Spinach Artichoke Pizza Appetizer

We all love a little nosh every now and again, don’t we? I know I do! Last week, for thanksgiving, my family asked me to bring an appetizer for everyone to nibble on while the dinner was still cooking. My first thought was spinach and artichoke dip but I thought about dip and bread bowls and I was getting way ahead of myself.

So, I decided to make something like a focaccia, pizza or crostini. I got some tips on the Pillsbury website and kind of came up with a little som’ som’.

What you need:

2 cans of Pillsbury Crescent dough

10 oz chopped spinach, drained

1 14 oz can of artichoke hearts, chopped

1 Tablespoon garlic

1/3 cup mayonnaise

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup sour cream

3/4 cup grated parmesan

To start, unroll the 2 cans of crescent dough into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. make sure to pinch together the perforated seams. Bake at 425 for about 15 minutes to crisp up the “crust”. AKA Blind bake.

While the crust is cooking, prepare the spinach. I used frozen spinach and used a tea towel to squeeze it dry.

Chop up the artichoke hearts.

And in a medium bowl mix together the mayo, cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan, spinach, and artichokes. You can add salt if you need to but the parm cheese has a nice salty flavor.

Spread the artichoke and spinach “dip” over the entire surface of the crescent dough which should be a nice golden brown color. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

I made these the night before and weren’t completely satisfied with them at room temperature. So I sliced them into mini pizza squares and toasted in the toaster oven.

These are tasty. They would have to be with all the mayo and cream cheese alone! I love the buttery crisp crust and slight sweetness from the crescent dough combined with the creamy savory flavor of the spinach and artichokes.

The family was very pleased snacking on these puppies with the bottles of wine we consumed and I plan on making these again for an upcoming Potluck!

Spinach Lasagna Roll Ups

Portion Control.

I suck at it. Especially when I make a recipe that says it can feed 4 – 6 people. I usually over feed people and I like to blame my grandmother for that one because she believes that no one is ever really FULL. And when they say “No, Thank you”, they really mean “I’m too shy to ask for seconds”.

And then, when it comes to feeding myself, I Never know how much is too much or how little is too little. To make the biggest bang for my buck during my grocery shopping, I have been choosing meals with lots of volume and few ingredients.  And I have to be honest, being sick has totally added to my lazy factor. Making a big recipe will decrease the trips to the grocery store and make packing lunch/ dinner easy peasy.

We like Easy.

We LOVE easy.

Recipes that is…

Like Lasagna. I loves it. But I never know when one piece is really two…or three. Being semi healthful is tricky too because one lasagna might have more cheese than the other, or more noodles. It just gets confusing! So, I gained some inspiration from an old friend named Heather S. who makes little shortcuts like meatloaf muffins to take the guess work out of portion control.

Lasagna Roll Ups. Not only are they a calorie counters best friend, but they require less noodles, less work, and more servings. Best part of all, short ingredient list.

Ingredients:

12 lasagna noodles ( a little more than half a box)

1 10 oz box of frozen spinach

2 cups part skim (or full fat) ricotta

1/4 cup parm cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1 24 oz jar of your favorite tomato sauce (I use Classico when I don’t have fresh sauce on hand…and I told you- I’ve been lazy)

Start by preheating your oven to 350*. Cook the frozen spinach according to the package directions. When its done squeeze out ALL the liquid from the spinach. (I put mine in a handheld fine mesh strainer and pressed the spinach until hardly any liquid came out. ) Combine the spinach and ricotta cheese and add salt and pepper if you like. (I added a touch of cheese but didn’t really need it.)

Then cook your lasagna noodles a little less than Al Dente since they still have some time coming up in the oven. The box said 10 minutes. By 8 minutes the pasta was perfect. It had a nice bite to it that wouldn’t suffer from more cooking time in the oven.

Lay out each lasagna noodle and add 2 or 3 Tablespoons of the spinach mixture to the noodle.

Roll it up and place it seam side down in a 9 x 13 baking dish that’s been prepped with cooking spray and a little sauce.

This should make 12 servings of lasagna.

Cover liberally with sauce and sprinkle with parm cheese and mozzarella. Cover with Foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Another sprinkle of parm cheese cant hurt either.

The portions are great for lunch. Two of these rolls are actually quite  REALLY filling. I served mine with a side of roasted vegetables and it was perfect.

This would make a great dish for a potluck too.

I used my leftover noodles and some leftover meat sauce I had to make a meaty version of this and it was a success.

These also freeze well. Wrap individually in foil and place in a freezer bag. To re-heat, place the frozen lasagna in the fridge to defrost the night before and then microwave for 2 or 3 minutes when ready to eat.

