Tag Archives: spinach

Crustless Quiche in the George Foreman Evolve Grill

3 Apr

I love that my mom always gets me kitchen items for gifts. Past gifts have included a food processor, a handheld blender, a toaster oven, all of which I love and use regularly. This Christmas, she got me the George Foreman Evolve Grill that I had been eyeing for a while. The George Foreman grill we had I liked, but it was showing its age. I think we had it almost 10 years. It was time for a new one.

I like this version. It has interchangeable plates to make a variety of things, and I like the removable plates for easier clean up. Mine came with the grill plates, the bake dish, and the slider plate. I have already made burgers a couple of times with the grill plates, but was ready to try out the bake dish.

This was super easy to make, and it was really nice on this hot day to not have to use my oven. This still puts off some heat, but not like using the oven. What is also nice is that it’s flexible as to what veggies you want to use. I used spinach, mushrooms, and green onions, but you could use broccoli, carrots, red onions, yellow onions, whatever combination you like. You could also add cooked bacon or ham to this as well.

I pulled out my electric griddle and made pancakes to go with this while it baked.

Crustless Quiche in the George Foreman Evolve Grill

Crustless Quiche in the George Foreman Evolve Grill

What you need:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup spinach, chopped
1/2 cup mushrooms, diced
1/2 bunch green onions, diced
5 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus some extra for the top
Salt and pepper

How to make it:

Place the grill plate on top and bake dish on bottom of the Evolve Grill. Set heat to 375, and set timer for 5 minutes to preheat. Make sure the grill is in the upright flat position and not tilted forward.

While grill is heating, whisk together the eggs, milk, shredded cheese, salt, and pepper.

Once grill is ready, heat the oil and add spinach, mushrooms, and green onions. Stir for 5 minutes to soften.

Pour in the egg mixture and gently stir to combine all ingredients. Sprinkle shredded cheddar over the egg mixture.

Close the cover and cook for 15 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Crustless Quiche in the George Foreman Evolve Grill

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Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup

2 Mar

We have had a lot of  Chicken & Wild Rice Soup lately, which we love. I recently got a coupon from Safeway for a free bag of refrigerated tortellini, so I figured that I could do a similar soup with the tortellini instead of rice. It turned out really well, and while I don’t get tortellini often, it’s a recipe to keep on hand in case I do.

Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup

Chicken & Spinach Tortellini Soup

What you need:

2 tablespoons butter
2 medium carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon seasoning blend, like Tastefully Simple Rustic Herb blend or Mrs. Dash
1 8 oz package mushrooms, sliced
6 cups chicken broth
1 12 oz package refrigerated tortellini
2 cups cooked chicken
2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

How to make it:

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Cook until tender.

Add mushrooms and seasoning blend. Cook a few minutes.

Pour in chicken broth and bring to a boil.

Add chicken and tortellini. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until pasta is cooked.

Add spinach, and cook until it is wilted.

Garnish with fresh grated Parmesan cheese, if desired.

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Italian Wedding Soup

22 Jun

This is a soup that I have wanted to make for a long time, and finally did! It was a big hit in our house, too, so this will be made again soon. Not many ingredients, cooks fairly quickly, and a filling meal.

Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup

What you need:

1/3 cup Italian Style bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
1 cup Acini di Pepe pasta (or orzo pasta)
1/2 pound fresh spinach, washed and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

How to make it:

Mix bread crumbs and milk in a medium bowl, and let stand for 10 minutes. Add meat and grated cheese. Form into approximately 40 1″ balls.

Meanwhile, bring chicken and beef broth to a boil. Add meatballs, pasta, salt, and pepper. Cook for 10-15 minutes,or until meatballs have all floated to the top. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 3-5 minutes.

Serve soup garnished with extra grated cheese, if desired.

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Chicken, Spinach, and Wild Rice Soup

6 May

A few months back, my younger daughter insisted we get a soup cookbook at the grocery store checkout. I’m sure you’ve all seen them, and sometimes I will flip through one while we wait if something looks appealing. Well, for whatever reason, we HAD to get this one, and since cooking is something I enjoy with both my girls and want to teach them as much as I can, I agreed. It actually has a nice variety of soups, and this was one we’ve had marked for a while to try. Tonight we finally had a chance to try it, and it was perfect. It was actually pretty easy to put together, even with my changes, and the longest part was cooking the wild rice. It worked out nice that I could put the rice in my rice/vegetable steamer while we went to a swim lesson. Then, it was a matter of putting together the rest of the ingredients, which took about 30 minutes.

Chicken, Spinach, and Wild Rice Soup

 

Chicken, Spinach, and Wild Rice Soup

What you need:

6 tablespoons butter
1 /2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 clove minced garlic
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth, divided
1 1/2 cups milk or half and half, divided
2 cups cooked wild rice
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups chopped spinach
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken

How to make it:

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and garlic, and cook until all are soft. Mix in flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in 1 cup of the chicken broth and 1 cup of the milk. Cook for 5-10 minutes to allow to thicken.

