Day 116: Chill Day & New Recipe

We woke up early at my sister’s house Saturday (Reuben kept hearing the other dogs and wouldn’t sleep!) so we headed home in dreary weather, made Jimmy Deans and got back in bed! I slept for a couple of hours, bummed around all day, went to a friend’s for drinks and that was about it for yesterday! No gym – just felt like chilling. And I forgot to weigh in – eek! One thing I did do, besides laundry and organizing my closet (again), was make a new recipe – Tomato Basil Pasta Bake! This recipe was adapted from a recipe I found on Points and Pounds that she found on Friendly Philly Food. I changed it up a bit with ingredients and portions to make it more us! I used:

4 oz. Barilla rotini noodles
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 servings boneless, skinless chicken, diced
10 tbsp Muir Glen pasta sauce (any one with 60 calories and 1 fat gram or less)
1 oz. Fat-free mozzarella cheese, grated
1 oz. Presidente fat-free California tomato & basil feta cheese
½ Light English muffin, grinded to bread crumbs
1 tsp Basil

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 and set a pot of water to boil. Cook pasta for 8 minutes. While it’s cooking, chop tomatoes and defrost and chop chicken. Spray a pan with non stick cooking spray over medium heat. Add garlic and let it simmer until it’s fragrant. Reduce heat to medium-low and add tomatoes. Stir occasionally. After 3- 4 minutes add the chicken and 2 tbsp of pasta sauce. Simmer over low heat while the pasta finishes. Drain pasta. Add pasta and basil to the skillet. Spray a small casserole dish with non stick cooking spray. Add 1/2 of the pasta mixture. Top with 3 tbsp sauce and feta cheese. Add the rest of the pasta mixture. Top with 3 tbsp sauce, mozzarella cheese and muffin bread crumbs. Bake in the oven until desired crispiness (12-15 minutes).

We REALLY liked it – I’ll be making it again soon I’m sure! I put it in Spark People and each serving (it makes 2) was 405 calories, 54 carbs and 4 fat grams – not bad! Next time I may add mushrooms! And I think i'll use a smaller dish (less wide) so the layers will spread more evenly. At the end of the day I had 1,531 calories, 187 carbs and 31fat grams – not a bad day! Here’s what I ate.