Tag Archives: spinach

Recipe: Spinach, Chick-Pea and Olive Pasta

27 Feb

photo (12)Time: 10 minutes to prepare; 20 minutes to cook

Ingredients

  • 4 ounces dried radiatore or rotini pasta
  • 2 cups coarsely chopped fresh spinach (about 2 ounces)
  • 15-ounce can no-salt-added chick-peas, rinsed if desired and drained
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped bottled roasted red bell peppers, rinsed and drained (about 6.5 ounces)
  • 12 kalamata olives, drained and chopped
  • 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil, crumbled
  • 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

Procedure

  1. Prepare the pasta using the package directions, omitting the salt and oil. Drain in a colander and run under cold water until completely cooled. Drain well.
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients except feta.
  3. Add pasta to the spinach mixture, tossing gently yet thoroughly to coat. Add feta and toss gently.

Verdict

I love this pasta salad. It’s colorful, tasty and super easy to make. It’s a great summer salad, but occasionally I’ll whip it out in colder months because it’s so damn easy to make. Definitely eat it in the first few days of preparing it, as the spinach will wilt pretty quickly.

Courtesy of Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook, Third Edition

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Recipe: Lemon-Garlic Tilapia and Spinach

14 Mar

tilapia_spinachTime: 20 minutes to prep, about 30 minutes to cook

Ingredients

  • 4 tilapia fillets
  • 5-8 cloves of garlic, sliced
  • 2 tablespoons butter, separated
  • 4 cups fresh spinach
  • half of one lemon
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure

  1. Clean the fillets and pat dry. Lightly season with salt and pepper.
  2. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute half of garlic for about 3-4 minutes. Add fillets to pan and cook for about 3 minutes on each side. Set aside in oven at warm temperature
  3. Melt second tablespoon of butter in saucepan and saute rest of garlic to desired crispiness. Add spinach and salt and pepper. Saute until wilted.
  4. Squeeze lemon juice over both spinach and tilapia. Serve tilapia atop spinach.

Verdict

This is one of the few dishes I make that I don’t need a recipe for. It’s very simple to make. I allowed extra time for prep and cooking, but it shouldn’t take more than an hour to prepare this. I love it because it’s light, it’s delicious and it takes no time to prepare. I serve it with brown rice.

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Recipe: Spinach and Black Bean Enchiladas

23 Oct

Spinach and Black Bean Enchiladas

Time: Prep and cook is about 40 minutes

image

Ingredients

  • 1 pound fresh spinach
  • Vegetable oil spray, if needed
  • 15-ounce can no-salt-added black beans, rinsed if desired and drained
  • 1/2 cup salsa
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
  • 6 6-inch corn or flour tortillas
  • 1/2 cup fat-free or light sour cream
  • 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
  • 4 ounces shredded reduced-fat Monterrey jack cheese
  • 2 medium Italian plum tomatoes, diced
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced

Preparation

  1. Thoroughly rinse the spinach and remove the stems.
  2. In a large pot, bring several quarts of water to a boil over high heat. Cook the spinach in the boiling water for one minute. With a slotted spoon, remove the spinach. Drain well in a colander. Using the back of a spoon, squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a shallow nonstick baking pan or casserole dish with vegetable oil spray.
  4. In a medium bowl, stir together the spinach, black beans, salsa, cumin and chili powder. Spoon two heaping tablespoonfuls of the mixture down the middle of one tortilla. Roll the tortilla round the filling, jelly-roll style. Place the tortilla with the seam side down in the prepared baking pan or casserole dish. Repeat the process with the remaining tortillas.
  5. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
  6. Meanwhile, stir together the sour cream and lime juice. Remove the enchiladas from the oven. Spread the sour cream mixture evenly over the top. Sprinkle with the cheese, tomatoes and green onions.
  7. Bake for five minutes.

Courtesy of Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook (third edition)

Verdict

I make this often, usually using frozen spinach, which works just as well. I also tend to prepare all of the enchiladas, but freeze about half of them for later. It’s an easy recipe and one that’s easy to heat up when you have a few frozen.

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