Spinach Ricotta Pasta

A week or two ago I read a blog post that mentioned making a dish that was penne pasta, spinach, and ricotta cheese, but didn't actually give the recipe. So tonight I decided to try to re-create it . . .

1 lb whole wheat pasta (choose whatever shape you want, spirals worked well)
chopped fresh spinach (not sure how much I had, needed more . . . as much as you have, remember fresh spinach cooks down a LOT)
15 oz ricotta cheese
1-2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
salt to taste
shredded parmesan cheese

Cook pasta in salted water.  During the last minute or two of cooking, add chopped spinach to cook it. Drain the pasta and spinach and stir in ricotta cheese, garlic and salt.  Garnish each serving with shredded parmesan cheese.

Lentil Cups

I've been meaning to try this recipe for awhile now, finally got around to it today . . . here's my version:

2 c cooked lentils (I added a bunch of random herbs & spices while they cooked, should have added more, or some after cooking, or both . . . )
2 eggs
1 Tbsp whole wheat flour
a few chopped carrots (didn't have bell pepper, wasn't fond of the carrots, will probably try other veggies in the future)
1 sm onion, chopped
handful of spinach, chopped
4 oz feta cheese crumbled (I was going to use shredded cheddar but saw the feta in the fridge from yesterday and figured I'd use it instead)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin pan. Stir all ingredients together. Spoon mixture into muffin pan (mine made 10, but since all ingredients were pretty approximate, my guess is it will vary). Bake for 20-25 minutes, let cool some in muffin pan before removing (ask me how I know LOL).

Verdict: Little Bit & L were only so-so on it. Though I think Little Bit's biggest problem was she saw a muffin pan coming out of the oven and was expecting cupcakes or muffins LOL. A wasn't feeling good today so only took a bite of mine, thought it was good though. I had meant to salt the lentils after cooking (one site suggested that salting prior to cooking would make the lentils tough), and forgot. These definitely needed salt, and as mentioned above, more herbs/flavor to the lentils. But definitely have promise! They're infinitely adaptable too. Whatever veggies, cheeses, etc need using up, here's a way to use them AND they're portable!

Greek Salad

I decided to try this recipe for lunch today.  But I was kind of lazy about it all, here's what I did:

1 large English cucumber, diced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
juice from one lemon
1 clove garlic, minced
a "glurg" of olive oil
a couple "shakes" of dried oregano, dried thyme and dried dulse

Stir it all together. I'm sure it would be better if we'd let it chill and the flavor meld for awhile, but we were hungry, the big girls & I scarfed down the whole thing. Yum!!

Bean Dip

I was planning to have guacamole & chips for lunch, but when I went to make it, the avocados had gone bad (grumble, grumble), so . . . i decided to do bean dip instead. Couldn't be bothered with a recipe, so here's what I did . . .

1 can black beans, drained
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 large spoonfuls plain yogurt (used a tablespoon (the silverware kind, not the measuring kind) and plopped 2 big spoonfuls in)
2 large spoonfuls mild salsa (see above)
a shake of adobo seasoning
a shake of chili powder
a sprinkle of salt
a small handful of chopped fresh cilantro

Whiz it all up in the food processor. Taste and adjust as desired. Gobble it up with chips!

About half-way through her serving, L said "this is good! It tastes better than it looks" when I laughed & said "yeah, it's not very pretty is it?" she said "no, I was kinda scared to try it . .. " hee hee. A said she'd prefer it without the chili powder (or less), but both girls are happily eating it, so we'll call it a win :)

Creamy Potato Soup

Last week, A wanted to make supper, and after looking at what we had in the house and some recipes, we decided on this one. We didn't notice much cheddar flavor to it, even using our favorite SHARP raw cheddar, so we'll just call it creamy potato soup.

2 onions
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil
6 lg potatoes, chopped
6 c water with vegetarian chicken seasoning as per the package (mine is 1 Tbsp seasoning per cup water)
1 tsp thyme
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c plain yogurt
1 c shredded cheddar cheese
salt & pepper to taste
baco-bits to garnish

Melt butter and olive oil in sopu pot. Saute onions. Add potatoes, water and chicken seasoning. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add thyme. Simmer 15-20 min. Remove from heat and add garlic, yogurt, cheese, salt and pepper. Puree with an immersion blender to desired consistency.  Garnish each serving with baco bits if desired.

Ranch Dressing Dry Mix (Heavenly Homemaker's)

I've been on a quest off & on for years to find a healthy version of ranch dressing, but while *I* really like this recipe, the kids didn't (though in retrospect, I think the garlic was too strong for them. Next summer when fresh herbs are readily available, I'll try it again with less garlic and see if they'll go for it).  But in the meantime . . . as I was writing up my menu for Christmas dinner, I decided to try Heavenly Homemaker's recipe for ranch dressing and see how it went over. I figured in a big group dinner like that, if the kids didn't like it, there would be other people to help me eat it, so that I didn't have as much left over, and they were less likely to think it might be something "healthy" than if it was just us. So, I mixed this up the day before, but made it with plain full fat yogurt instead of sour cream or creme fresh (I've been wanting to make creme fresh forEVER but haven't gotten around to it yet, so figured organic yogurt was a healthier option than conventional sour cream, and the grocery didn't have organic sour cream as I was madly doing my grocery shopping the day before). I have no idea if the girls ate any of it on Christmas day, but they just polished off a half-bag of baby carrots with a bowl of the dip for lunch today, and no comment was made about it tasting "weird", much less "gross", so apparently I've accomplished my healthy alternative :)

So, in case the above site ever deletes the recipe, here's Laura's awesome ranch dressing mix recipe:

5 Tbsp dried minced onions
7 tsp parsely flakes
4 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Combine and store in an airtight container.

For dip: combine 1 Tbsp dry mix with 1 c sour cream, kreme fesh, or plain yogurt

For dressing: Combine 1 Tbsp dry mix with 1/2 c mayonnaise and 1/2 c buttermilk or sour cream.

Mix at least a few hours in advance to let flavors blend together.

Broiled Grapefruit - 2 ways

Several years ago we went to a bed & breakfast for our anniversary & as part of breakfast they served Broiled Grapefruit (or perhaps they called it baked grapefruit, I don't remember). It was delicious & I always meant to find a recipe and try it at home, but for some reason, I never did. A recent conversation with the girls, reminded me (don't ask me how it came up, I don't remember LOL) and I decided to try it. So I went online, read various recipes and kind of combined the parts that sounded good . . .

The way *I* like it:

Cut grapefruit in half, use a knife to cut around each section (I found it hard to get the sections out with a grapefruit spoon after it was hot, the "walls" weren't as stiff, so I prefer to pre-cut it). Dot approximately 1 tsp (I don't measure, just cut off a small slice of butter and break it into "dot"-size pcs) on each half. Combine approx 1 Tbsp sucanat (natural sugar, or brown sugar, but sucanat is WORLDS healthier than commercial brown sugar, which is about the stupidest product idea I've found yet) and 1 tsp cinnamon. Sprinkle this mixture to lightly cover the top of the grapefruit halves. Broil for 6-8 min until the top is all "poofy".

The way dd likes it:

She doesn't like the sugar and cinnamon but she likes the "hot grapefruit", and she likes to "dig it myself", so for her I just cut the grapefruit in half, dot a little butter on top (not sure if that's really necessary, but seems like it should make it brown abit better?) & broil for 6-8 min.

(and just to be different, my other dd likes her grapefruit un-broiled.  The toddler steals bites from all of us LOL).