Nick’s Bistro

I love checking out restaurants in my neighborhood! It makes me feel good about supporting the mom’s and pop’s out there that are living the dream.

I was home on a Saturday afternoon with D and we were feeling lazy hungry. Instead of cooking, like good single ladies living on a budget, we decided to go out.

I scored a gift certificate from Restaurant.com and thought it was a good idea to use it on a local spot that I have had my eye on for a few weeks.

Nick’s Bistro is a Greek-American restaurant in Forest hills/ Kew Gardens area of Queens. If you know where Metropolitan Avenue in Queens is, then getting here is no big deal. If you have no idea, get your bus maps ready .

I decided to call in advance to see if I needed a reservation since the reviews suggest it gets packed during dinner service. They said no. When I arrived there were 3 empty tables and they refused to seat us because they were holding tables for customers on their way. I did not like that- especially since they told me I would be seated when I arrived.

After 20 minutes, D and I were seated at a table that was never claimed. I think they sensed we were about to leave.

As soon as we were seated, we received this platter of warm pita bread and a creamy, garlicky hummus. It made up for the mishap quickly.

Even sweeter was the 40% off gift certificate we had! We noticed a lot of people were using their gift cards which its great but I’m wondering how they make money that way…

Not knowing we were getting the hummus, we ordered the spanikopita to start. Creamy feta cheese and spinach baked into a flaky phyllo dough. It was awesome.

And the servers were fantastic despite the incident with seating when we arrived.

What was NOT awesome was the woman sitting next to us who appeared to be on a first date… she was failing miserably. She gave a play by play of what everyone around her was eating and how bad it was for them. She ordered a regular meal, took 5 bites, threw her napkin over the plate and shamed her date for cleaning his. Poor guy.

Still thinking of the deliciousness that I had at Zenon Taverna, we opted for the Greek comfort foods!

D got the Pastisio. Ground beef. Pasta. bechamel Sauce… and a twist: with marinara sauce.

We kept it really traditional with a side of lemon potatoes that were super lemony but overcooked.

I got the Moussaka. Eggplant and pasta layered with a bechamel topping… and surprise- more marinara sauce.

The servings here are MASSIVE. One piece of Moussaka or Pastisio was equal to two. We barely made dents in our dishes and with the heaviness of our previous dishes, we were pretty stuffed.

The meal was great and a wonderful bargain considering its walking distance from the apartment and would satisfy a craving for Greek food without a trip to Astoria. The dishes were not completely authentic as I have never seen marinara sauce in a Greek dish, but I can appreciate the effort.

Would I come back?

Most def.

Do you have any awesome local finds?

Bacon and Spinach Quiche a la Dorie Greenspan

Happy Almost Friday.

I have decided to keep my Dorie Greenspan cookbook in the kitchen for more inspiration. I have made a few salads and am still hungry for more at home french style food. I passed the salad section and came across an easy dish that made my mouth water.

Quiche.

I am a sucker for a buttery and flaky crust but throw in some creamy eggs, cheese and bacon? Dude. Its on!

And thats kinda what happened when i saw how simple and easy it was to make quiche a la dorie greenspan.

All i needed were eggs, a pie crust, crispy bacon, heavy cream, fresh spinach, onions and parm cheese. Most of these things were already in my freezer so after a quick shop at the grocery store- it was time for some quiche.

Once I crisped up the bacon…. which by the way- makes doggies very focused… I set it aside to drip dry on some paper towels.

In the bacon grease, (oh god please dont judge me) I sauteed the onions and when they were nice and tender i added fresh spinach.

Do you know what fresh spinach and onions taste like when they have been bathed in bacon fat?

Pretty amazing if i may say so myself. Dorie didnt tell me to use the bacon fat but I just felt like I couldnt waste it. And really, i think she might give me a thumbs up for that one.

I seasoned the veggies and bacon with salt and pepper and then took it off the flame.

In my whole wheat pie crust (gotta make it healthy where it counts) I added the veggie mixture to the bottom, covered it with cheese and then poured eggs and heavy cream on top of it followed by another healthy shaking of parm cheese.

I baked it for 30 minutes and when it came out of the oven, it filled the apartment with the aroma of bacon and buttery bread.

I would like to bottle the fragrance and sell it. Got any good names for that one???

I allowed this baby to cool for a while- which was no easy feat- and dug in (as well as the new boy) to a healthy slice. The boy doesnt like quiche (and veggies i just learned – gasp) but still ate it anyway. I loved the simplicity of this quiche as well as the flavors and textures. There will most definitely be another quiche in upcoming posts as there was another pie crust just chillin in the freezer waiting to be loved.

