Neither my husband nor I grew up eating meat sauce, and we rarely order it at restaurants… so I’m not sure what inspired me to try my hand at making a bolognese. Regardless, I’m glad I did because it came out pretty well!

To keep the bolognese sauce on the lighter side, I used lean ground turkey in place of the traditional ground beef.  The turkey is added to a trio of sauteed aromatic vegetables and cooked into a sauce consisting of two types of canned tomatoes seasoned with a touch of red wine and Italian spices.  Since personal tastes tend to vary when it comes to tomato sauces, the amount of spice is up to you. I suggest starting with about 1/2 tsp of each seasoning listed in the ingredient list, and then adding more according to your flavor preference.

This turkey bolognese sauce is perfect for tossing with pasta, scooping up with Italian bread, or enjoying with both as us “carbovores” did for tonight’s dinner. I imagine that the sauce only gets better after a few days of sitting in the fridge, so you might want to make a double batch for leftovers later in the week.

Turkey Bolognese

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 3/4 lb lean ground turkey
• 1/4 cup dry red wine
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
• ground oregano, to taste
• dried basil, to taste
• red pepper flakes, to taste
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic and chopped carrot and saute for 5 additional minutes.
2. Raise the stove heat to medium-high. Add the ground turkey to the skillet, and cook, breaking up the meat, until no longer pink, about 8-10 minutes. Pour the wine into the skillet to deglaze, then add the diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.
3. Add about 1/2 tsp each of the seasonings, reduce stove heat to low, and simmer until the bolognese is thick and reduced, about 1 1/2 hours. Adjust seasonings to taste during the cooking process. Serve over pasta and/or with crusty bread.

One of my favorite indulgences to lighten up is creamy pasta sauce.  After many trial runs, I’ve found that 2% milk strikes the perfect balance between rich creaminess and a lower-fat nutritional profile. If you prefer to go even lighter, 1% milk will do, but skim milk just doesn’t yield the silkiness that I seek in a creamy pasta sauce.

This recipe starts with sautéing shallot and garlic in a bit of olive oil, then whisking in flour for a healthier roux – sans butter. Reduced fat milk is whisked in until a gloriously thick consistency develops. Basil pesto is stirred in as the finishing touch to this delicious sauce. I used Buitoni Reduced Fat Pesto here, but am already anticipating making different pesto versions for this recipe (walnut and parsley comes to mind as a nice flavor combination).

I folded al dente-cooked spinach linguine into the creamy pesto sauce, but it can also be used as a layer in lasagna, a sauce for pizza bianca, or as you see fit. The sauce will continue to thicken as it cools, so let it rest for a little while if you plan to use it as a white pizza sauce.

Creamy Pesto Sauce

yields sauce for 3 hearty servings of pasta

• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 1/2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup basil pesto, homemade or store-bought

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium/medium-high heat.
2. Add shallot and cook for about 5 minutes, until the shallot starts to soften, stirring often. Reduce stove heat to medium.
3. Stir in garlic, and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant.
4. Whisk the flour into the shallot, garlic, and oil. Cook for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in the milk. Bring to a gentle simmer, whisking often. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly, until sauce has thickened.
5. Add pesto to sauce. Stir over low heat until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Serve tossed with cooked spinach linguine, or pasta of your choice, and topped with shavings of parmesan cheese.

This is another recipe made with my husband in mind. What can I say… the man loves ranch dressing and barbeque sauce; toss in some jalapeno, chicken, pizza dough, and cheese, and John’s a happy guy!

This playful pizza is a conglomerate adaptation from two of my fellow bloggers, so thank you to Annie and Des for the inspiration! I slightly lightened Des’ recipe for Jalapeno Ranch Dressing by subbing in Greek yogurt for sour cream, and Annie’s recipe for Chicken Ranch Pizza by using reduced-fat shredded cheese. I tossed my own spin into the mix by coating the chicken with barbeque sauce, and Jalapeno Ranch BBQ Pizza was born.

*Disclaimer: we much prefer to roll out pizza dough and bake the crust, but what we had on hand for this meal was a pre-baked thin crust Boboli.  These pizza “shells” suffice, but I recommend buying unbaked dough (or, better yet, making your own), whenever you make homemade pizza.*

Jalapeno Ranch BBQ Chicken Pizza

adapted from Annie’s Chicken Ranch Pizza (originally from Allrecipes) & Des’ Jalapeno Ranch Dressing

serves 4

Ingredients for the pizza:

• 1 pizza dough, homemade or store bought, rolled out to desired thickness
• 1/4 cup jalapeno ranch dressing* (recipe follows)
• canola oil cooking spray
• 3/4 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 cup barbeque sauce of your choice
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 3/4 cup shredded 2% part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 3/4 cup shredded 50% reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450*F.
2. Heat a cooking spray-coated skillet over medium/medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and add to hot skillet. Cook until just done, about 3-4 minutes per side (depending on thickness), and remove to a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, chop chicken into bite-sized pieces. Toss chicken pieces with barbeque sauce until evenly coated. Set aside.
3. Spread 1/4 cup of the jalapeno ranch dressing on the rolled-out pizza dough. Top with an even sprinkling of the mozzarella cheese, the barbeque-coated chicken pieces, the cheddar cheese, and the green onions.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the pizza crust is lightly browned.