Next, add in remaining chicken broth, rice, thyme, sage, and black pepper. Bring to a boil. Stir in spinach, chicken, and remaining milk. Cook, while stirring frequently, about 2-3 minutes, or until all ingredients heated through.

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Meatballs in Creamy Dill Sauce

25 Jan

This dish was inspired by the other part of Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals.  His dish was Swedish Meatballs with Celeriac and Spinach Rice.  I liked that he used dill, since I had some fresh dill on hand.  I looked at some other recipes online, and created a blend of a few different meatball recipes.  This was really, really good.  Everyone liked it, and there really wasn’t much leftover.

Below, I have the recipe for the meatballs and sauce.  I served it over rice with spinach, but mashed potatoes or egg noodles would work well with this too.  For the rice, I cooked the rice in my steamer, then put in a large bowl when it was done.  I quickly added chopped spinach to it while still very hot, mixing well.  That way, I got a vegetable in!

Meatballs with Creamy Dill Sauce

 

Meatballs with Creamy Dill Sauce

What you need:

2/3 cup dry breadcrumbs
1 cup milk
1 pound ground beef
1/4 cup grated onion
2 tablespoon fresh dill
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1 quart beef stock
1/2 cup cream, half and half, or milk
1/4 cup fresh dill

How to make it:

In a large bowl, soak breadcrumbs in the milk for a few minutes.  Mix in onion, 2 tablespoons dill, ground beef, eggs, and salt and pepper.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Roll ground beef into 1″ balls.  Add to the heated skillet and brown each meatball on every side, in batches if necessary.  When browned, remove to a plate.

Reduce the heat to medium low and melt butter in the skillet.  Mix in flour.  Cook, stirring often, until you have a brown roux.  Whisk in beef stock, then cream and 1/4 cup fresh dill.  Add meatballs into the sauce.  Cover and turn heat down to low.  Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until meatballs have cooked through to an internal temperature of 160 F.

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Eggplant Lasagna

24 Jan

I’ve always wanted to try Eggplant Lasagna, but just hadn’t gotten to it.  After we got eggplant at a recent Market on the Move event, I decided it was time to try it.  Now, I have made Moussaka, so I know how to prepare the eggplant.  Then, I decided to take my favorite Lasagna recipe from Daily Cynema, use the meat sauce and cheese filling, subbing the roast eggplant in place of the noodles. We did a row of 4 slices of eggplant for each layer.  I didn’t get a real good picture showing how the eggplant looked, but you can almost see how in the 2 pictures here.

My older daughter enjoyed working on this with me, and we all enjoyed eating it!Layering the Eggplant Lasagna Eggplant Lasagna

Eggplant Lasagna

What you need:

2 large eggplants, sliced lengthwise into 1/2″ slices, outer peel removed, if desired
Salt
Olive oil
1 pound ground beef**
1 small onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
1 large jar (45 oz) spaghetti sauce
1 egg
1 15 oz container ricotta or cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach, chopped
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon oregano

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set on paper towels for 15-20 minutes to let them drain.  Pat tops with a paper towel.  Spray or brush each side of the eggplant slices with olive oil and lay in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake in oven for 10 minutes, flip slices over and bake for another 10 minutes, until they are tender and slightly brown.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, brown the ground beef over medium heat.  Add the onion and bell pepper, and continue to cook until soft.  Pour in all but 1 cup of the spaghetti sauce.  Reduce heat to low, and simmer.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg.  Mix in ricotta or cottage cheese, spinach, 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella, 4 tablespoons of the grated Parmesan, and the oregano.

In a small bowl, mix the reserved 1 cup of spaghetti sauce with the remaining 1 cup shredded mozzarella and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan.

Pour 1/3 of the meat sauce into a 13 x 9 baking dish.  Put down 1 layer of the roasted eggplant.  Next, spread 1/2 of the cheese/spinach mixture over the eggplant.  Then, spread the next 1/3 of the meat sauce.  Lay down another layer of roasted eggplant.  Spread the other 1/2 of the cheese/spinach mixture over the eggplant, then the last 1/3 of the meat mixture.  Lay down the final layer of roasted eggplant.  Spread the sauce and cheese mixture over this final layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35 – 40 minutes, or until bubbly.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Slice and serve.

**Note: If you would like to make this meatless, use diced mushrooms or zucchini/yellow squash in place of the ground beef.

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Baked Cheeseburger Spinach Macaroni

26 Dec

I came up with this on a night that my older daughter wanted Spinach Bacon Shells and Cheese.  I didn’t have any bacon thawed, but I did have ground beef thawed, so I made the shells and the cheese sauce like in that recipe, and then seasoned ground beef like I did for the Bacon Cheeseburger Soup I made recently.  She and I were both happy with the results!

