Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays everyone! Today has been such a fun day on so many levels. I did my best to stick to deliciously healthy, low-fat treats all day from the Weight Watchers Texas Casserole to renovating The Husband’s Mom’s famous Lasagna Belmont!
I REALLY wanted to make my Crockpot Oats with Peaches and Blueberries, but, The Husband made an “eggy” request on Christmas Eve.
Not being one to turn down breakfast casseroles that include eggs, sausage, HASHBROWNS and CHEESE, I whipped up THIS Weight Watchers Texas Style Casserole.
5 Points+ for 1/6th of the 9 x 13 pan. The changes I made was to cook my Jennie-O Turkey Sausage before I put it in the dish, added hot sauce and I used FRESH, not frozen peppers.
The result was pretty tasty but, having homemade Chipotle Salsa definitely helped I had 1 square, The Husband had 4 LOL.
Plus a little watermelon for good measure.
While the casserole cooked, we opened all our gifts! Can I just say I must have been REALLY GOOD this year because Santa seriously hooked me up!!!!
BEST GIFT EVER ~ The Husband had Danica’s Daily shirts designed for me and I had NO CLUE he did!
Of course, I pretty much dropped everything else to try one on!!! I LOVE them and that he copied the font I use for my title and everything ~ HE ROCKS!!!
In addition to my super cool camera, I got clothes and so many great kitchen things that you all will be seeing on here soon!
FUNNIEST GIFT that I LOVE…..Butter Boy & Butter Girl!!!
I totally cannot wait to bust these out for our next backyard BBQ.
We also opened up some FUN mail we got from Janetha & Marshall!
J ~ He is going to use his Contigo Mug for KOOL AID & Coffee – LOL!!!
More GRILLIN’ FUN!!!
Quite possibly the COOLEST pasta I’ve ever seen ~ The reason, veggies like beets and spinach give it the color!
Now there is something super special about the forks & spoons she sent us. I had no clue at all until he told me to take his picture.
Totally awesome extendable forks and spoon set!
I can’t wait to try these too!
Janetha ~ seriously, you both are such great friends ~ thanks for all the goodies….we cannot wait to start using them all! We totally think you need to come back to California and use them with us
The Husband whipped up this snacker cracker plate for us, while I worked on his FAVORITE lasagna. I had about half of everything you see here. (7 pts+ estimate since I didn’t measure/count).
The Husband’s Mom has this recipe for a super cheesy, all meat and noodle lasagna that is phenomenal….seriously ~ layers and layers of goodness.
I decided for Christmas dinner that I would “renovate” her recipe and make it lighter/healthier to see if they noticed at all.
The changes I made to her recipe include:
* Using 96% lean ground beef, you could use turkey too
* Using low-fat mozzarella versus whole milk
* Using FAT FREE Cottage Cheese over ricotta (it melts and tastes just as good) ~ you could use ricotta – both work great
* Using Whole Wheat Lasagna noodles
RECIPE RENOVATION: LASAGNA BELMONT
INGREDIENTS
1 red onion, chopped
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 1/4 lbs extra lean ground beef
3 garlic cloves, minced
15 oz tomato sauce
15 oz diced tomatoes with Italian herbs
6 oz tomato paste
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
16 pieces no cook lasagna noodles
2 cups fat free Cottage Cheese
8 oz Part-Skim finely Shredded Mozzarella
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a large frying pan, sauté onion in oil until soft, add beef and garlic, and cook, stirring until meat is brown and crumbly.
2. Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine, and 1/4 cup water. Add salt, Italian seasoning, pepper, sugar, stirring until mixed. Cover pan and simmer slowly about 1 1/2 hours.
3. Meanwhile prepare lasagna noodles in salted water as directed if you are not using the no cook noodles.
4. Spray a 9×13 pan with nonstick spray. Arrange about 1/3 of the noodles in the bottom of the 9×13 dish, criss-crossing noodles to make an almost solid layer. Spread 1/3 of the tomato sauce over the noodles, top with 1/3 of the cottage cheese and 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat this layering two more times. Top with the parmesan.
5. Bake, uncovered, in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into rectangles to serve.
Makes 8 slices, 12 points+ each or 10 slices, 9 points+ each
Nutritional information per serving, based on 1/8th of the pan
Guess what??? They couldn’t even tell and thought it was her original recipe ~ woohoo!
I started off with one, but, when, I realized that 2 slices Alexia Garlic Baguette = 3 points+, I had another!
For our veggies, I whipped up a simple Cranberry Walnut Salad using Trader Joe’s Candied Walnuts, Cranberries, Mixed Greens and Cherry Tomatoes.
Topped with 1 Tbsp Trader Joe’s Cranberry Walnut Dressing (3 pts+)
The Husband’s Mom made these Cupcake Ice Cream Cones for dessert! (5 pts+)
I WEIGH IN tomorrow but honestly am OK with whatever the results are….I have had a fun week celebrating and am ready to hop back on the losing track tomorrow with a new week.
Q’s:
1. What is the COOLEST Gift you got this year?
Aside from my camera (it’s kinda hard to top that) and my DD SHIRTS!!!, I have to say I am pretty pumped to use my new red Dutch Oven! Oh, who am I kidding…I am totally going to be using all my cool new kitchen stuff any chance I can get this month
Night all!
emily says
merry christmas, danica!
love the shirt!
Carolynne says
Wow! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the shirts that your husband made. What a wonderful idea!!! Merry Christmas to you and your husband.
Carbzilla says
That lasagna looks soooo good!
I got an IPad that I totally wasn’t expecting (I just figured I’d always borrow hubby’s). I burst into tears when I opened it because he’d already gotten me an awesome light box for photos, and I thought that was my “big” gift. We’ve had such a hard year that I was just so overwhelmed by his generosity and our resilience. It was a great Christmas.
Good attitude on weigh in tomorrow. I’m exactly where I started but thinking about how much worse it could be if I hadn’t been following any plan. Today I had a big breakfast, no lunch, and a good size dinner so stayed in the range somewhat. Hubby and I are now both getting kinda (very) sick which never happens so I’ll just take care of myself, and I don’t think either one of us are going to feel like eating very much. I know it will all work out.
Cynthia says
Merry Christmas! What great gifts. I really need to put a new camera on my birthday wish list. 🙂
Geri says
I got an iPad too! I was hoping for one but never expected it! Now I am still figuring out what it can do! I will say I overindulged in rich food and am happy to be back to healthy eating.
Roz says
LOVE the t-shirt!!! What a fantastic idea! Glad you had a Merry Christmas!!!
Josie says
Love the shirt! My big gift from hubby was black tall Uggs! I did ok yesterday food wise I didn’t weigh in this am I slept in cause the kids got me up so early yesterday and the whole family was at our house till late! I am gonna go on tuesday am and WI!
Sarah says
Lasagna looks fabulous. Thanks for posting recipe. I’m on a search for a good lasagna recipe and definitely will try yours.
Colleen says
Am loving your website, it is more my taste than all these fancy foods I have never heard of, you are a down to earth person, and you cook great and my hubby doesn’t even know it is low fat and low calorie, and I love that. Please have a happy holiday and I am trying several more of your meals, thanks again and I really wish you the best for you and yours!.
janetha @ meals and moves says
LOL i knew jay would get a kick out of the extend-a-fork and spoon. so hilarious. love you guys!
Lasagna Guy says
Looks like a great lasagna recipe. I am going to have to try this one this weekend.
I am going to cook it for the family.
Thanks
Lasagna Guy