Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells

When my daughter was young I used to make this dish a lot. It's a great meal to make ahead and freeze. it's also a great vegetarian option if you are having a buffet or a party.

For some reason the shells themselves became hard to find. So I stopped making it. I use the same filling in cannelloni but cannelloni doesn't go as far as when it's in the shells.

Anyway I found a version of them at Harris Farm Markets the other day and they were two bags for$6.
Considering each bag makes 2 trays or enough to feed about 6 people that's still pretty good value.

I don't usually price food out on this blog but this is a great dish for a party or for feeding lots of people cheaply.

Here's how I'd do it for entertaining a group:

1 wheel of ricotta $8.99
2 bags pasta $6
3 boxes frozen spinach $2.70
1 bag shredded mozzarella $5
1 bag shredded Parmesan $4
2 eggs $1
herbs & garlic
Spaghetti sauce 4 jars or big batch homemade $4

Total: About $32 that would feed 24 people, maybe more...or $1.33 a serve. Add some bread and salad and that is some bargain entertaining.

I happened to buy silver beet fresh and use that this time but that's more work and I wouldn't do that for a group.

Spinach and ricotta stuffed shells
1 bunch silver beet, stems removed and finely chopped
1 500g bag pasta shells
500g ricotta
1 cup Parmesan
2 garlic cloves
1 onion diced
teaspoon mixed/Italian herbs
1 egg
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1 cup mozzarella cheese
2 baking dishes lightly sprayed with oil.(I used one regular and a foil one to freeze the second batch)

1. Place silver beet, garlic, herbs and olive oil in a large sauce pan and stir fry till wilted.
2. Combine ricotta, egg and Parmesan in a large bowl. Stir in wilted silver beet.
3. Spoon ricotta mix into shells and place filled shells in a single layer in baking dishes.

4. Put spaghetti sauce in large saucepan and dilute by rinsing jars with hot water to get all sauce out. When warm pour over shells. You want the shells submerged.
5. Sprinkle with mozzarella. (can be frozen at this point).
6. Bake in a moderate oven 30-40 minutes. (You can tell it's done when you can stab a knife through the shells).
7. Serve with a nice salad.

Enjoy!

Florentine Stuffed Mushrooms

I really love mushrooms and stuffed mushrooms are the bomb! At my local shopping mall I saw some interesting stuffed mushrooms lately and decided to do my own version.

These combine several things we love in our house; chicken, spinach, cheese and mushrooms

This isn't a recipe as much as a concept I suppose because you could use lamb mince or beef or pork mince and it would be just as yummy. I used Swiss cheese to top my husband and my mushroom but tasty cheese on my daughter's. I think this is a yummy adaptable recipe that is full of flavour and low in carbs.

Florentine Stuffed Mushrooms

I combined chicken mince and herbs and pressed into the field mushrooms - obviously I removed their stems first.

I added the stems to my version of creamed spinach - spinach, chopped tomato, chopped mushroom, nutmeg, Parmesan - but I used cream cheese instead of cream. I did that so the mix would be thicker and not runny. I popped it on top of the chicken, added some Swiss cheese and baked for about 25 minutes.

Super yummy and inexpensive dinner.

Popeye's favourite - Spinach!

It's a funny thing but one of my daughter's absolutely favourite things I make is my version of Creamed Spinach. Nuts right? Kids don't eat spinach and they certainly don't request it. Another of her favourites is my Green Vegetable Soup which also relies pretty heavily on spinach and all the other green veggies we usually have to force feed children such as peas, brocolli and zucchini.

Last year we went to the USA on a big month-long vacation. When you travel for that long no matter who you are you miss home cooking and when you eat out alot when travelling you reach french fry overload. On more than one occasion we all fought over the veggies on someone's plate.

Anyway we rented a vacation home in Orlando for a few days with family and I was planning to make dinner so we found ourselves at the supermarket on our way home from Disneyworld when my lovely daughter said. "Mum please can you make your creamed spinach." It was boiling hot and humid and not really steamed spinach weather and I thought the others would all think I was mildly insane when I started preparing it (which they did) but when your kid asks for spinach it seems churlish to deny them.

At dinner that night I served up a bowl of this spinach and everyone (OK not the other two kids at the table who looked more than a little horrified) ate it up and loved it. So here is my recipe.

I adapted this from a great low-carb cookbook I bought about 13 years ago and loaned to someone who never returned it and I can't for the life of me remember the book's name. My version is a bit different anyway in that I add tomato and mushroom and the quantities are also different but I would thank that author for the inspiration if I could find them.

Mum's Creamed Spinach (serves 4 as a side)
1 clove of garlic crushed
1 tomato diced
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (You can dice these as well..sometimes I do, sometimes I don't)
500g spinach (either baby spinach leaves raw or a box of frozen spinach cooked (follow directions for cooking)...I have also used the leaves of Swiss chard but I like that less)
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated
1/2 cup cream (more or less to suit your taste)
olive oil for cooking

1. Heat oil in fry pan. Add garlic, tomato and mushrooms and cook till mushrooms soft.
2. Add spinach and stir fry till wilted (You may want to pop the lid on a minute or two). If using frozen spinach stir till warmed through.
3. Add nutmeg and cream to combine. Toss in cheese and stir until melted.

Enjoy!