Easy Weeknight Recipes – Taco Bowtie Casserole and Quick Quinoa Shepherd’s Pie

I absolutely love that many of the convenience foods that are available to us today are also healthy.

Take, for example, the MorningStar Farms line of products. Their frozen products are so incredibly easy to prepare for a quick veggie burger/sandwich. With products like Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers, Parmesan Garlic Wings, and Baja Black Bean Pizza, they also keep some variety in your diet, whether you eat meat-free all the time or just occasionally!

But I thought I would get even more creative with the Morningstar Farms line of products. It turns out they’re great to use in casseroles that are normally full of meat. We don’t eat meat-free all the time, but it’s nice to change things up every once in a while, especially if that means we’re making healthier decisions!

Taco Bowtie Casserole

Ingredients
16oz Farfalle (Bowtie) pasta
1 9.5oz box Morningstar Farms Spicy Black Bean Burgers, thawed and crumbled
1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 15oz can black beans, drained
1 15oz can corn, drained
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 packet dry ranch dressing mix
1 cup salsa
1 cup sour cream
2 cups Mexican blend cheese

Directions

Boil pasta to al dente, according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet, heat a little bit (maybe a tablespoon) of olive oil. Cook crumbled Spicy Black Bean Burgers, onion, and bell pepper for 4-5 minutes. Add in garlic for the last 30 seconds – 1 minute.

In a large bowl, combine contents of skillet, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, salsa, sour cream, ranch dressing mix, salsa, and pasta. Pour into greased 9×13″ dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, or until casserole is bubbling. Turn on broiler for 5 more minutes to brown cheese slightly on top.

Quick Quinoa Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients
1 9.5 oz box Morningstar Farms Roasted Garlic and Quinoa Burgers, thawed and crumbled
2 packs dry gravy mix
1 12 oz bag frozen veggies
1 4oz bag instant mashed potatoes

Directions
Prepare gravy mix according to package directions. This should make somewhere around 2 cups of gravy.

In a large bowl, mix the Morningstar Farms, gravy, and veggies. Layer in the bottom of a greased 8×8″ dish.

Prepare the instant mashed potatoes according to package directions. Layer over the top of the mixture in the dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Turn on broiler and bake for another 5 minutes, until potatoes begin to brown on top.

You can check out even more ways to use Morningstar Farms products on their recipe page. With 30+ products and 600+ recipes, there are so many ways to change up your food routine for the better! Of course, these are great to fix as a healthy alternative to burgers as well… you can prepare them right on the grill, and their veggie burger options provide a great source of protein.

Check out more information on Morningstar Farms on their website!

You have the chance to win a $100 Visa gift card from BlogHer! To enter, answer the following question in a comment on this post: “Which Morningstar Farms product would you like to incorporate into your weekly meal plan?”

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 8/11-9/14/2014.
Be sure to visit the MorningStar Farms brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!