Zucchini Fritters

My husband has offered to make me dinner. He knows how to cook approximately two things, both of which are off limits according to my IC Smart diet so he requested step by step instructions. If this blog -the whole blog and not just the post- had a more explicit, literal name it would simply be zucchini/cottage cheese.  So it is no surprise the bulk of the ingredients here are those two foods :)

This is a test of how well I write directions.  Poor guy has no pics to look at until the end and who knows how those will turn out ;)

A little something like this

In Food Processor grate/ chop 1-2 large zucchini

Sprinkle with coarse salt and set aside in colander

Topping:

In blender combine 

3/4 C blended til smooth fat free cottage cheese

1 Tbs olive oil

3-5 leaves fresh basil sliced gently into small strips

1 clove crushed garlic, squished to paste with sea salt

Set Aside

In a separate bowl Combine:

 1 egg with 1/2 box cornbread mix or pancake mix,  1tsp baking soda, and 2-3Tbs Water

Squeeze any excess water from zucchini and add to batter mix along with a couple sprinkles of salt. 

Heat a large flat bottom skillet with cooking spray and 1-2 Tbs of butter- not margarine

Spoon drop fritters into hot pan. 2-3 Scoops per fritter. 

Leave plenty of space between fritters so they can crisp and you can flip em easily. 

Allow to get golden brown 3-4 minutes per side before flipping. 

If the pan is too hot, adjust heat. 

Transfer to baking sheet in warm oven as each fritter is ready til all are cooked and ready to serve

Serve hot with honey and basil cream topping from above. 

If you would like you could serve with an over easy egg or top with cheese. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The verdict: My hubby made them and they were seriously good. Possible changes for the future would be to spice them up a bit, use a pumpkin pancake mix instead. I did this later and they were amazing!!

Serve kind of eggs benedict style with ham or bacon and an egg. 

I later used the leftover creamy basil garlic sauce for veggie dip and sandwich spread and it was dang good. 

Breakfast Lunch Dinner Quiche

Pictures coming soon.....


Here is what you know about me so far: I enjoy pesto, cottage cheese and zucchini. Even though you might be making a grossed out squishy face I am here to tell you that all of these are delicious together.

And I will prove it to you with a quiche type concoction.

Ingredients:

2-4 T Pesto
12 oz Fat Free Cottage Cheese
Eggs 6-8 Lg.
Veggies- I will be using Zucchini and mushrooms and spinach.
1/3 C Cheese- I am using shredded sharp white cheddar
1 C  Small pieces Meat If you're into that- I am using Chicken Sausage. I recommend, sausage, ham, pancetta, prosciutto, bacon etc.


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*

In blender combine 12 oz Cottage Cheese and 3 egg whites plus 3 whole eggs (more if you have smaller eggs). Blend til Smooth.

Add pesto to blender.

Plus a little salt and black pepper, if you like spice add it to the veggies as they cook and not here.

>>>>I like to keep pesto on hand. If you have to make it from scratch I would just omit it or sprinkle in some freeze dried basil. Freeze dried is way different than the regular dried basil so make sure you use the right kind. If you have never heard of freeze dried then you should add it to your next shopping list.

Cook your veggies and meat.

Mix it all together

Sprinkle on the cheese

Bake at 375* in an oven safe skillet or baking dish sprayed with cooking spray for about 45 minutes. Check it as you go.

Here is how I do it and what I usually get dirty when I make this:

Spoons
Spatula
Cutting Board/knife
Blender
Large Bowl
Large skillet

Chop what needs chopped. Blend in the blender while cooking the veggies. When the veggies are finished I add them to the large bowl.  Then I put a whole bunch of spinach on top of the veggies in the bowl and blend the eggs and cottage cheese some more. Cook the sausage. Blend some more. Add the cooked sausage to the large bowl on top of the veggies. Stir til the spinach is blanched. Combine egg/cottage cheese in bowl with veggies.