*Ingredients for the jalapeno ranch dressing:

(yields 1/2 cup… you only need 1/4 cup for the pizza)

• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup canola oil mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Combine the jalapeno and garlic in a food processor and pulse until minced.
2. Remove the food processor lid and add in the mayonnaise, Greek yogurt, vinegar, ground coriander, and garlic powder. Process until well combined.
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

If I am ever asked to compose a list of only 10 foods I could eat for the remainder of my life, sweet potatoes would – without question – be number 1. Why I disliked this superfood as a kid, I have no clue, but I’d have a difficult time living without the orange-fleshed vegetable now. Sweet potatoes require no ingredient additions to taste absolutely divine, but when dressed up a bit, they become nothing short of transcendent.

In this recipe, sweet potatoes are baked until they become so soft that the skin practically peels itself away from the flesh. The tender potato flesh is stirred into a butter-less yet creamy milk base, combined with tangy goat cheese and Greek yogurt, and finished off with a crown of dried cranberries and toasted pecans. The resulting soup is incredibly thick, surprisingly filling, and undeniably comforting.

Baked Sweet Potato Soup

inspired by Baked Potato Soup from Cooking Light

yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups 2% reduced fat milk
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup 2% Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400*F.
2. Place potatoes directly on oven rack and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until very soft. Let rest until cool enough to handle. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise, scoop out the flesh, and coarsely mash in a bowl.
3. Place flour in a pot or Dutch oven and gradually add in the milk, whisking until blended. Cook over medium heat until thickened, (about 8 minutes), whisking often. Add in the mashed sweet potato flesh, crumbled goat cheese, salt and pepper to taste, and cinnamon. Stir until the goat cheese melts. Reduce stove heat to low.
4. Stir in the Greek yogurt and cook over low heat until heated through, a few minutes. Serve topped with the pecans and dried cranberries.

My husband, John, has always been a big huge fan of buffalo wings. Me, not so much. They remind me of “wing night” held at one of the dining halls on our alma mater’s campus; many members of the football team would – without fail – convene to consume massive amounts of the messy finger food. Witnessing the gluttonous feast instilled in me a definitive dislike of buffalo wings.

Until…

A little while ago, a certain recipe for Wingless Buffalo Chicken Pizza caught my eye as a meal that John would absolutely love. Now, I make a concerted effort to make dinners that I think we will both enjoy, but every now and then I like to prepare a meal specifically suited to my husband’s tastes. Little did I know that I would love Rachel Ray’s buffalo chicken pizza every bit as much as John did.

Yep. Apparently I do like buffalo chicken… if it’s in the form of boneless chicken breasts smothered in a homemade buffalo sauce and sandwiched between pizza dough and melted cheese.

We both enjoyed the buffalo chicken pizza so much that I was inspired to create buffalo chicken calzones: buffalo sauce-coated chicken pieces are tucked into whole wheat pizza dough pockets along with reduced fat cheddar cheese and scallions. As a cool contrast to the hot & spicy calzones, a blue cheese-yogurt mixture is served alongside for dipping.

I am a convert.

Buffalo Chicken Calzones

yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 whole wheat pizza dough, (available at most grocery stores), at room temperature
• 1 lb chicken breasts
• extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp hot sauce (add more if desired)
• 1/4 cup canned tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
• 1/4 cup 2% plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup 50% reduced fat shredded (or 4 slices) sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sliced green onion, divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450*F.
2. Combine blue cheese and Greek yogurt in a small bowl and mix well. Stir in 1 Tbsp sliced green onion. Set aside.
3. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Season chicken with salt and pepper, add to heated pan, and cook until done, about 4 minutes per side. Remove chicken from pan and set aside to cool. Once cool enough to handle, cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Reduce stove heat to low.
5. Melt butter in the skillet and stir in Worcestershire, hot sauce, and tomato sauce. Stir to combine and remove from heat. Add the cooked chicken to the buffalo sauce, and stir to coat evenly.
6. Divide pizza dough into four equal portions. Roll each out into a circle on a lightly floured surface.
7. Working with one dough circle at a time, spoon 1/4 of the chicken onto one half of the circle. Top with 1/4 cup shredded cheddar and 1 tablespoon sliced green onion. Drape other half of the dough circle up and over the filling, and pinch edges together to seal the dough.
8. Repeat step 7 with remaining three dough circles. Transfer calzones to a baking sheet. Using the tines of a fork, pierce the top of each calzone a few times to let steam out while cooking.
9. Place calzones into the oven, and cook for 10-12 minutes. Let calzones sit at room temperature for a few minutes. Serve with the blue cheese-yogurt dip.