MEATLESS MONDAY - Spinach Artichoke Pesto Pita Pizza

We have started doing Meatless Monday a few months ago. I can't lie...it's been a little rough. We are meat eaters in this family but our docs have told us to cut back on our red meat consumption and meat in general to give our bodies a break. I'm thinking, NO PROBLEM, how hard can it be, right? WRONG! If you're not used to a vegetarian diet, it's a little scary and frustrating coming up with main meals that make you feel full and satisfied. Well this pita pizza hit the spot. Not only was it delicious but it was probably the fastest meal I have ever made for dinner, no joke! I was in such a hurry to get my daughter to dance I bought the ingredients, ran in the door and had this on the table in 10 minutes. It was tasty, filling and easy...best COMBO ever when cooking dinner.

SPINACH ARTICHOKE PESTO PITA PIZZA

Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Pesto

Can of artichokes hearts, roughly chopped

Fresh spinach

Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Freshly ground black pepper

I didn't include measurements because it's really all up to how much you like and how many family members you have to feed.

Spread pesto over the pita bread

Add the spinach, artichokes, and mozzarella and Parmesan.

Season with black pepper.

Place pitas on a baking sheet and stick under a preheated broiler for about 5 minutes or until your cheese is melted and the top starts to brown.

Your body and your heart will thank you for this meatless dish :)

I got this recipe off the Meatless Monday website. They have some great ideas...check it out: www.meatlessmonday.com

Roasted Garlic Bulb

I love garlic, period. I decided to roast a few garlic cloves for Chicken Shawarma (recipe to come soon). It adds so much flavor to any dish, especially on sandwiches or pita bread. Mash up the cloves, add a little olive oil for a garlic spread for garlic bread. Easy and delish. Kissing optional after eating.

2-3 bulbs of garlic
olive oil
foil

Set temp at 400 degrees. While oven is warming up, cut off the top of each bulb and drizzle with olive oil. Place on a baking sheet, cover with foil and cook for 40-45 minutes. The garlic clove will pull away from the sides and you can remove it using your finger or a small fork.

Enjoy!

Oven Fried Parmesan Zucchini Spears

Growing up, we had a Fry Baby and then one year my mom upgraded to a Fry Daddy. Oh how I loved to fry all kinds of morsels in that thing. Nowadays they have all kinds of fry "contraptions". In fact Paula Deen has, not one, but TWO fry baskets built right into her counter. I would love to get myself a fryer but I risk gaining 30 lbs with that sucker so I opt not to fry anything in my house. I made Parmesan chicken fingers in the oven a while back so I figured doing that to any type of veggie would work just as good and it did. This zucchini was delicious. They were really crunchy and had about a million less calories than their fried counterpart. I didn't have any marinara sauce so I whipped me up some spicy creamy dip. It was okay but next time I will serve these with marinara for sure.

Oven Fried Parmesan Zucchini

Zucchini

1/2 cup Bread Crumbs (I used whole wheat)

1/2 cup Parmesan

2 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Salt or to taste

1/2 tsp Pepper or to taste

1 or 2 Eggs

Cut your veggies up, into spears or circles, whatever you prefer.

Lightly beat an egg and put in a shallow bowl. Mix together your breadcrumbs, parmesan, oregano, salt and pepper and place in a shallow bowl.

1. Dip your zucchini into the egg.

2. Roll your zucchini in the breadcrumb mixture.

3. Place onto a greased cooking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Spinach Chicken Lasagna

Umm, four words, you gotta try this! Who would have thought that the ingredients listed below would make an amazing meal! My husband and son LOVE this recipe and I must say that I did take a bite of this bad boy and OMG. (Still dieting so I ate soup). What a great way to replace red meat and red sauce, it's easy to make and pretty inexpensive.

1 package of lasagna sheets (cooked and set aside). If you are daring, try making your own sheets like I did. (see manicotti shell recipe I blogged about)
3 cups of milk (original recipe called for whipping cream)
2 cans of condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of butter (I used
1 T of olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, diced
1 can of salt free mushrooms
1 roasted chicken, shredded
salt and pepper
ricotta cheese (I used the low fat kind)
3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

In a large pan, add your milk and cream of mushrooms over medium heat.

Add the parmesan cheese.

Now add the can of sliced mushrooms to the mix. Let mushroom sauce cook on low heat.

In a large pan, saute the onions and garlic.

Once the onions and garlic have been cooked, add the shredded rotisserie chicken.

Get the ricotta cheese ready by adding eggs, cheese, salt and mix well. Put in fridge until you are ready to assemble the lasagna.