Crust.  I don't usually use it but when I do its kind served on the side. Crust is really the best when it is crusty. Pie crust baked on the bottom gets gooey and less good. Instead I like to roll out some pie crust and bake it on the side or slice it into small strips and serve it like bread sticks. When it bakes freely, it rises and expands and stays crispy.


Enjoy!!

My new favorite food aka Protein Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake Brownie Amazingness

I am having a slow lazy day. It is drizzly and gray out and I have some time to spare so I have spent the day wrapping up unfinished posts. I am new at blogging and realize that my creative process isn't all that blog compatible. I'm working on it but I think I will always have a few unpublished blogs hanging around while I rocket on to the next project. Se la vie.

Several months ago I created something called Better Than Cheesecake and have been enjoying it and sharing it with friends ever since.

But last week I discovered my new favorite food. It is unlike anything I have eaten before so comparisons are difficult but I'll try.

Imagine a delicious chocolatey treat that is soft and light like mousse, creamy like fudge and yet still dense and rich like a brownie all enjoyed with  a spoon. There you go. Oh yes,  It is super good for you on the dessert scale. Let's be serious, It is good on any scale. 130 Calories, 1.5g Fat, 12 g Protein. You can visit here for a more complete nutrition breakdown or even add it to your Livestrong calorie counter. This is so good I could eat it everyday, and by could I mean I do.

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 300*
I have a convection so you may need to adjust times/temp.

In Blender combine:
24 oz Fat Free Cottage Cheese (how could you not guess this by now?)
1C Water- good water you would drink. This matters
3 Egg Whites

Blend Together til Smooth, then add:

3/4 C Brownie mix (ignore the kind on my box, any kind will do. also, this kind comes with a pack of fudge. I do not use it and I don't recommend it.)

Blend again to incorporate.

Pour mixture evenly into approx. 8 small oven safe containers. I recommend glass or ceramic.
Place all containers on edged baking sheet and cook on middle rack.

Bake for 18-20+ minutes depending on oven until edges rise and middle moves just a bit.

Remove and cool. Serve cold.

Better than Cheesecake

We have approximately 20 Ramekins. Really there is no need for so many. We are not a restaurant. We do not have 18 kids. But I love ramekins. I buy them because they are cute-they come in so many fun colors, because they are functional-bake, freeze, dishwasher, and because they come in a variety of sizes-specificallyserving size. This helps me a lot.

During grad school I had a roommate who did not understand my (ir)rational love for ramekins. I had only 2 that I kept from storage for daily use.  I would use them one day and then suddenly the next day. Gone! I would look everywhere and ask everyone in the house. "Have you seen my ramekin?" "Have you seen my ramekin?" Seriously. How does a ramekin disappear?!  Time would go by and I would be looking for something else, an obscure spice or a strange cooking tool and there behind or buried beneath other cooking items, I would spot my ramekin!! Such joy! Months and months went on like this. Until one day while I was watching food network with a roomie-a show featuring ramekins- and she she suddenly exclaimed in a rather surprised tone "Thats a ramekin?! That's what you're always asking about?!"

Ummmm YES!!!!

She never knew. Always when I asked, she never knew and never thought to ask me to explain. They looked small and toylike to her so when emptying the dishwasher she simply put them in the most out of the way place she could find,  which inevitably varied according to mood and season.

One of life's great mysteries. Solved.

Today I have a cabinet just for ramekins and I can use six or ten at a time, storing things for later.

 >Cheesecake is an adaptation of an earlier recipe featured in Red White & Blueberry

I make this all the time. It is so so good, really hits the spot when I want a treat, stays good in the fridge for about 3 days and has about the same amount of sugar as a yogurt with way more protein and much enjoyment.


We coach 2 Lacrosse teams and are always looking for new and delicious forms of protein. At some point protein bars and peanut butter lose their appeal. So I had to come up with something better.