Dinner with Murrow Ladies

A few months ago, one of my friends from High School, Nneka, hit me up on facebook. I cant recall her specific wording but to paraphrase, her comment went something like this: “I will travel to Queens if you cook for me”. And really, the Italian in me cannot say no to anyone when it comes to food… not that i wanted to say no… but when i accepted the offer- publicly- i immediately started something.

Pretty soon, Jessica (hey gurl), was in on it and then Megan… plus a few boys that tried to crash the girls day. We set a date and then i immediately began menu planning.

Ulitmately, i decided on chicken as the protein. Nneka, doesnt eat pork. Megan, only eats Chicken or Shrimp. And when Fresh Direct had a sale on whole free range chickens, i decided whole chicken indeed.

To start, i made (for the very first time ever) roasted red pepper hummus. The recipe, which i cannot share at the moment, is a part of a beta ipad cookbook application that a fellow foodie asked me to test for her. What I can do (now that i know how to make hummus) is recreate my own version of this delicious spread.

I paired it with some kettle chips. I really didnt think the ladies were going to like this but sure enough, one of them went home with a nice container full of homemade hummus. So, yay for my first time!

To go with the chicken, i decided to make a spinach artichoke penne and cheese.

Here is my thick and creamy bechamel sauce! yums!

Poured it all over some al dente penne and gave it a healthy sprinkling of mozzarella cheese.

I roasted two small chickens. One was rubbed with Garlic, onion, salt, and pepper while the other was rubbed down with Emeril Essence. I roasted them at 450 for 30 minutes then brought the temp down to 350 to bake for one hour. When it was done (160*), i let it rest before carving.

It was delicious! And i used the pan drippings to make an amazing chicken gravy…although the chicken did not need it.

Nneka preparing to server herself.

the goods. We also had some asparagus that i cooked in butter and salt.

the spread. Looking at this photo i think to myself “why didnt i make any bread?”

the answer: I wasnt being awesome.

Note to self: Be Awesome- EVERY DAY.

Meg and Jess ate, and ate well. Here they sit digesting and talking…. about life. and boys. and then they found out they live a block away from eachother.

see how food brings people together?

Nice!

So once the ladies had made a little more room in their tummies i brought out dessert…

Rich homemade vanilla ice cream….

with some Pure Dark Chocolate chunk oatmeal cookies…

for Homemade chip ‘wiches.

i think i did a pretty good job… the ladies went home that night and fell into glorious food comas.

Spinach, Penne and Cheese

Real food. Real Homecooked food. Its not something I have been enjoying much of.

Crazy, right?

These last few days have been filled with dinners on the go, blogger meetups, Office parties, and lots of baking (with wine…lots of it). I realized the other day as i was finishing up a bottle of wine that all this baking has taken up my time and I havent been cooking for myself. This had to change. With the 6lbs of cookies STILL waiting for me to roll, press, and bake… I opened the 3rd bottle of wine for the week, poured myself a glass and ransacked my cupboards.

A box of Penne, 1 onion, 2 tablespoons Butter and flour, 2 cups veggie stock, 1 cup of milk, 2 cups of Part Skim Mozzarella, 1 box of chopped frozen spinach.

I figured it was a great time for some cheesey pasta… that was semi healthified with spinach.

I put up one small pot of water to cook the frozen spinach and 1 large pot to cook the penne. I let the spinach cook for about 10 minutes. When the spinach was done, i strained it and allowed it to cool. When it was cool enough to touch, I placed it in some cheesecloth and squeezed till it was bone dry. (who needs a work out when you can squeeze spinach??)

I roughly chopped the onion and added it to a small sauce pot with 2 tbsp of butter and let the onions cook for 5- 7 minutes over medium heat. When the onions were translucent, I whisked in 2 tbsp of flour.

Thick, creamy, lump free roux. While whisking, i slowly added the veggie stock making sure no lumps formed. I raised the heat a tiny bit and allowed the roux to thicken slightly. When it started to simmer, I lowered the heat and added the milk. Then while stirring in a figure 8 motion, i added the cheese. yummy. cheesey goodness.

Once the cheese was in the sauce, I then added the bone dry ball of spinach to the cheese sauce. With a little elbow grease, I managed to break apart the spinach and gently fold it into a creamy delectable sauce. I seasoned with salt and pepper accordingly. This so could have used some artichokes… but i didnt have any.

At this point I set the cheese sauce on the side to thicken a tiny bit more and the water for the pasta was a full on boil. I added a generous sprinkling of salt to the boiling water and poured in the penne. Since i like my pasta al dente, i checked the package. According to the package, the pasta would be al dente after 8 minutes… and because I never beleive what boxes say, i timed my pasta for 5 minutes. after 6 minutes it was perfect. Every stove is different too- so allow yourself a small window of opportunity to get the pasta the way you like it. When the pasta was done, i strained it and placed it in a shallow baking dish.

