any other vegetable?! This dish is so simple, cheap, and easy to make! Semi-homemade at its best! The kids are sure to love it, and you will too!

Ingredients:
Frozen cheese raviolis
Pumpkin puree
Frozen peas
Butter or butter substitute
Olive oil
Black pepper
Parmisean cheese

Boil the raviolis according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl, heat a couple tablespoons of pumpkin puree with about 4 tablespoons of butter until butter is melted. Stir the mixture to combine. Add the peas to the boiling water. When the peas and raviolis are heated through, drain well. Coat with olive oil and black pepper, then toss with the pumpkin butter sauce. Top with parmisean cheese, and enjoy!

Spaghetti Tacos

Yes, you are reading this correctly! Spaghetti tacos are my all time favorite childhood recipe! They are kind of like my version of sloppy joe's... And yes, they are quite sloppy! But oh so tasty!!! Although I've enjoyed these silly tacos since I was a kid, they were actually made popular by the tween Nickelodeon show iCarly. Carly's older brother, "Spencer," makes these tacos in several episodes, so kids all over are asking for these more and more! Spencer describes them as "the not-so-famous by magically delicious... Spaghetti tacos!" And I couldn't have said it better myself! =]

Ingredients:

Angel hair pasta (Okay, so it's not actually spaghetti... But I think angel hair works best with this recipe!)

Your favorite brand of marinara

Parmisean cheese

Crunchy corn tacos shells

This is pretty self-explainitory... Just cook the pasta accoring to the package directions. Add the sauce after draining. Put the spaghetti in the taco shells. Sprinkle on parmisean cheese. And enjoy!!!