This makes about 6 servings. I find that it works better when I cook it in ramekins or individual servings. You could even cook it in a lined cup cake tin or mason jars.  I know those are all the rage right now ;)


Preheat oven to 300*

Note: I have a convection oven so you may need to adjust temp and or times.

All into the Blender:

1 Large container Cottage Cheese
2 Egg Whites + 1 Whole Egg

Blend baby blend!!! Keep going until you have a smooth creamy consistency. Trust me Cottage cheese does not have to be chunky.

Once you have a semi creamy concoction add in:

1t Vanilla
1/4 C to 1/2C Brown Sugar depending on how sweet you like things. I am 1/4 cupper.

Blend to combine.

For a slightly richer taste you can add about 2 oz of cream cheese or 1/4 of a stick.

Once well blended pour evenly among 6 ramekin/mason jar/cupcake tins. Sometimes I use a spray to grease the surface sometimes I don't. Seems about the same to me. This is an eat with a spoon kind of treat so it will not pop out of a cupcake tin.

Bake for about 18 minutes depending on size of cooking dish.
I use the ramekins shown and put all of them on 1 an edged cookie sheet to bake.

They will rise around the edges and be just barely still liquidy in the middle.
Cool in fridge.

Store with lid for up to 3 days. They will probably be gone before that though.

I sometimes use a mason jar so I can lid em and pack them in lunches or take them as snacks. Spoon Required*

Remix

Add in anything else you find to be delicious. 

I have tried nutella, fruit, coconut, jam, cinnamon, and chocolate chips. Not altogether of course. 

A note on Nutella: Adding enough Nutella to spread the flavor throughout requires lots of it and nullifies the whole healthful component so instead I fill each of the containers most of the way full and leave about 1 serving in the blender. I then add a heaping spoonful of nutella about 2T, blend this and then pour a bit of the nutella mix into each of the ramekins and marble it in with a fork/knife. This way you get rich nutella flavor without adding a ton of sugar, calories and fat.  

Despite all these delicious mix-in options my absolute favorite way to enjoy this treat is with fresh blueberries. It will change your life. 

Doesn't that just look so good.

T-Shirt Scarves 4 Ways

Here is a non-edible project I've been working on. 

So, It's begininning to look a lot like Christmas (is this worn out yet?) and I am cheap so that leaves me with a dilemma: How to give inexpensive, thoughtful gifts that someone will actually want.

Awhile back a neighbor made me a scarf out of an old t-shirt from a pattern she learned on pinterest. Super cute but far from warm. My family lives in the cold north, north so I wanted to come up with something that would suit their needs and be relatively easy to swing. While there are lots of t-shirt scarves out there, these patterns are new and unique according to my latest research ;)

Materials:

Scissors or rotating cutter/cutting mat

Old T-shirts

Imagination!

No sewing required :)

A note on T-shirt choice. The very, very best kind are the ones with no stitching on the sides. They are basically made out of a tube of fabric. This creates a much more polished finished piece and is easier to work with. That said, stitching is fine and the majority of the shirts I found are sewn together on the sides

So... dig up some old shirts, check out the clearance rack, or visit the thrift store. 

Any size will do. You will just have to adjust how many loops you make with the stretched fabric. 

For All Scarves you will need these three steps.  Once you have this part down move onto your style :)

Step 1:

Cut shirt into strips. Do not use the bottom stitched part.

I like to cut one and give it a stretch to see how skinny it gets and how it stretches then adjust my cut width from there.

Step 2:

Stretch the fabric loops til the sides curl in. 

Note: Some fabric will tear at the seams if you pull too hard so hold at the seam while you stretch the rest. 

Step 3:

Linking the fabric strips. I call it a loop linker which is basically a square knot but the string has no open end. Every single pattern uses this knot so get comfy with it.

-Take two loops placing one on top of the other.  I will refer to the colors above. 

-From the left, gently pull the orange part under the yellow and on the right, gently pull yellow part over the orange. 

-Keep pulling one through the other. If they do not link, try again. 

