Arancini Pork Casserole

This is a less healthy variant of https://www.skinnytaste.com/sicilian-rice-ball-casserole/ 

Ingredients:
1 Qt Joe's Homemade Pasta Sauce

1/2 Medium Red Onion

3 cloves garlic

1/2 Cauliflower

2 Cups uncooked Jasmati Rice

1 Qt Homemade Low Salt Vegetable Broth

3/4 lbs Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese grated

1/2 cup Progresso Italian Style Breadcrumbs

5 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 whole egg

1 egg white

1 lb Ground Pork

* Olive Oil

* Cooking Spray

* Salt

* Black pepper

* Garlic Powder

* Dry Basil

Tools:

13x9 Oven safe casserole dish

Small oven safe dish (for roasting cauliflower)

Large skillet for pork

2 qt saucepan 

Preparation: 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small oven save dish, add olive oil, cauliflower, salt and pepper. Put in the oven and roast until it has started to brown. 

In a 2 qt saucepan bring vegetable broth with salt to a boil. Add 2 cups of jasmati rice, cover and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. 

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Dice onion and mince garlic, add to skillet with salt & pepper. While cooking, flatten out pork and season with salt, pepper, garlic and basil and fold into the ends over. Once the onion/garlic mix has become fragrant and starts to become translucent, spread to the outside of the skillet and add pork breaking up as it browns on one side. Once cooked through and broken up into small pieces (think taco meat) add enough sauce to mix through but not cover the pork. Cover with a lid leaving partially open and reduce to a simmer for about 20 minutes. 

In a separate bowl, mix together Parmesan cheese, egg, egg white, and cooked rice with about 1 pint of sauce. Mix thoroughly until well incorporated and set aside. 

Prepare oven safe casserole dish by spraying all sides and adding 1/4 cup of the breadcrumbs, spreading around until all sides of the dish are coated in breadcrumb. Add a 1/2" layer of the rice mixture, cover with pork combined with chopped cauliflower.  Add 1/4 lb of grated mozzarella then cover with another 1/2" layer of rice mixture. 

Top with remaining 1/4 cup of breadcrumbs and remaining mozzarella cheese. 

Bake in oven for 30 - 45 minutes until breadcrumbs have toasted and cheese has melted with a good crust. 

Serving: 

Remove from oven and serve in squares as you would lasagna. 

Italian Style Meatballs

Ingredients: 
12 oz Lean Ground Pork
84 g Whole Wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
28 g Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg

4 Cups of Joe's Homemade Pasta Sauce

* Salt
* Pepper
* Garlic Powder

Preparation:
In a large bowl, mix together meat, breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese until well incorporated. Once mixed well so that there are no dry ingredients separate from the mixture, add the egg, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  

Roll Meatballs to whatever size you would like (recommended between 23 - 27 g per meatball) (makes approximately 20 at that size). 

In a large pot/saucepan/stockpot/dutch oven, heat up pasta sauce over low heat. (Dutch oven is recommended since it can keep the contents hot without applying as much direct heat over a longer period of time). 

Once Sauce is simmering, add meatballs and cover. 

Cook for approximately 1 hour or until you can smell the garlic powder filling the air. 

Serving: 
Recommended to serve these with some spaghetti, other pasta, and or in a sandwich. 

Nutrition Info:  

Each meatball is approximately 2 Weight Watchers Points Plus points, recommended servings are between 4 and 6; or it can be summarized as 22 points for approximately 20 meatballs. 

Stuffed Cabbages in the Slow Cooker

This is a variation of the traditional stuffed cabbages (gulumpkies) that increases the health value and can be done in a relatively quick amount of time in a crock pot. 

Ingredients: 
1 Medium/Large Cabbage
3 Cans of Tomato Soup
1/2 lb Ground Pork 
112 grams of Soy Crumbles
1 cup of brown rice
Garlic Powder*
Onion Powder or Flakes*
Kosher Salt* 
Black Pepper* 

Preparation:
Place cabbage in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil covered for about 5 - 7 minutes. In a bowl mix together pork, soy crumbles, rice and seasonings. Mix through until well incorporated. 

Remove core from cabbage and start peeling leaves off. Using a paring knife, remove the spine of the leaf and place an elongated handful of the meat mixture inside the leaf.  Roll by folding the sides over and rolling up into a cylindrical package. 

Layer in the crockpot side by side and on top if need be. Cover with 3 cans of soup and 2 cans of water. 

Cook for 4 hours on high or 7 hours on low. 

Nutrition Info: 
Typical serving is about 3 and this scores about 8 Weight Watchers points plus points. 

Pork Tostadas

This is an easy to make dish for a quick flavorful dinner 


Ingredients: 
3 4" corn tortillas
1 1/2 Cup of Soybean Oil (any light oil such as safflower or canola will suffice)
1/2 lb of ground pork (This recipe also works with http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/04/slow-cooker-pulled-pork.html quite well)
1 Red Onion (small)
1 Red Pepper (small)
3 - 4 sprays of olive oil (if not using a Misto, use about 1 Tbsp of oil)
8oz of shredded Mozzarella cheese
1/4 - 1/3 Cup of Barbecue Sauce (http://raygasnick.blogspot.com/2012/05/simple-and-tasty-barbecue-sauce.html) 
Kosher or Sea Salt*
Black Pepper*
Paprika*
Cumin*
Coriander*


Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375. 


Dice up onions and peppers into small (less than 1/4" dice). Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat with the olive oil until it gets warm. Drop in diced onions and peppers and let them sizzle until they become translucent and soft. Flatten and season ground pork with salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and coriander to your liking. Add pork to the skillet and break up into small pieces with a spoon. Pork will turn white when cooked so continuously break it up so that all sides cook evenly.  Pour in barbecue sauce, stir together and reduce heat to low and cover. 


In a 2 qt stainless saucepan (gets hotter than nonstick) heat up the oil until it is between 275 and 325 degrees. Drop in one corn tortilla and fry until crispy (flipping as needed).  Once the tortilla has crisped, remove and place on a paper towel covered plate (lightly salt).  Repeat this process two more times with the other two tortillas. 


On an oven safe tray, place 3 tortillas and cover lightly with cheese. Pour heaping spoonfuls of the pork mixture onto the cheese and cover with remaining cheese. Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes or until cheese has melted. 


Serving: 
Serve hot and eat like a flat taco (do not try to cut it up as it will not cut well).