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Make Cooking Simple
Quick
healthy meals are a necessity for most of us these days. Families of all ages,
singles, retirees—everyone seems to have a busy life and a desire to eat more
healthfully. Convenience foods can help speed meal preparation, yet many of them
are high in sodium, fat and calories, low in fiber and other important
nutrients, and not as tasty as foods we make from ‘scratch.’ One way around this
dilemma is to use some convenience items to cut preparation time, while adding
extra vegetables to improve nutritional value and flavor.
Skillet Lasagna is an example of such a dish. A package of frozen chopped
spinach adds fiber and all the vitamin A an adult male needs for the day. Using
prepared pasta sauce cuts cooking time, and by making it a sauce with lower
sodium, keeps the total sodium count reasonable. A crisp lettuce salad and
crusty French bread complete the meal just like traditional lasagna.
This month’s supplement No Time to Cook? offers many options for turning
inexpensive, quick-to-fix convenience foods into easy, healthy meals. Stock up
on mixes when stores put them on sale to save even more.
Skillet Lasagna
½
pound ground beef
½ onion chopped (about ½ cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced, or ¼ teaspoons garlic powder
3 cups spaghetti or pasta sauce (26 to 28 ounces)*
1 cup water
8
ounces wide noodles, uncooked
1 10-ounce package chopped spinach, thawed
1 12-ounce container low fat cottage cheese
½ cup (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
Cook ground beef, onions, and garlic together in a large skillet or electric fry
pan; stir to prevent sticking. When ground beef has turned brown use paper
towels to blot up any accumulated fat. Add spaghetti sauce and water to skillet
and bring to boil. Add uncooked noodles, stir, cover with lid, turn down the
heat, and cook 5 minutes.
Squeeze the thawed spinach to remove the juice and then stir into the pan. Cover
and simmer 5 minutes. Spoon cottage cheese over the top. Sprinkle with
mozzarella cheese, put the lid on pan and let it heat another 5 to 10 minutes
until heated through and noodles are tender.
Makes 8 servings. Nutrition information per serving: 352 calories, 8g fat, 26g
protein, 40g carbohydrate, 4g dietary fiber, 551mg sodium 3750IU vitamin A.
*Note: look for sauce with 350 mg sodium
or less per serving to reduce sodium content even more.
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