Creamy Spinach & Chicken Pasta

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted!  Contrary to how it may appear, I have been doing some cooking lately.  But I will confess, it was so stinking HOT here this summer that I didn't cook nearly as much as I normally do.  We had about 6 weeks in a row where it was over 100 degrees almost every day.  In case you were wondering, this really doesn't mix well with being pregnant.

However, this tasty little concoction came from one of those nights in early summer where I didn't mind a little extra heat from my stove.  I had spinach and mushrooms that needed to be eaten along with some leftover grilled chicken, and I knew I could come up with something.  So I got to work.  The original recipe only made 2 one-cup servings, so I doubled it for your benefit.  Just remember that what you see pictured cooking is only half the recipe!


Creamy Spinach & Chicken Pasta


2 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
3-4 cloves minced garlic 

3 c. fresh spinach
2 heaping Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 c. low-fat cottage cheese, pureed in blender
1 c. low-fat milk
3 tsp. dried basil or 3 Tbsp fresh basil  
salt/pepper to taste
1/2 c. shredded parmesan (not grated!!)
2-3 large chicken breasts, grilled and diced
4 c. cooked pasta

Heat olive oil in a large pan.  Add mushrooms and garlic.  Saute for about 5-10 minutes or until mushrooms are done.

While mushrooms are cooking, you want to prep two other things.  First, you want to roughly chop the fresh spinach.

The second thing you need to do is pull out your blender or food processor and puree that cottage cheese with the milk.  You don't want lumpy sauce.  Trust me.

Eventually your mushrooms will be done and look something like this:

Add spinach and cook another minute or two until spinach is wilted.  (Tip: If you're using fresh basil in this recipe, this may be a good time to add that, too.)

It should look something like this when you're ready to move on:

 Sprinkle corn starch over pan and toss to let the moisture in the pan absorb it.

Pour in your milk and cottage cheese mixture and simmer until thickened.

Add Parmesan cheese, salt/pepper to taste, and dried basil.  This is when you want to make sure you're tasting this dish and have the seasonings the way you like it.

 Add diced chicken and mix well.

 Doesn't this look divine??

 

Serve 1 cup of sauce over 1 cup of pasta for a very filling meal!

Lasagna Pizza Rolls

I'm sure that someone, somewhere has tried something like this before.  But since I haven't ever seen it before, I feel like a culinary genius.  And my kids think so, too, which is even better.

It seems to me there's a quote somewhere about desperation leading to innovation leading to inspiration.  This was something like that.  It was a Thursday, and I wasn't planning on going to the grocery store till that night or the next day.  My kids were complaining about sandwiches for lunch (again!) and my 6-year old started begging for me to take everyone out to eat.  Since this is something she actually does on a regular basis, I left the room for a few minutes to think.  I realized that when I have cheese in the house (and I did), then I can almost always come up with something the kids will eat and enjoy.  So I came back and started scrounging through my pantry and cabinets to see what I could throw together. 

That's when it caught my eye.  A half-used box of lasagna noodles?  Surely there's something I could do with that.  And there was...

It was so surprisingly good, that the kids begged for me to make it again and soon.  So I made it the next night for The Honey to serve the kids (I had a meeting) and got more rave reviews.  It's quickly become a fast favorite around here!


Lasagna Pizza Rolls

Lasagna noodles (any kind)
Shredded mozzarella cheese, or blend of cheeses
Pepperoni, or other favorite pizza toppings (optional)
Italian-style diced tomatoes (pureed in blender)
     OR pizza sauce

Take your lasagna noodles and break them in half.  You can use oven-ready or regular noodles, it doesn't matter.

As you can see from the first time I did it, it's hard to break them in a straight line just using your hands.  However, I discovered the second time around that if you use the straight edge of the counter top and break the noodles over that, you get a nice, clean break every time.  You'll see evidence of this in later pictures.

Place halved noodles in a medium to large pot of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.  (Hint: Do not stir the noodles too much while cooking.  They will start to fall apart.  Just stir them enough to keep them from sticking to the pan.)

Drain and rinse with cold water.

Spread a sheet of aluminum foil out on the counter, and line up as many lasagna noodles as you can in straight rows.

Next, sprinkle on desired amount of cheese and add any pizza toppings you like, such as pepperoni, sausage, or sauteed veggies.

