Last night I got home, opened the fridge and to my dismay saw a whole lot of food items that just did not mesh well together – or so I thought. I did not want to run to the store again since the fridge was full already, so I decided to put my creative thinking cap on and start convenience cooking.

I found lean ground turkey meat which had to be used up in a few days so I knew this component was a must. Next, I looked for a whole grain and saw some whole wheat angel hair pasta that had already been opened. I had half a bag left of my new favorite green vegetable, arugula, so I knew these three would make up my plate method meal. I thought spaghetti with a side salad of arugula, simple! After cooking up the pasta and ground turkey I looked for a jar of tomato sauce and it was nowhere to be found. Too late to start over so I kept looking around and decided to try out 2 tablespoons of sun-dried tomato hummus mixed in.

To give the pasta more flavor I grabbed my large handful of arugula that was going to be a side salad and threw it into the pasta. The hot pasta naturally steamed the arugula and mixed well! This random dish actually tasted delicious and reminded me of hamburger helper – but way more natural, more protein from some hummus with turkey, less calories and more volume! So next time you look in the fridge and find some hodge-podge plate method ingredients, get inspired to be creative and then please share your new inventive recipe!

Healthy Hamburger Helper:
Serves one, around 300 calories
Ingredients
1/2 cup cooked whole wheat angel hair pasta
4 ounces cooked lean ground turkey (I seasoned mine with some paprika, parsley and garlic)
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomato hummus
Large handful of wild rocket arugula

Jessica
jhummel@biggestloserresort.com