Recipe Wednesday

I LOVE the spinach-artichoke dip at Olive Garden!

This delicious recipe from Budget Savvy Diva 

really put us in mind of that awesome dip.

I did make a few changes: I used mini-penne pasta instead of Orecchiette. I also used an Italian cheese blend in place of the Parmesan and mozzarella. And the baking time is definitely off - it is not even going to be heated through in 10-15 minutes. I suggest covering the pan with aluminum foil and baking at least half an hour, then removing the foil, sprinkling the cheese on top and popping it back in to melt the cheese. I actually ran it under the broiler to brown.

YUM!! Let me know if you make it and love it!

Spinach and Artichoke Baked Pasta

Ingredients

• 14 oz of Orecchiette Pasta ( or short pasta)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Cup of Chopped Onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic ( Minced)
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 4 oz of Cream Cheese ( Room Temperature)
• 3/4 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice + Zest
• 10 Oz of Spinach ( Make sure to squeeze excess moisture, after it has been thawed of course)
• 13.5 Can of Artichoke Hearts rinsed and chopped
• 1 Cup of Mozzarella
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1 Teaspoon of Pepper

Instructions

1.    Preheat Oven To 425

2.    Cook pasta according to the box. Keep 1/4 Cup of the Pasta Water before you drain the cooked pasta.

3.    Heat oil in pan and cook onions for 8 – 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for one minute.

4.    In a large bowl – Mix Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, Parmesan, Lemon (juice and zest), onions, and garlic. Add Pasta and mix.

5.    Stir in spinach, artichokes, 1/4 cup of cooking liquid from the pasta, salt, pepper, and 1/2 Cup of Mozzarella

6.    Place mixture into greased 2.5 – 3 qt casserole dish and place the rest of mozzarella cheese on top

7.    Place in the oven till golden brown on top – about 10 – 15 minutes.

Called It Macarooni

Question:
What does Nannie do when she's
missing Avery too much to sew?


Answer:
Invent a cookie recipe.

Actually, I put a new spin on Tidy Mom's recipe. And I'm calling it Macarooni. Like, macaroons are made with coconut. And like Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap and called it macaroni. (I teach kindergarten and it shows.)

These cookies are soft, chewy, coconut-y and EASY! Here's the recipe.

Macarooni

1 pkg Duncan Hines Coconut Supreme Cake Mix
1 8oz container of Cool Whip
1 egg
1 large bag shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, stir to combine the cake mix, Cool Whip and egg.
The batter will be really sticky.

Drop by spoonful into a bowl of coconut.
Roll into a ball, shake off extra coconut and put on parchment paper.
They spread a little, so don't crowd them.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.
Cool on wire racks.

NOTE: Bake shorter if you want them softer and chewier; bake longer if you want a little more 'bite'.

Thanks for stopping by and if you make them and love them, leave me a comment, will ya?

GIVEAWAY and YUM, Meatless Mexican Pizza

Woo-hoo, Cindy, the owner of Pine Branch Designs (CLICK HERE) wants to add an item to my GIVEAWAY!

(CLICK HERE TO SEE MY PRIZES)!!

She's at a conference right now (she's a special ed teacher, coincidentally), so I should have pictures and details about her amazing prize and how to enter for it (including a date for the drawing) by mid-week or so!

And now YAY!!

Another meatless Mexican dish!
Vegetarian, but not vegan.
I can only do so much.

I love this recipe - it's so forgiving.
You can add stuff you like
and eliminate stuff you don't.
Ingredients don't have to be exact -
it will still turn out delicious!

Mexican Pizza Casserole
2 Morningstar Farms fake chicken patties
(technically called Chik Patty Originals)
1 cup sour cream (regular, fat free or light, whatever)
1 10 3/4 oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk (2%, whole milk, skim, whatever)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 cup black beans (low sodium is great)
1 7 oz can chopped green chilis
1 small can sliced black olives
1/3 of 16 oz bag frozen corn
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
handful of fresh mushrooms, sliced
margarine
fresh ground black pepper to taste
about 1/4 large bag of plain tortilla chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Zap the fake chicken patties in the microwave for just long enough to soften them a little. Cut them into roughly 1/2" pieces and set aside.