Starting at one end, roll each noodle up individually and place in a greased rectangular casserole dish.

Continue until all the noodles have been rolled up.

Top with pizza sauce or pureed Italian-style diced tomatoes.  Don't drown them with sauce, just spread a nice layer over the top.

Then sprinkle with additional cheese.  As you can see, for this batch we used mozzarella in the middle and mixed cheese for the top.  Fabulous.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil half-way through the baking time to get your cheese nicely browned like you see here.

CAUTION: You're kids may want to eat more of this than you think they will, so be sure to supplement this tasty dish with a nice, green salad!  Then your husband won't scold you for not making enough...

Garden Spagetti Sauce

I don't know why I didn't get a picture of this spaghetti sauce actually ON the pasta. It's not really all that appetizing looking at a glop of spaghetti sauce in the pot. Oh well! I guess when I make it again I'll just have to snag one.

One of my main purposes in making this spaghetti sauce is to hide as many veggies as possible in the sauce without actually letting the sauce taste like anything but the tomatoes. Who wants "carrot-sauce" on their noodles? Not me! But The Honey and I are lovers of mushrooms, so I will confess we didn't try to hide those. Otherwise they would have been pureed as well. The kidlets can pick them out if they want. I'd hate for them to think we spoil them...

This is also a great meatless spaghetti sauce for those of you who don't like chunks of ground beef or turkey in your sauce but want something hearty and slightly chunky. And if you like meat in your spaghetti? Just throw in a few meatballs and you're good to go!

One other note: it may seem like we do spaghetti a lot at our house. And it's true, we probably have it about every 2-3 weeks. Part of the reason for this is because you can throw it in the crock pot before church and it's ready when you get home. Great reason, don't you think? But it's also because it's an inexpensive meal that will feed our family and a guest family. So those of you who have had the opportunity to come over and eat my spaghetti... now you know my little secret. We're feeding you cheap food. But we're trying to live on a budget and love having company over. It's a win-win situation when you cook up a pot of spaghetti!


Garden Spaghetti Sauce
(I've never measured it out of the pot, but it makes about 8 servings of 3/4 c. each. Each serving of sauce is about 110 calories. 1 cup cooked spaghetti noodles is about 220 calories.)

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
2 c. sliced, steamed veggies
12 oz. tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced
Salt/pepper to taste
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp pizza seasoning

Pour can of diced tomatoes into blender and puree. Pour half the puree into the pot and keep the other half in the blender to puree with the other veggies. (If you like your sauce with tomato chunks, only puree half the can.)

Slice about 2 cups of desired veggies and steam in the microwave. I used zucchini and carrots this time, but I have also done yellow squash. I'm sure you could use just about anything, though I wouldn't recommend corn for what (I would hope) are obvious reasons...

Add steamed veggies to the blender.

Puree for about a minute, or until there are no longer any recognizable chunks if you're trying to hide veggies from your kids. If you just want a chunky garden sauce, just pulse the blender until you get the veggies down to the desired consistency. Pour into pot with the tomato puree and add tomato paste.

Preheat the olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook until almost translucent.

Add fresh mushrooms and sprinkle a layer of salt/pepper or Nature's Seasons over the mushrooms.

Cook until mushrooms are done. You'll know the mushrooms are done when they start making "juice" in the pan rather than absorbing it. If you don't know what I mean, try it and you'll see.

Finally, add mushroom mixture and all remaining ingredients to the pot. Stir well and let simmer as long as you can. If making it in the crock pot, generally 4-5 hours on low heat is plenty of time.

Beef Stroganoff

The Honey, lover of all things meaty, recently requested some beef stroganoff for dinner. And like the dutiful, compliant, easy-going, ever-loving wife that I am, I fixed it for him. (And if you believe all that about me, then I have some ocean-front property I'd like to sell you...)

To be quite honest, neither of my girls will eat this meal. But that is mostly because they don't like ground beef. I can't really blame them - it's not my favorite for that reason, either. In fact, it would probably be much better if I made it with some sliced steak, but lean ground beef is what I had on hand, and lean ground beef is what I used.

