Spinache Quiche

I bought frozen spinach a while ago with the intention of making quiche, but never got around to it. Last night, I was determined to make some (as part of my mission to eat up the food in my kitchen before the wedding (and the move that will follow the honeymoon). I went with fat free cottage cheese over ricotta, to try to lower the calories a bit.


Cottage Cheese and Spinach Quiche


Ingredients

1c fat free cottage cheese
1 premade, uncooked crust (I was feeling lazy)
1 package (10 oz) frozen spinach
grated parmesian cheese (I dunno how much - about 1/3 of a wedge... maybe 3/4c?)
3 eggs
2-4 tbs nonfat milk


Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Cook spinach according to package directions, then drain.
Mix eggs, milk, cottage cheese, and most of the parmesian cheese.
Add spinach.
Pour into crust.
Bake 30-50 min. - until center is set and crust edges are golden.

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Shells

Another great recipe! I found this one in Cooking Light. Apparently, I tore it out to save and try later in October 2007. I'm so sad that I waited so long to try it (but I am glad that I finally rifled through saved recipes to find something for dinner). While I've found Cooking Light's recipes to be hit or miss, this is definitely a hit. It's very light, but doesn't taste like it at all. And it has just the right amount of spinach - it's not overpowering. I'll enjoy these left-over lunches.

Cooking Light's Photo, not mine. Because I'm lazy today.

Spinach and Ricotta-Stuffed Shells

2 cups Basic Marinara, divided (I just used a jar of pre-made sauce. Next time, I might thin the sauce with some water first)
Cooking spray
2 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
1 large egg yolk
1 garlic clove, minced
24 cooked jumbo pasta shells

Preheat oven to 350°.
Spread 1/2 cup Basic Marinara over bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
Combine ricotta and next 8 ingredients (through garlic) in a large bowl, stirring well. Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons filling into each pasta shell.
Arrange stuffed shells in prepared dish; spread with remaining 1 1/2 cups Basic Marinara.
Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes.
Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 4 stuffed shells and about 1/3 cup sauce)

CALORIES 329 (27% from fat); FAT 9.8g (sat 4.8g,mono 3g,poly 1g); IRON 2.8mg; CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CALCIUM 377mg; CARBOHYDRATE 39.4g; SODIUM 552mg; PROTEIN 19.6g; FIBER 4.2g

Lasagna!

For Wednesday dinner last week, I opted for lasagna. I have been craving a white veggie lasagna, but after perusing recipes, I decided to do one dish of my standby wheat noodle lasagna with sausage, and a spinach and artichoke lasagna with vodka sauce (instead of the Alfredo I had in mind).

Both turned out well. I loved the new recipe! I think I need to find a different sausage for the meat though. I used hot breakfast sausage, and it really didn't have the kick I was hoping for.

Allrecipes' Artichoke Spinach Lasagna

9 uncooked lasagna noodles (I used Healthy Harvest noodles)
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can vegetable broth (I used fat free beef broth)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 (14 ounce) can marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
1 (28 ounce) jar tomato pasta sauce (I used vodka sauce instead)
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided (I used part-skim)
1 (4 ounce) package herb and garlic feta, crumbled (I couldn't find herb and garlic, so I used Mediterranean spices feta, and that worked fine)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.

Add noodles and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium-high.

Saute onion and garlic for 3 minutes, or until onion is tender-crisp.

Stir in broth and rosemary; bring to a boil.

Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes.

Stir in pasta sauce.
Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with 3 cooked noodles.

Sprinkle 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over noodles.

Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with artichoke mixture and mozzarella cheese.

Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.
Bake, covered, for 40 minutes.

Uncover, and bake 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly.

Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

SparkPeople Healthy Harvest Turkey Lasagna

1 lb. ground turkey (I used hot sausage instead)
3 cups (26 oz jar) sauce
1 1/2 cup water
1 3/4 cups part skim ricotta
2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella, divided
1/2 cup Parmesan
2 eggs
1 tbs dry parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
9 pieces Healthy Harvest Lasagna (uncooked)

Heat oven to 350
Brown turkey, add sauce and water, simmer 10 min.
Stir together in another bowl, 1 cup mozzarella, ricotta, eggs, parsley, salt, pepper, and Parmesan.
Build lasagna as usual using uncooked pasta noodles.
Top with remaining mozzarella.
Cover and cook 45min.
uncover and cook 10 min.
Let stand 10 min.

Makes 8 servings

VtV - spinach

Another one of my favorite veggies! I do not like iceburg lettuce. I think it is a silly veggie (although I am loathe even to elevate it to the level of veggie), and should not be tolerated, much less allowed to be passed off as a 'salad' in restaurants across the country. It makes me sad.

Because of this, I became close friends with caesar salads early on in life (because at least there was some green in romaine lettuce), but thankfully, sometime in my early twenties, I discovered that you can have a salad with a non-lettuce base! This was truly a glorious day! It's sad that I can't remember the exact date, so that I can celebrate this glorious anniversary. :( I discovered the spinach (and more often, baby spinach) salad. Glorious! There were months of law school in which the healthiest thing I consumed was a salad of baby spinach, craisins, and raspberry vinegarette. Occassionally, I would add a hard-boiled egg, a bit of grilled chicken, and/or some cheese. Basically, I was addicted (and I still believe that dried fruit and spinach is a combination ordained by God).

Now, after all that, I wanted to make a cooked spinach dish for VtV this week. And another kind blogger (The Picky Apple) inspired me by cooking chicken and spinach stuffed shells. Yummm! It was meant to be. So, thanks to The Sisters' Cafe, here's this weeks VtV -I'll let you get the recipe from them.