You should have something that looks like the middle picture above. 

The third pic is also good. Just adjust your strings to get them to lay how you want. 

We will use both versions. 

4 Strand Braid

1. Choose an end loop color and loop it 2-4 times depending on fabric. (Mine is looped 3 times) to get the length I want to remain on the sides after the other strands are tied on.

2. Now using the knot above from the second picture, loop your 4 chosen colors around the end loop. 

Order doesn't matter.

Here is a pic from an 8 string so you get the idea. Notice the navy strands around my toes are looped three times then cinched in place by using the link knot (second pic) to secure my chosen color strands. Remember to leave even space on each side.
The navy around my toes will serve a purpose at the end so be sure it has a big enough opening to fit the girth of the scarf through the middle.

yep. those are my toes.

3. Begin Braid with just those 4 fabric loops. Don't worry that it is not long enough. 

4. As you run out  of length, link on another loop of the same color fabric using the knot above. For this one we want the end result to look like the top pic in the linking know tutorial. Keep braiding and adding links only as you run out of a particular color otherwise you will have an annoying amount of loose string to work with.  

5. Ending. This is the most challenging and fun part. Your pieces will not run out at the same time. When the scarf is about as long as you want it and you are coming to the end of some loops, it is a good place to stop. You have to stop at a place where at least a couple loops  are at their end in order to avoid messy cutting and tying. Since we have loops this part is kinda fun because loops tuck into one another. 

-When one piece runs out tuck another loop through it. This will secure the piece and prevent unraveling. Keep tucking and looping.

-When it gets down to the end you can make a few remaining fabric strands as even as possible (by tucking and weaving) and use these as the end loops.  Or you can keep weaving and looping them until you have just 2-3 small tails, then use those to anchor a new piece of looped fabric to serve as the end loop. 

See Pics :)  This is an art, not a science. You can do it!!!

Super hard to see here. But notice the two navy are the longest. This is what I am using for the end loops. 

6, 8 or 10 Strand Braid

1. Choose an end loop color and loop it 2-4 times depending on fabric. (Mine is looped 3 times). See pic in 4 string tutorial.

2. Now using the knot above from the third pic in the link tutorial, loop your chosen colors around the end loop. 

- You want to use half as many colors as loops to get a balanced result. 6 String=3 Colors etc. 

Order matters. Put them on the end loops like this: ABCCBA or ABCDDCBA etc. 

3. Begin Braid. Here is the video I used to teach me how. The video is for 6 strands but the same concept can be applied to an even number of strands.  Don't worry that your strands are not long enough for the whole scarf at this point.

4. As you run out  of length, link on another loop of the same color fabric using the link knot. For this one we want the end result to look like the 2nd pic in the link knot tutorial. Keep braiding and then adding links only as you run out of a particular color otherwise you will have an annoying amount of loose string.  

5. Ending. See Step 5 in 4 String Braid. 

Chunky Loop Scarf 

(this one is my favorite)

1. Pick your colors. I like to use three but you can use any number of colors you want. Or even make this your last scarf with all the leftovers.

2. Figure out how many times you need to loop each of the different fabrics to get links that are about the same length.

3. For the very first link (navy in the pic) figure out how many times you need to loop it to leave a tail length consistent with your other links. Note in the first pic, the navy circle is smaller than the yellow.  This is so they will end up about even by pic three. Work your magic!

4. Follow the steps in the pics.  And keep going 'til your scarf is as long as you want it. **Check out the two finished scarves above. One is like a figure 8 and one is open. They are both made with the same design and are the same length.

I use the end loops to create 2 circles so that I can put the scarf over my head like a necklace. You could even make it long enough for 3 or 4 circles. This style leaves no loose ends hanging around, ends up looking like an infinity scarf and keeps my neck nice and cozy.
OR
Leave it a long chain and wear it countless other ways either as a traditional scarf  with loose ends or by using the loops to connect and reconnect it in front.  Be creative!!