Plop some margarine in a pot. Saute the mushrooms, garlic and onions for a few minutes over medium heat. When onions are translucent, dump in frozen corn, stir and turn off heat.

In a large bowl, combine mushroom soup, sour cream, chilis, milk, pepper and about 1 1/2 C of the shredded cheddar. Stir to combine. Dump in the fake chicken, beans, olives and corn mixture.

Crush up some tortilla chips (I usually just put them in a baggie and smoosh them with my hand) and add to the mixture in the bowl. Keep crushing chips and adding them till the mixture seems about the right consistency - not soupy and not too dry.

Spread in a greased 11"x13" pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Bake for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving. YUM!!

Mexican Tater Tot Casserole

I'm always excited when a new recipe is a "keeper"! I found this on Allrecipes.com, and changed it around to suit our taste. I'm a vegetarian, so I realize that you may be puzzled by the ingredient called "Crumbles". They're a meatless alternative that looks a lot like browned ground beef. They really just add texture and they take on the flavor of whatever you put them into. If you're interested, check them out in the frozen food section - they come in a bag that's equal to a pound of browned ground beef.I use Crumbles for everything you would put browned ground beef into- nachos, homemade veggie soup, spaghetti, chili, lasagna. One Super Bowl Sunday, I made a big pot of chili with them and Trevor's friends each scarfed down two bowls! Hmmm...maybe that's due to the bottle of beer I use in my chili, LOL.

Anyway, this is easy, fast and yummy (but it's not health food, LOL). I served it with a plop of lowfat sour cream on the side. Just thought I'd share...

Mexican Tater Tot Casserole

Ingredients

• 1 pound Crumbles
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 2 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 (16 ounce) bag frozen style corn
• 1 (12 ounce) can low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (12 ounce) bag shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 1 (16 ounce) package frozen tater tots
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can green enchilada sauce

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Prepare a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

2. Add the onion, garlic, cumin, chili powder, frozen corn, and black beans to the crumbles in a pan; cook and stir about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

3. Combine the crumbles mixture in a large bowl with about 3/4 of the Mexican cheese blend and the tater tots; stir to combine.

4. Pour about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Add the tater tot mixture to the baking dish; lightly pat the mixture down into a solid, even layer. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the tater tot layer.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining Mexican cheese over the casserole and return to oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 5 minutes more.

You can sub in a pound of browned ground beef, but you really do owe it to yourself to give Crumbles a try.
YUM, I LOVE this recipe!! Need to make this again, SOON!

Killer Ginger Salad Dressing

I thought I'd share the recipe for my favorite salad dressing. With its boatload of garlic, ginger and black pepper, this is not a dressing for the faint of heart. You'll either love it or hate it and if you love sweet dressings, I'm guessing you're gonna hate this. But if you're a confirmed salt-a-holic with a passion for garlic, read on:

Ginger Dressing
3/4 C olive oil (use a decent olive oil)
1/4 C soy sauce (use Kikkoman's!! Low sodium's ok)
1 lemon, juiced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger root
2 squirts of honey from Mr. Bear
ground black pepper to taste

Blend in food processor. Or, if yours doesn't work because your husband finally gifted you with the food processor you'd been hinting about and when you plugged it in for the first time, it didn't work and then your husband gave you the receipt so you could exchange it and you waited so long to exchange it that by then you'd lost the receipt and now you have to pretend that you always just happen to use the food processor when he's not around - blend this dressing in your ancient blender. Pour into some sort of container (I use a Good Seasons dressing-cruet-thingy.) Refrigerate.

A couple of notes:

1) I adjust the ingredient amounts to taste each time I make it. Sometimes the garlic and ginger seem stronger or weaker, so I make it as the recipe says and then taste/adjust it before I pour it into the cruet.

2) Let the dressing sit out for a little while before you use it, because it gets gloppy and weird if you try to serve it straight from the fridge. I think the olive oil starts to set up at those cold temps.

3) Here's an easy way to deal with fresh ginger: Peel the root, put into a baggie and freeze it. To make the dressing, just grate the ginger right into the blender container. The frozen flakes look like snow and you will probably need more that 3 Tbsp that way. Plus, your hand will freeze while you're grating. But it's a small price to pay for this delicious dressing!