Greek Orzo and Beef Casserole
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 12:45PM Happy Thursday Foodies!! I want to apologize for not posting something yesterday. I had something yummy for all of you, but the day got away from me. I was running around yesterday trying to grocery shop and get all of the necessary ingredients for dinner last night. It was a Mexican kind of night and Gluten Free kind of night because of our three incredibly special guests. Nick’s sister, Chantelle and her boyfriend are visiting us and we are super excited to have them. They also brought Lillian, who just happens to be Pippy’s sister. It’s been awesome having them around and having another little puppy frolicking around! I wish they could stay longer; but, unfortunately, that cannot happen. Chantelle & Keith are embarking on an incredible adventure in a couple of weeks – wondering what that adventure is? They are going to Cambodia to change the world! I’m so excited for them & I am also equally as envious. I hope that we can visit them.
Keith is Gluten Free, which is why I started investigating and researching the gluten free lifestyle. I found out pretty quickly that it isn’t so hard to cook without gluten and everything usually tastes the same. I knew that I had to cook something special for them and I knew it had to be gluten free. So, last night I made the Tortilla Soup & Mango-Peach Enchiladas. Go check them out!! They are both gluten free and packed full of flavor. I doubled up the ingredients for both dishes because I knew Keith & Nick were going to tare through the food like a tornado and I wanted everybody to be full of delicious food and satisfied.
Now, let’s move on to something a little more serious. A week ago I asked everybody if they could appreciate the nutritious value of my recipes be included in my blog posts. I promised that I would start integrating those values in the weeks to come. Today, I have a super delicious meal for you and is also pretty healthy for you too. Today I give to you Greek Orzo and Beef Casserole.
Serving Size:1 1/4 cups
PointPlus Value: 7
Calories per Serving: 306 calories
Total Fat: 7 g
Total Carboyhydrates: 32 g
Total Protein: 25 g
Total Fiber: 5 g
Let’s get down to business. Here is what you need:
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat orzo
- 1 ½ pound lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 (29 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup crumbled reduced – fat feta cheese
- 1 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
- Grease casserole dish
- Cook orzo according to package directions, drain. Rinse under cold running water, drain again. Transfer to a large bowl
- Meanwhile, spray large nonstick skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Add beef, cook, breaking it apart with wooden spoon, until browned & season with pepper, onion powder, and garlic.
- When the beef is cooked, add the tomatoes and allow to simmer for 5 minutes
- Transfer the beef and tomatoes to the orzo bowl and mix in the feta cheese
- Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish, sprinkle with Romano
- Bake for about 25 minutes
This dish was incredible. It was packed full of delicious flavor and very filling. The awesome part about this meal is the serving size. You get about 1 ¼ cup per serving and I was not even able to eat the entire serving size. So for people like me who has a smaller stomach, you are never going to hit the calories in this dish. However, for those people who can eat a ton of food, like Nick, eating two servings of this is totally okay. You’re eating healthy and the calories are very low.
I hope you all enjoy this!!
Until next time,
Happy Cooking
Reader Comments (3)
This looks so yummy! And we just happened to buy ground bison and goat cheese at the grocery store...hmm... =)
I would like to try your slow cooked chicken and dumplings...yummmmm
They are pretty awesome, Mary!! Make sure you pop over & list this in the giveaway blog post so that you qualify! :)