5. Ending. Finish your piece just as you began by using a link knot to cinch the two sides of your last link together. Remember to adjust the number of loops you use on this piece to keep the look of continuity.

Enjoy!!

Link Lock Scarf

This is by far the easiest but also the least warm of all the scarves. To me it looks like a fashion scarf rather than a functional scarf. To each their own. 

1. Pick your colors and link away. The steps are the same from beginning to end. Stop when you have the length you want.


Here are some other variations.
The one on the left simply incorporates a third color at the very end by twisting it around and periodically ticking it through openings in the scarf. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

Hope you enjoy and stay warm and stylish this winter.

Please let me know if you have questions :)

Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

Chocolate Chips. No, they are not paying me, but I only use Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips. They are way more delicious and way less full of the weird, fake ingredients that greatly lower my enjoyment of food. These babies are expensive at some stores but they are affordable at Target and frequently on sale. 

If you get something else, get a good kind. They make all the difference. Plus these bars do not have a ton of sugar like cookies so the chips have an even more important job to do.

Preheat oven to 325*

Here's what you need:

• Vanilla- 1t
• Eggs- 1 Whole, 2 Whites
• Brown Sugar- 0.5C
• Natural Peanut Butter- 1C
• Water- 1/2-1C   Make it good water you would put in a glass and drink
• Coconut Flakes- 1 C 
• Chopped Nuts- 0.5     Pecans/Walnuts/Almonds/Peanuts whatever you like
• Whole Oats- 2C
• Quinoa- 2C    Ground but not fully flour 
• Flaxseed- 0.5 C        If you have it or care to add it
• Chocolate Chips-  1.5 bags

Combine wet ingredients in a large mixing bowl

Mix in dry ingredients save ch. chips

Once all is well combined, add the chips
Start small with the water, add a more water as needed to get to a very thick cookie dough consistency.  

Plop mix onto large greased baking dish. I use 11x14. 

Spread it around and smash evenly into all corners of the pan creating a giant flat cookie.

*Hint: I wet the palm of my hand to keep the mix from sticking.

Bake for 10-15 Minutes, let cool completely, cut into squares

Once cooked, cut and and enjoy, I freeze about half the bars in sandwich bags and use them as needed for snacks and packed lunches :)

Edit:
Change up the type of nuts or try adding dried fruit instead of chips.
I sometimes ad a couple scoops of protein powder for even more protein. 

Chicken Vegetable Chowder

Every so often we offer up our house to an organization called Young Life and a group of Junior High kids along with their leaders, comes  over for dinner and to learn a little about the Lord. There are some really great questions, discussion, encouragement and lots of eating. We try to make something the kids will enjoy that is also good for them and can be made in mass quantities, as most of them are literally undergoing the biggest growth spurt of their lives. This balance of nutritious/delicious is hard to get right when a junior high kid is the target audience but I know we've done it when several girls ask me for the recipe at the end of the night. Victory.

So here it is: 

• Chicken bones boiled in 2-3 C water to make stock. Separate out bones and add stock to crockpot
• 2 Onions, 1bushel celery plus 1C water in blender til pulpy, cook down in pan til thick, no liquid. I also add a couple shakes of salt to help the vegetable sweat and bring out the flavor. Add to crock pot with:
• 1 Can cream of chicken
• 2 Cans cream of pablano/jalapeño
• 16oz shredded carrots
• 1bag Frozen corn
• 2-3 Chicken breast cut small and cooked separately
• As needed  add 1-2 C good water, like the kind you would drink from a glass

You can serve the soup alone or with noodles. I keep them separate and let kids combine them in their bowl.

Cauliflower Cheesy shells
Cook 1 box/bag of shells (or whatever noodle you like), drain, add 1-2 bags previously frozen cauliflower to pot with1 can cream of chicken.
Once all is warm add 1C shredded cheese on medium/low til cheese is melted.

