Recipes

Healthy Baked Tostadas!

Healthy Gal has has tried out a new recipe and wants to share another frugally healthy tip with you for the Healthy Gal Series!

Did you know you can spray a corn tortilla with Pam or non-stick olive oil spray and place it on a cookie sheet and bake it in the oven? Well you can and guess what? It comes out just as crispy as if you were to deep fry it!! I was so shocked when my friend Candace told me about this alternative way of making tostada shells! So with that, I wanted to share with you how to make Healthy Baked Tostadas!

Ingredients:

• Corn Tortillas
• Lean Ground Beef, Chicken, or Turkey
• Fat Free Refried Beans (black or pinto)
• Reduced Fat (or 2% milk) shredded cheese
• Shredded Lettuce
• Diced Tomatoes
• Other topping choices: Olives, Salsa, Avacado, etc.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350. Spray each tortilla with PAM or olive oil type nonstick spray. Place sprayed tortillas in oven and bake until crisp.
• Meanwhile, heat refried beans and cook meat (if desired).
• Remove crisped tortillas from the oven. Spread with refried beans and meat (if desired)
• Top with shredded cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.

Honestly this was the easiest healthy recipe I have ever made! From start to finish it took about 20 minutes to prepare and have dinner on the table! The best part for me was not having a huge oil mess all over my stove from frying the shells in oil. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did. It’s a new family favorite in my house.

*Be sure to check out the other Healthy Gal Recipes I have written about for some other healthy meal ideas!

~Healthy Gal~

*Disclaimer: Never start a new exercise/diet regimen without consulting your Dr. first.
*Copywright: This is an original series developed and written by Coupon Gal.

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Low Calorie/Low Fat Chicken Enchilada Casserole!

Guess who is here? HEALTHY GAL!! She wants to share with you a quick and easy, low calorie, low fat, super yummy Chicken Enchilada Casserole Recipe! Seriously, this takes very little work! Here is a list of what you will need:

• 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Large Can of Enchilada Sauce
• 1 Bag of 2% Milk Cheese
• 1 Dozen Corn Tortillas

1. In a crock pot: Place 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts with 1/2 large can of enchilada sauce. (I use Las Palmas, but you can use your favorite). Cook on low for 3 hours. Once the chicken is done, shred it using two forks by pulling the meat in oppostie directions.

2. Preheat your oven to 400°

3. In the bottom of a large 9×13″ casserole dish spread a thin layer of enchilada sauce to coat the bottom.

4. Begin layering your casserole. Lay one layer of corn tortillas, then some of the chicken mixture, and top with cheese. Continue alternating until you run out of the chicken mixture. I usually get 3 layers.

5. Top it off with the remaining cheese and bake at 400° for about 25 min.

A healthy dinner is served!

*I just wanted to share with you a few tips on how I stock up to make this meal the cheapest I can. I usually buy the boneless skinless chicken breasts when they are on sale for $2.00 or less per pound. I also stock-up on 2% milk cheese when I can get it for less than $1 (like this deal I wrote about at Target which you can still get!).

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Oven Baked HEALTHY Pizza!

We temporarily interrupt our regularly scheduled program for a visit from Healthy Gal So, about two weeks ago I shared with you how you can make Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and for as little as pennies per loaf!! Seriously!! I absolutely LOVE my healthy bread book!

So, because I am a mommy of two young children and I totally get the fact that there are laterally just not enough hours in the day, I wanted to show you how busy people can include healthy, low cost meals that are speedy to prepare! Since dough turns into flatbread in little to no time, it’s perfect for baking pizzas! It needs little or no resting time and it bakes in a short period of time! Plus, pizza is a great way to get kiddos to eat whole grains and not even notice. The toppings do a great job of tricking their taste buds and even yours too!

I used the 100% Whole Wheat Bread with Olive Oil recipe (on page 81), but for those of you who don’t own this book, I have great news! You can use the FREE Whole Grain Recipe that the authors of this book were kind enough to offer on their website.

Make your bread in 5 min. using the free recipe the night before you want to make the pizza. I’ll show you how simple it really is to make healthy pizza!

1. Preheat your oven to 550° with a baking stone placed in the bottom third of your oven.

2. Cut off a 1 lb. (grapefruit sized) piece of your dough.

3. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and quickly shape it into a ball.

4. On a flower dusted wooden pizza peel, flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin until it is about 1/8 in. thick. I used plastic wrap to help do this, but you don’t have to.

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5. Cover the top of your pizza with pizza sauce (home made or store bought) I use the Ragu pizza sauce because it is only $.98 at my Winco. Top the sauce with mozzarella cheese and add the toppings of your choice.

6. Slide your pizza onto your baking stone and bake for 8-12 min. *Keep your exhaust fan on because the flour will cause a little smoke.

7. Healthy dinner is served in just 20 min.!!

Did you really think I was going to just leave it at that? I’m never done talking…haha… No, but really, I wanted to share with you some healthy alternatives to keep in mind when you are choosing toppings for your pizza:

1. I use 2% Milk Mozzarella Cheese. It has no saturated fat compared to the 3 grams of fat regular cheese does, not to mention that it also has zero grams of fat and about 20 less calories.

2. I use Turkey Pepperoni.Turkey pepperoni has about 70% less fat than regular pepperoni and the Hormel Brand (which is what I use) tastes very good! I hardly notice a difference except that my pizza isn’t covered in grease when it’s done baking.

3. I use Fruit & Veggies. Adding fruit and veggies to your pizza is great for obvious health reasons, but it also adds color (making it appear more appealing) and it also adds more flavor without adding fat!

*Disclaimer: Never start a new diet regimen without consulting your Dr. first.
*Copyright: This is an original series developed and written by Coupon Gal.

Until next time…

~Healthy Gal~

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