Before I get into the recipe, I have some news. I'm going to start doing something a little extra with my recipes. Since my mother is a math teacher, I have this genetic predisposition towards math. I'm really quite the math nerd, and love doing all sorts of calculations and puzzles in my head. Very geeky, I know, but you will now begin reaping the benefits of my weirdness, because that means I can calculate the calories per serving for just about every recipe I make. As long as I pay attention while I'm making it, that is. And since we all want to make sure we're not busting our waistlines with our meals, I'll start including that information with each recipe.

Beef Stroganoff
(Makes 3 adult servings. Approximately 260 calories per serving. When served over 3/4 c. cooked egg noodles, total is 425 calories per serving.)

1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 Tbsp. dried minced onion
1 small can mushrooms, drained
1/4 c. flour
1 c. 1% milk
1/2 c. light sour cream
Salt/pepper to taste
Dash of nutmeg
Cooked egg noodles or rice


In a large frying pan, brown ground beef. Drain and rinse with hot water. Return to pan and add minced onion and mushrooms.
Continue cooking over medium heat.




Sprinkle 1/4 c. flour over the beef mixture. Mix well.





Measure out 1 c. of milk. Add about half of the milk to the flour and beef mixture, and stir until well combined. Add the remaining milk and sour cream. Add salt/pepper and dash of nutmeg. Continue to simmer over medium heat until mixture reaches desired thickness.

Quick & Easy Spaghetti & Meatballs

As promised, here is my quick and easy version of my Momma's spaghetti sauce recipe. I made it after church on Sunday with no advance preparation along with cheesy garlic bread. We were ready to sit down and eat 45 minutes after walking through the door, and the only reason it took so long was because I was waiting on the spaghetti noodles to finish cooking! So, I recommend starting your water to boil for the pasta BEFORE starting the sauce.

(By the way, how do you like my "new" green counter tops? Circa 1965, and contrary to what they look like in the pictures, NOT avocado green. Better than black, though! Don't worry, new ones are on my wish list. Eventually.)

Quick & Easy Spaghetti & Meatballs

3 14.5 oz. cans Italian-style diced tomatoes
1 12-oz. can of tomato paste
1 clove garlic (optional)
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. vinegar
Pre-cooked meatballs, frozen or otherwise


When I made this, I combined all the ingredients (except for the meatballs). I found when I did this that my blender had to work really, really hard before it was done. Therefore, you may want to do half the recipe at a time in the blender. This would be 1 1/2 cans tomato, 1/2 the can of tomato paste, 1 Tbsp sugar and 1 Tbsp vinegar. Then pour it into a pan and do it all again.



Either way, when you're done pour it into a medium saucepan and it should look something like this. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.





While your sauce is heating up, take your meatballs and thaw in the microwave. Because I had just moved, I used store-bought meatballs. (According to The Honey, they aren't as good as Kathleen's Meatballs, which is what I usually make.) I defrosted 18 frozen meatballs by cooking on high in the microwave for about 90 seconds.




Once you thaw your meatballs, add them to your sauce and let them simmer until heated through. This should be done about the same time as your noodles and garlic bread.

Chow Mien for One

Spaghetti is always a great dinner, but it seems like I can never make exactly the right amount of spaghetti noodles. Either I made too few and I have tons of leftover sauce, or I make too many noodles for the sauce and then I have to throw away the extra noodles.

Not any more.

I really enjoy the Panda Express chow mien side dish, which is actually not a bit like the chow mien my dad used to make when I was growing up. With a few tips from my neighbor, I was able to make this yummy variation of my own.


Chow Mien For One

1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 c. slivered carrot
3/4 c. thinly sliced cabbage
2-3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 c. water
1/2 tsp. chicken bouillon granules
1 tsp. dried minced onion
or 1/2 tsp. onion powder
1-2 cloves minced garlic
Salt/pepper to taste
Leftover spaghetti noodles (about 1 cup)

Preheat 1 Tbsp sesame oil in frying pan over medium heat. Slice carrots and add to pan.











Cut cabbage and add to pan. (This allows the carrots the extra couple minutes they need to be tender at the same time as the carrot.)










While sauteing the cabbage and carrot, add a sprinkle of soy sauce, water, chicken bouillon granules, minced onion or onion powder, and garlic.










When veggies reach desired tenderness, add cold spaghetti noodles. Add another sprinkle of soy sauce and mix well. Continue sauteing until noodles are heated through.