*This is also a really good way to make mac n cheese but with a 2:1 vegetable to pasta ratio. 
The cauliflower is mild and dense enough to mimic the noodles and work well with the cheese. 

Sorry for the lack of finished product pics. Things got a little hectic and in the end all the food was gone. I guess that counts as success. 

Red, White and Blueberry

This morning when I woke up I remembered I wanted to make something delicious and patriotic for the 4th of July. A brilliant plan of course but I remembered it on the 4th and had absolutely no desire to go to the store and mingle with all the other procrastinators ;)

So I scoped out the ingredients on hand, thought of a delicious italian torte my favorite Italian Grandma taught me to make, got out the blender and went for it. Here's the finished product:

Here's how I got there:

Part 1: Crust and Crumble Preheat to 425
I am not a measurer. I use guess and check. I eyeball and I adjust. When I give a measurement you should always insert an imaginary "ish" after, as in 2ish Cups.
In a blender combine:

1.5 C Oats
1C Quinoa*
Blend about 30 seconds then add
2-3T Olive Oil, any kind will do
3-4T Water add more if needed
1/4 C Brown Sugar
Few Shakes of salt
Few Shakes Cinnamon

I have to scrape down the sides and give my blender some assistance in this process but maybe yours is cooler than mine.

The Mixture should be crumbly but incorporated and stick together when smooshed.

Take half of the mix and press it into the bottom of a pie pan or baking dish. I wet my hands and use the heel of my hand to spread it about. It will be sticky and the water helps.
Crumble the other half onto a cookie sheet and bake both the crust and the crumble for about 15 minutes. Use a spatula to turn the crumble about halfway through. All is finished when crumbly and a light golden.



Part 2: Filling 
Oven to 350 once the crust is out
In blender combine
3C Cottage Cheese**- I use fat free but it is your call.
Blend until about twice as smooth as start
3 Eggs
1/4C Brown Sugar
1t Vanilla
Few Shakes of Salt
Blend until smooth

Pour all but about 2/3 C into precooked crust
Add 1/2C Raspberries to blender- this step is optional I added them because I wanted to have something red in the dish but it would still be yummy without.
Blend
Spoon or pour rest of filling into crust. I poured it in three lines /// then used  a fork to marble it by dragging the fork across the mix perpendicular to the lines. You can use any technique you like.  Be Creative.

Bake. Mine was in there for about 22 minutes. The edges got a little golden and the center was just barely firm to the touch.

Give it about 30 minutes to cool.

Slice and serve with fresh blueberries (or other seasonal berry) and a bit of crumble sprinkled on top.


Quinoa*-if you don't have this amazing grain on hand just use more oats but do consider incorporating quinoa into your diet. Quinoa is a whole grain (digests slowly, keeps you feeling full, won't spike your blood sugar)  that is also a complete protein which means it has all the amino acids your body needs to build new proteins-think building muscle or a good pre or post workout meal/snack.

**Cottage Cheese. Give it a chance. This food is super protein dense and tastes just as good in a low/no fat version-I think better even as it tastes lighter and fresher. I have been interested in experimenting with using cottage cheese in new ways and I'm so glad I did because this recipe is a keeper.

Crab Spinach Artichoke Dip

Dips. I enjoy them. There are many foods I view simply as vehicles for dip delivery- crackers for example; like little portable mouth sized plates.

Here are three of my faves  all melded into one.

This recipe does not have all the greasy/fatty/guilty ingredients you are used to but I promise you it will still be creamy, rich and delicious.

In Blender combine:

2 C Cottage Cheese (FF/LowFat)
1 Egg
1-2 Cloves Minced Garlic

Blend til smooth

~8 oz fresh spinach Coarse chop and cook til barely wilted

In baking dish combine:

Blender mix of egg, cottage cheese and garlic
Spinach
1/2 C Shredded Mozzarella
1/2-1C Crab
1/2-1C Chopped Artichoke Hearts (I use prepared Artichoke hearts. If you are using fresh, cook them first.)
Top with a bit more shredded cheese

Bake @350 for 20 minutes
For a more browned top you can broil for a couple minutes under a watchful eye :)



Edits:
-You can add more or less crab and artichoke depending on availability. If you are using frozen spinach be absolutely sure to get all the water out.

