Awesome Recipe For Italian Food Lovers

[JoeBlackSpade]

Hi guys and gals.


LOW CAL BROCCOLI PARMESAN CASSEROLE

I just accidentally made something that is pretty freaking good, and it is decent in terms of nutritional value.

Here it is below, presented in true Italian form (meaning without actual precise measurements):



1 Bigass handful of mozarella cheese made from skim

1 Bigass handful of "italian blend" cheese from skim sources (provolone, romano, etc.)

1 medium bag (approx 1lb) of frozen broccoli tops (get the pieces with the stems included for more fiber, but you can go with just the tops).

1 lb. of 90% (or better) ground beef

1 large onion

several garlic cloves to taste (I use 3 because I love me some garlic)

1 cup of sugar free ketchup

1 cup of low cal bread crumbs (leave a few pieces of low cal "double fiber" (made by natures own) wheat bread out for a day, after toasting, under a napkin- seasoned)


Italian seasoning blend

garlic powder to taste

onion powder to taste

1 tablespoon of olive oil

4 egg whites

1/2 cup skim milk (or buttermilk)

1 large can of TOMATO PASTE*- not the little tiny ones.



Those are the ingredients. Next post is prep.

 

[JoeBlackSpade]

Preheat oven to 350 deg.



In one pot, dump the tomato paste, and set the pot on low heat. Use 2 can-fulls of water to wash out the tomato paste that sticks to the side of the can, and add it to your pot. This will reconstitute your tomato paste into a sauce. Stir it up. Add 1TBSP of garlic powder and 1TBSP of onion powder, plus 1TBSP of italian seasoning. Cover.



In a shallow pan, pour the Olive oil, and warm on low heat. Chop up the onion and the garlic and throw HALF OF IT ALL in the oil. Simmer until brown.


While the onion and garlic simmer on low heat in the olive oil, get a large bowl and throw in the beef, plus the bread crumbs and the remaining onion and garlic pieces (finely chopped) into the beef. Mix it coarsly, using your hands, and then add the buttermilk/skim milk and the 4 egg whites. Also, you might want to add some pepper and parsley flakes, or more italian seasoning to the meat as you mix it.)


Put the broccoli (frozen) into a bigass baking pan with high sides. If you have any left, sprinkle some onions and garlic bits onto the broccoli. Mash the meat onto the top of the broccoli in the pan.

Dump all the cheese on top of the meat.



Now go back to the stove and pour the onions that have (by now) caramelized in the olive oil, and pour the entire mixture into the tomato sauce that should be bubbling.

Add the sugar free ketchup and mix it.

Now pour the tomato sauce over the meat that is in your pan.


Now cover the pan LOOSELY with a bigass sheet of aluminum, and put the entire mixture into the oven for 1 hour. If it is too tight, air won't circulate, and the broccoli will end up cold. (if you want to speed up the cooking time, just nuke the broccoli in the microwave-until tender- before throwing it in the pan. Then cut the baking time down to 35 min.)

After one hour, uncover, raise heat to 500 degrees, and brown the top of it slightly. Watch it so it doesn't burn.


Take it out, and let it rest about 10 minutes, then serve as a casserole-type dish.








The hamburger meat (even 90% fat free) has alot of fat, relatively speaking, but I am experimenting with a turkey-burger version tomorrow.

 

[JoeBlackSpade]

If you guys like this, please let me know.

If I didn't workout, I would be a massive fatass because I love to eat, and I love to eat gourmet. Before I started working out, I had like a 20% BF level (down to just below 10 now), and have dropped alot of weight.

My wife too lost like 60lbs of fat, and together we came up with a shitload of different recipes that are high in protein and fiber, and low in fat, sugar, etc.

 

[AZMUSCLE]

This sounds fucking awesome bro! My wife and I also come up with unique bodybuilding dishes. I have all those ingredients except the big can of tom. paste but I'll get one tom. morning. My wife is Dutch/Indonesian and makes this meatloaf with 95% lean ground beef and EXTRA lean ground turkey, she uses the sugar free ketchup too and uses red potatoes instead of breadcrumbs, 1 egg and 2 egg whites, onions and some seasoning-KILLER!! I will try your recipe tomorrow, list some more recipes or pm me, I LOVE food too!!!

 

[JoeBlackSpade]

AZ: Man that's funny! The meatloaf you described is pretty much how I stumbled across the recipe above.

I had leftover lowfat meatloaf, and threw it on the broccoli. Sprinkled some cheese and then heated it up, and BAM, this is what I got, more or less.

The best part about this kind of stuff is it is pretty simple, since I suck at cooking (my wife, on the other hand, kicks ass in the kitchen).