I was on the hunt for something that would peak my daughters interest. Her food groups these days consist of pizza, mac n cheese and pasta roni’s, that’s pretty much any kind of pasta, penne, rotini, elbows, shells, if a dish is made with that kind of pasta, it’s a sure thing she would eat it. Or so I thought.
Let me introduce to you these little casseroles of goodness. I love making our very own dishes with some recipes I find. I happened to find this one over at Skinnytaste and decided to separate them out and make them individual little casseroles for us. I thought it would make it a little more fun for my daughter. Wrong again.
Even though MM didn’t like this dish, Daddy and I did so of course I’m sharing it with my readers! I made a few changes to it but not much!
Serves: 4-6
Serving Size:1-1 1/2 Cups
Recipe Inspired by: Skinnytaste
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (6 oz) uncooked whole wheat rotini pasta
- 2 tsp oil
- 1 1/2 cups onions, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 lb lean ground turkey
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 28 oz diced tomatoes with seasonings
- 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 2 cups reduced fat grated cheddar cheese
- chopped dill pickles
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the casserole dishes (or use a 13×9 inch baking dish) with cooking spray. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta according to the package directions for al dente, drain and set aside. Feel free to use whatever kind of pasta you’d like, I used whole wheat to make it a little more nutritious.
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the turkey and cook until browned; season with salt and pepper. Stir in the tomato paste, then the tomatoes and mustard. Let the mixture bubble gently until it is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes.
Toss the meat mixture with the pasta and Scoop about a cup and a half into each casserole dish. Top with the cheddar (use your judgement, I try to stay on the lighter side, I know it doesn’t look it but I did! Bake until the cheese is melted, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle the chopped pickles over the top and serve. (Trust me you want to do this part!!! The pickles complete the dish!) If you’d like to premake this say while your kids are at school or even on a Sunday, it’s a great dish to make a head, add the cheese as your about to pop it into the oven, just add baking time since the ingredients will be cold it’ll take more time to heat through!
I gave a helping of this to my aunt for helping me and my mom one day and she had it for lunch the next day, this is the text I got. “Enjoying your lunch now at work, what’s the name of it? I’m sure it’s on your site.” Nothing like getting a text from your family saying they enjoyed what you made and knowing the read your recipes!! 🙂 Well it wasn’t on my site but it is now, this one is for you Aunty Jo!! 🙂
Nutritional Value:
Servings: 6 • Size: about 1 1/2 cup • Weight Watchers Points+: 8
Calories: 261 • Fat: 9 g • Protein: 21.5 g • Carb: 21.5 g • Fiber: 2 g • Sugar: 3 g
Sodium: 468.5 mg