Baked Cheeseburger Spinach MacaroniBaked Cheeseburger Spinach Macaroni

What you need:

1 pound ground beef
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup diced red or yellow onion
1 cup beef broth
3 cups whole grain medium shells, uncooked
2 cups fresh spinach, slightly chopped
2 Tbsp. flour
1-2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, if needed
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
 
How to make it:
 
Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
 
In a large skillet, mix together ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, and pepper.  Brown meat over medium high heat.  Stir in diced onion, and cook until soft.  Pour in beef broth and reduce heat to low to simmer while you work on the other parts.
 
Cook shells as directed on package, adding spinach in to cook for the last minute.  Drain.  Return to pot.
 
In another large skillet, melt 1-2 Tbsp butter or margarine.  Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly. Gradually stir in milk.  Bring to boil, stirring constantly; cook 3 to 5 minutes,  or until thickened.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and the Parmesan cheese; cook and stir until melted.
 
Pour ground beef mixture and cheese mixture over shells and spinach in the large pot; mix well.  Pour into a greased 2-1/2 qt casserole.  Top with the remaining shredded cheddar cheese.
 
Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until it is bubbling and the cheese on top is melted.

 

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Pesto Salmon

3 Nov

When I decided to make salmon for tonight’s dinner, I was thinking I would do it how I normally do, rubbed with olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning, then cooked on the George Foreman grill.  However, I was hoping to maybe come up with something a little different to try.  As I was going through the fridge, I found a jar of pesto I had prepared last week, using some fresh basil from someone’s garden and basil from a Sunizona FarmBox.  I’ve used pesto when baking chicken before, why not on salmon?  Turned out great, and I made mashed potatoes (red potatoes with the skins on), steamed asparagus, and cheddar garlic biscuits.

Pesto Salmon

Pesto Salmon

What you need:

4 4-oz fillets of salmon
1 cup Pesto, store-bought, Spinach-Basil, or Kale
Lemon

How to make it:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Line a baking dish with foil.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Arrange salmon fillets in dish, skin side down.  Spread pesto on top of each fillet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until salmon easily flakes with a fork.

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Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken, Spinach, and Angel Hair Pasta

2 Sep

Tonight was one of those nights where I had no idea what to make.  Then, a friend of mine shared a picture on Facebook of a chicken and spinach pasta dish, and since I had the ingredients, I decided to give it a try with a few modifications.  It also gave me a chance to use my new stainless steel cookware that I got last week.  It turned out delicious, and I know I will be making it again, maybe even with some different vegetables next time.

Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken, Spinach, and Angel Hair Pasta

 

Creamy Lemon Garlic Chicken, Spinach, and Angel Hair Pasta

What you need:

1/2 pound angel hair pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup diced onion
Juice of 2 lemons
3/4 cup half and half (I just used milk)
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups cooked chicken, cut into 1″ pieces
1 cup chopped fresh spinach

How to make it:

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add garlic and onions, and cook until onions are soft and translucent.  Stir in lemon juice, half and half, chicken broth, and Parmesan cheese.  Continue to cook on medium-low heat until liquid is bubbly.  Stir in chicken, spinach and drained pasta.   Toss and cook for about 5 minutes.  Turn off heat and let sit for 5 minutes to allow sauce to thicken a little.  Serve.

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Breakfast Biscuit Bowls

9 Jun

As promised, here is the update on my next round of biscuit bowls!

Once again, I used 1 can of Grands biscuits.  This time, I sprayed the small Pyrex bowls on the outside, rolled together 2 Grands biscuits, and spread it over the outside of the bowl.  I lined a baking sheet with aluminum foil, placed the upside down bowls on the sheet, and baked in the oven at 350 F.  After 12 minutes, I started checking them, and mine were finished in 20 minutes.  Time may vary by oven and by what you bake them on.

Biscuit bowls after bakingThen, I worked on the filling.  You can see a peek of the skillet in the picture above.  I started by removing the casings from breakfast sausage and crumbling and cooking in a  large skillet over medium heat.  Once browned, I left the fat in and mixed in small cubes of red potatoes.  I let this cook for a while to let the potatoes soften.  Next, I added in some diced red onion, and cooked until the onions were translucent.  Then, I added in diced mushrooms and chopped fresh spinach.  Once the spinach wilted, I pushed it all up to one side, and on the empty side, added in 6 eggs that I had whisked with a couple of tablespoons of milk.  Once this cooked up and I stirred to scramble, I mixed the eggs in with the rest, giving me this delicious-ness:

Sausage, red potato, red onion, mushroom, spinach, and scrambled egg filling for biscuit bowls

 

Then, assembly time!  My older daughter added grated Parmesan to hers, I added crumbled feta to mine, and my younger daughter and my husband added shredded cheddar to theirs.  I had some filling leftover, so I made a few burritos using large flour tortillas that I had on hand.

Breakfast Biscuit Bowl with Parmesan cheese Breakfast Biscuit Bowl with crumbled feta

 

I was very pleased with how it all turned out, and we will be having this again, and soon!

 

 

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