Skinny Cheeseburger Casserole

One of my favorite things to do is to take a fattening, hearty dish and make it healthy.

I like to scroll through recipes and figure out ways to make it healthier without losing its deliciousness.

I found an awesome recipe for cheeseburger casserole on foodnetwork.com (I believe it was Bobby Dean's recipe), but it was loaded with fat.

It used ground beef, rotini pasta noodles, butter, cheese....

I'm salivating thinking about all these delicious fatty ingredients, but like I always say...

Nothing tastes better than being healthy!

I replaced the pasta with sweet potato cubes (Nick and I don't eat refined carbs of any sort after lunch time), I replaced the ground beef with extra lean ground turkey, I replaced the canned tomatoes with fresh tomatoes, I replaced the butter with olive oil, and I used a cheddar cheese made with skim milk instead of full fat cheese.

I also halved the amount of cheese the original recipe called for.

I tweaked the recipe and made it healthier, and made it my own.

Ingredients (in absolutely no particular order):

1 1/3 lbs of extra lean ground turkey (I used Jennie O's extra lean)

3 medium sized sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)

1/2 a head of chopped iceburg lettuce

1/2 of an onion (finely chopped)

3 roma tomatoes diced (save the juice!)

1 can of low sodium cream of mushroom soup (I prefer low sodium over fat free because frankly, we all need to cut down on salt, and fat free just means a lot of other crap is in it that we don't need in our bodies.)

4 cloves of garlic (finely minced) <---I'm a garlic addict...feel free to use less

salt

black pepper

2 tbsp tomato paste

2tbsp dijon mustard 

1/2 cup of skim milk cheddar shredded cheese

1 cup of dill pickles (finely chopped)

chopped scallions for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Take a 9x12 baking dish/casserole dish and spray with non stick spray (I use Pam olive oil).

2. Get a pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Once boiling, throw your sweet potatoes in just until they get tender. Don't let them overcook, or they'll be mushy and turn more into a mash in your casserole! Once they are done, drain them, and put them aside...they should not be mushy!

3. In a large skillet, heat your olive oil over medium-low heat, and add the onions. Cook until soft. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the ground turkey and cook until browned; season with salt and pepper (I just throw in a big pinch!). Stir in the tomato paste and cream of mushroom soup, then add the diced tomatoes and mustard. Let the mixture get bubbly and thicken (just a couple minutes).

4. Gently stir the sweet potatoes into the skillet with the ground turkey, and transfer it to your casserole dish. Top with shredded cheese and diced pickles. Put in the oven for about 20 minutes.

5. To serve, just spoon onto a plate and add iceberg lettuce on top!

My family loved it!

My husband took it to work as leftovers the next day, and couldn't stop talking about how good it was!

I'll try and start posting more recipes soon!

It's been so long since I have, and I have an arsenal of super delicious and healthy recipes that I cook daily for my family!