Add your cleaned fresh spinach to hot water and cook until tender.

After you have cooked your lasagna sheets or made your own sheets, it's time to assemble. I put a cup of the mushroom sauce on the bottom of the pan then 2 sheets of pasta, top it off with ricotta cheese and spinach.

Add your chicken and add more mushroom sauce over it. Repeat the steps, shells, ricotta, spinach, chicken, cheese and mushroom sauce. Once your done laying, put in over for 40 minutes at 350 degrees or until the top is golden brown.

Finished dish!

Spinach, Artichoke with Feta (Served Hot or Cold)

Jaime and I were recently invited to Amber's baby shower for Rocco. Her sister, Chantel was the host and made this awesome spinach spread for crackers....I just had to have the recipe because it really is sooo tasty! I made this dish but forgot to purchase crackers so I decided instead of eating it cold (which was how it was served at Amber's baby shower for Rocco), I decided to bake it until bubbly and I am SO glad I did. Serve cold with crackers or bake as the best spinach/artichoke dip you will ever have! Thanks Chantel!

This is Amber, isn't she cute!?

This is Chantel sitting next to Jaime, she made this wonderful recipe that I just had to make!

1 package of frozen spinach (drain ALL water from spinach after it thaws)

3/4 cup of feta

1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Mix

2 teaspoons of galic

1 small jar of artichoke hearts (drain all liquids)

1 room temp block of cream cheese

I thawed the spinach in the microwave and then squeezed out all liquids with a cheese cloth.

Add your garlic to the spinach.

Add the Ranch mix powder.

Now add the artichoke (I diced my artichoke hearts up).

Add cream cheese, remember to make sure it's room temperature so it mixes easily.

Now add the crumbled Feta cheese to the mix.

Mix well, really well! If you want to serve it cold with crackers, mold it into a ball and place crackers around it. If you want it hot, bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Enjoy!

Cheesy Spinach & Wild Rice Side Dish

Because I'm only 49 days into being a new mommy again, I'm still all about easy and quick meals. I made this dish to accompany our chicken and we fell in love....so in love, I made it again the next day, it's yummy. This is a perfect addition to chicken, steak or fish. It's creamy, light and fresh. This recipe comes from Hingham, MA - another east coast dish that I love!

Ingredients:

1 package of Uncle Bens Ready Rice - Long Grain and Wild Rice

4 oz. mushroom stems and pieces (drained)

1 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach

8 oz. cream cheese (cube the cream cheese)

3/4 cup of chopped onions

butter - 1 T

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2 tsp of mustard

Add the spinach (you don't have to thaw or drain - just add frozen into pan), onions, nutmeg, butter and mustard in a large pan over medium to high heat.

Stir and cook until well mixed.

Add small chunks of the cream cheese to the pan now.

Stir until well blended.

In an 8 x 8 layer the rice and the mushrooms over it.

Now add the mix from the stove over the rice and mushrooms.

This is what it looks like before going into the oven for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna Style

We love eggplant, period. We also love Eggplant Parmesan as well as lasagna, so one day I combined the two for a delish meal, Eggplant Parmesan, lasagna style.

It's worth the time making this dish, it's very good. I always make two, one for that night and one for the freeze for a day I'm not in the mood to cook.

My family enjoys it, it's filling and goes great with a side salad.

Enjoy!

-Jenifer

Ingredients:

2 eggplants

bread crumbs

eggs

oil

mozzarella cheese

Italian blend cheese

ricotta cheese

pasta sauce

dried oregano

dried parsley

chopped garlic

salt/pepper to taste

First thing first, mix the ricotta cheese with a couple eggs, salt and dried parsley.

I also put Italian blend cheese in the Ricotta mix as well. Once mixed, put in refrigerator.

Slice the eggplant, not too thin, not too thick.

Look how pretty these eggplant slices are.

Dip each slice into an egg wash.

Once dipped, add into your breadcrumbs and get it nice and coated.

Once your done coating them, it's time to cook.

Place in hot oil and cook until tender and super golden brown.

Here is the eggplant all cooked up and ready to be assembled.

(Becareful, they are good and little hands likes to take one or two to eat).

Coat your pan with sauce. (I use throw-aways to avoid lots of dishes)

After adding the sauce, add a layer of eggplant.

Now add your ricotta cheese mixture evenly.

Add mozzarella cheese.

Add sauce now.

Continue the pattern. Add more eggplants, ricotta, sauce and cheese until your pan is full.

Looking good!

Final product. Cook at 350 for 45 minutes. Of course, this always taste BETTER the next day once all the flavors are incorporated.