One Recipe, Three Healthy & Quick Meals

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Hi, I'm Tina!

I’m the owner of Carrots ‘N’ Cake as well as a Certified Nutrition Coach and Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner (FDN-P). I use macros and functional nutrition to help women find balance within their diets while achieving their body composition goals.

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This post is sponsored by Dr. Praeger’s. The opinions expressed are all my own.

Hi, guys!

I recently had the opportunity to work with Dr. Praeger’s to “deconstruct” their burgers and pancakes to create one-of-a-kind recipes to help inspire others to think outside the box. I mean, who says a burger (or a pancake) needs to stay a burger? I know many of us love Dr. Praeger’s products and, of course, they make great freezer staples to have on-hand, especially when it comes to creating quick, easy, and healthy meals, so I was all about this opportunity to get creative in the kitchen.

When I thought about all of the different things I could do with “deconstructed” ingredients, the ideas just kept coming and coming. I eventually decided to share one recipe that can easily be turned into three quick and easy meals.  In fact, if you prepare the main recipe ahead of time, these three meals come together in a matter of minutes and will make enough for 4 servings (or 2 servings + leftovers), which really helps take the work out of dinnertime. Mal and I actually ended up having dinner all squared away for three nights in a row last week (along with leftovers for lunch), which was awesome and made meal time practically effortless.

That said, below is the main recipe, which is made with Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Pancakes, Dr. Praeger’s Sweet Potato Pancakes, and ground turkey. Once this mixture has been prepare, it can then be easily incorporated into the three quick and healthy meals that follow, many of which are variations of popular mealtime favorites. Enjoy!

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Main Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground turkey (or beef)
  • 1 box of Dr. Praeger’s Spinach Pancakes
  • 1 box of Dr. Praeger’s Sweet Potato Pancakes
  • salt + pepper to taste

Directions:

Remove and unwrap spinach and sweet potato pancakes and place them on a microwave-safe plate/dish. Defrost in microwave for approximately 3 minutes.

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Meanwhile, start cooking ground turkey/beef in a large skillet. Break up the meat with a fork while it cooks. Once it’s finished cooking, add spinach and sweet potato pancakes and break them up with a fork until the texture is like hash.

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Store mixture in a container with a lid in the refrigerator until it’s time to use it.

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So, that’s the basic recipe. Easy-peasy, right? To make the three different recipes associated with it, you will also need the following ingredients:

  • 1 jar of pasta sauce (25 ounces)
  • 2.5 cups dry pasta
  • Shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 4 tortillas wraps
  • Shredded cheese (for pizza)
  • 1 pizza crust

Pasta with meat and veggie sauce

This meal came together in a matter of minutes, thanks to a little prep ahead of time. Having the sweet potato-spinach-ground turkey mixture ready to go definitely streamlined dinnertime last week!

To make this meal, cook pasta as directed and then combine it with the pasta sauce and 1.25 cups of the main recipe in a large mixing bowl. Top the dish with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

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Ingredients:

  • 2.5 cups dry pasta (I used elbows)
  • 1.5 cups pasta sauce
  • 1.25 cups main recipe mixture
  • shredded Parmesan to taste

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Pizza with ground turkey, spinach & sweet potato

This recipe works with a store-bought pizza dough or crust. It would probably work with a homemade one too. I used a refrigerated whole wheat pizza dough from Whole Foods.

To make this meal, spread pasta sauce onto the pizza crust, top it with about 2 cups of the main recipe and shredded cheese (as much or as little as  you like), and then cook it in the oven according to the pizza crust’s directions. Remove pizza from oven, cut into slices, and serve immediately!

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Ingredients:

  • 1 pizza dough or crust
  • Pasta sauce (as much or as little as you’d like)
  • 2 cups of the main recipe
  • Shredded cheese (as much or as little as you’d like)

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Sweet potato, spinach, and ground turkey quesadilla

The final recipe is probably my favorite of the bunch””a cheesy quesadilla with sweet potato, spinach, and ground turkey inside. Holy yum!

To make this one, add about 1/2 cup of the main recipe to a tortilla wrap along with some shredded cheese and cook until cheese is completely melted. Cut into four pieces and serve immediately.

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Ingredients:

  • 4 tortilla wraps
  • 2 cups main recipe
  • Shredded cheese to taste

And there you have it: 1 recipe, 3 ways!

Giveaway time! Here’s your chance to win a couple of coupons to try some Dr. Praeger’s products for yourself!

To enter, just click over to the Dr. Praeger’s website, check out all of the available products (FYI: Dr. Praeger’s recently added Kale and Black Bean burgers to their product line), and leave a comment on this post about which one you’d most like to try. I will randomly pick 3 winners to win 2 coupons each for free Dr. Praeger’s products on Friday.

Good luck!

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