Fast Baked Potatoes

I love potatoes!! Whether they are mashed, scalloped, baked, roasted...you name it. But probably my favorite potato is the baked potato. I had childhood memories of going to Carl's Jr to get my broccoli and cheese potato. Don't think they have it anymore.

The problem with making baked potato is that it takes an hour in the oven! Found several recipes on how to make quick baked potatoes. It worked!!!

Quick Baked Potato
Prep Time: 5 min      Cook Time: 25 min
Ingredients:
Russett Potatoes (Mine were small)

Directions: 
Preheat the oven to 400F. Wash the potatoes. Poke some holes with a fork. Place them in the microwave oven for five minutes.

Place the potatoes on a baking sheet/pan. Bake them in the oven for twenty minutes. They are done!!! Yes, it really was that simple. Cut down the time from one hour to half an hour. Woo-hoo!!

With a knife, make an incision on the top so that the steam can escape. Add butter and other toppings desired.

Enjoy!!

*Note: I did this a second time. Before I put it into the microwave oven, I put some white truffle oil on the potato and sprinkled some sea salt. Love the aroma of white truffle oil!!

Homemade Healthy Lasagna 1

Mmm... lasagna!! I have wanted to make homemade lasagna for a while now. When there was a sale on Barilla lasagna noodles, I thought it was time.

I only used cottage cheese. Typically, lasagna is made with ricotta cheese but it was three times the price of cottage cheese. Besides, cottage cheese is low-fat, low calorie, low carbs, high in calcium, and high in protein.

Nutrition facts for you Cottage Cheese vs Ricotta Cheese (Click on pic to enlarge)

Homemade Healthy Lasagna
Prep Time: 25 min      Bake Time: 45 min
Ingredients:
Lasagna noodles
1 onion (diced - I used a brown onion)
1 lb ground meat (I used lean turkey)
1 lb pasta sauce
12 oz tomato paste
1 lb cottage cheese
1 egg
3 tsp parsley
2 tsp basil
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:
On medium heat, cook the diced onions to soften. Add the ground meat. Stir to cook until the meat is browned. Remove most of the liquid in the pan.

Put the pan back on medium heat. Add the pasta sauce, tomato paste, 2 tsp parsley, 2 tsp basil. Set aside. (Meaty sauce layer)

Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the cottage cheese, egg, salt, half cup parmesan cheese, and one tsp parsley. (Cottage cheese layer)

In an 8x8 pan, begin the lasagna building.

At the bottom, place lasagna noodles so that they slightly overlap. Next, evenly spoon and spread the cottage cheese layer. Sprinkle a layer of shredded cheese on top of that. The fourth layer is the meat sauce. Repeat.

(I only did the layering twice.)

The top layer will be the meat sauce. Sprinkle Kraft parmesan cheese generously to top it all off.
It is very heavy!

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes at 350F. Cut and serve!!

It was much healthier than other lasagna, but it still tasted quite sinful!! heheh.
(Next time, I will skip the tomato paste.)

Enjoy!!

Note:
If you want to cut down the bake time, you can cook the lasagna noodles al dente before you start layering your lasagna. If you do cook your lasagna noodles first, you only need to bake your lasagna for 20-25 minutes.