-I am on a fancy, annoying diet called the IC Smart diet which means some super yummy foods are off limits. If this diet was not in play I would have also added sauteed minced onion cooked with an amazing amount of red pepper flakes.

Creamy Jalapeno Spinach Pesto Casserole

Mmmm pesto. Pesto is part of practically one meal a week, if not more. We love it in all its many forms. One of my favorite ways to make it is with spinach and some spice.

I have also been on a bit of a casserole kick. Throw a bunch of stuff in a baking dish and bake it in the oven. How easy is that!? My husband seems to love casserole too. Me not so much. I am one of those terrible people who picks through things like casserole and only takes what they like. So it seemed wrong to make it knowing the temptation I would face. But I'm over it. He likes all the stuff I avoid so these meals turn out super for all involved. 

I get I cut the chicken first and cook it while working on the pesto. 

For the pesto you will need a large blender. Combine:


1 Can Cream of Chicken

1 Can Cream of Jalapeno

9 or so oz Fresh Spinach

Red Pepper if desired

Pulse in spinach a handful or so at a time til all is incorporated. You may need to stir down sides every so often. 

In a large casserole dish combine:

Fresh/Frozen Tortellini, about 8-12 oz (The frozen cheese tortellini from Target is inexpensive and yummy)
Chicken 1-2lbs cut small and precooked
Frozen broccoli, 1 bag about  16 oz
Frozen cauliflower, 1 bag about 16 oz
Pesto Mix from above

Sprinkle top with Monterey Jack or whatever cheese makes you happy.
 
Do not precook veggies or tortellini, if u use dry tortellinin add 1C of water and cover
Bake in advance or combine in advance and bake when ready to eat.

Bake 25-35 min @ 400 for thawed or 45 min @ 350 for unthawed

Spinach Pesto Marinara

So I really like pesto, my husband does too. I think the fact that I make homemade pesto is one of the reasons he married me. We make all kinds and have a fairly loose definition of pesto.  Last night was spinach, tomato. It was super simple, yummy and full of leafy greens, Vitamin A, lycopene and iron among other wonderful nutrients.
Here's how it went: The other night we made pizza and had a bit (about 1/4 jar) of red sauce leftover, any flavor/version will do, ours was Capers and Olives. Yum.

~ Put some water on to boil for pasta and decide what you will be cooking from step 6. Get that going too. Add your pasta when the water is ready. ~

1. Red Sauce into blender- Do not heat first
2. 2-3 T of Extra Virgin Olive Oil into blender
3. + fresh baby spinach a handful at a time, pulse until it incorporates, repeat 'til you use it all~ 9oz or so.
4. + 2-3 T grated parmesan
5. *Optional* Salt and red pepper. We like spice so we added red pepper and just a pinch of salt to help the spinach flavor bleed into the sauce a bit more. Add whatever you like-get creative.
6. Add to a hot pan of whatever you like (we used chicken sausage) and toss about to blanch the spinach a bit and gently heat up the sauce.  The pan just needs to be hot but not on. Turn off the burner or toss over low heat...we are not cooking anything here, just heating it up. The heat from the pan and whatever you cooked will do the job nicely.

Instead of chicken sausage try cooking up some sliced chicken breast, mushrooms/onions, zucchini or anything else that strikes your fancy.

7. Toss with pasta. This is a thicker sauce so it works best with a shapely pasta like penne or farfalle (bowties) rather than something like spaghetti.
8. Enjoy.

Be Creative! Consider as a filler for a meatballesque sub on a whole grain roll, or simply serve over more veggies like strips of zucchini or spaghetti squash, also an excellent filler for lasagna or a pizza sauce.