Then poured the cheesey sauce all over it and mixed it up to ensure it fully coated the pasta. liberally sprinkled a few handfuls of parm cheese and Mozzarella cheese, allowed it to set for 5 minutes….

and dug in.

I dont know what it is about pasta that is so comforting to me. It was creamy. Hearty. and a party in my mouth. This would make 6 normal servings… but it made ABOUT 4 Food Snob servings.

Hopefully, I will be around tomorrow to post. My office party is tonight. correction my SECOND office party is tonight… should be very very interesting.

5 Ingredient Meatloaf

If you live in NYC, you will know that the cost of the Metro Cards will be going up again soon. This annoys me. Time and time again they raise the fare and it seems service gets worse and worse.

Last night I was on my way home and normally it would take 45 minutes… 1 hour and 30 minutes later, i was home. cranky. and hungry.

the last thing i wanted to do was slave over dinner… so i decided to whip up something semi quick.

Spinach Meatloaf (adapted from Weight Watchers Take 5)

Ingrdients

1 lb lean ground chicken

1/2 cup italian bread crumbs

1 egg

10 oz chopped spinach (strained thoroughly)

1 packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Freebie: 1/4 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 375*. Combine all ingredients in shallow bowl.

Using your hand or a spoon mix up all the ingredients till they are evenly distributed. The mixture was still a little too wet for my liking so i added some dry oats…. but if that happens just add a little bit more bread crumbs.

In a nonstick baking dish or a baking dish sprayed with cooking spray place the meat mixture in the center of the pan and form into a loaf. *i sprayed the top of the meatloaf with cooking spray.

Place in the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until temperature inside loaf reaches 165*.

This recipe serves 6! yay for leftovers!

Now for a side dish, i scored some yummy New Potatoes…aka Creamer potatoes.

I gave them a good scrub and sliced them up.

Purplely goodness. FYI- they taste like regular potatoes… nothing crazy about them except their gorgeous color.

I drizzled these with olive oil, tossed some sliced shallots on top, salt and pepper and roasted at 425* for 20 minutes in my toaster oven.

Then while 10 mins to spare, i threw some baby broccoli in my steamer and let it cook for 10 mins.

This was a great meal to sit down to… after the hellish commute home.

Let Downs Left and Right

I would have posted sooner but someone placed 5 dozen (thats a lot) freshly baked cinnamon rolls near my desk. Its always on a day when I am dead serious about staying within my range… and then the temptation in the form of warm baked cinnamon rolls sits in front of me.
I took a 1/4 of one.
Probably still 300 cals worth of cinnamony sin.
DAMMIT.
I got ready for a delicious cup of traders joes greek yogurt and to my horror disocovered a funky gelatnous ring in the center of my yogurt… the date was fresh… and i was grossed out. CHUCKED! I went into the office fridge and found a chobani that was given to me last week… i cautiously opened it and gave it a stir… it was still good. whew. i threw in some oat bran. fresh bloobs and crumbled a 100 cal blueberry muffin.
I snapped a crappy shot of this and started to dig in. I got some really grossed out looks but it tasted a lot like a trifle. It was heavenly!
Speaking of heavenly, I had made a buffalo “chicken” salad for lunch and my fellow diva called and said “We need a drink, Mo”. And i looked at my salad. I looked out the window. Looked at the salad. Looked out the window…
“okay, i will meet you at the pub in 5″
The pub won. Not just for the ice cold beer with lunch but for this beauty: Matt, the bar owner always rolls his eyes when I order, jokingly of course, because this meal in his mind is a “healthy girly meal”. And really the only thing healthy is that i ask for salad instead of fries. My friends ordered loaded tater tots and double stuffed baked potatoes…i ordered a grilled chicken sandwich with chipotle mayo, fresh spinach and some provologne cheese. The spinach florentine sandwich. I dont know if it was karma or the fact that the kitchen was so busy but the end result was that my sandwich wasnt what i was hoping for it to be. It was on the bland side (blasphemy!) but the side salad? PERFECTION!
the reality of my disappointing sandwich inspired me to go home and make some fake take out. Lo Mein.
I couldn’t find my chicken seasonings and decided to wing it. (hahaha-wing, chicken- get it?) I diced up some lite tofu and a ginormous zucchini. I sauteed them both in some sesame oil and garlic for a few mins and then tossed in some thoroughly rinsed tofu shirataki noodles.

I added some soy sauce, ponzu sauce, onion, garlic, and some other randoms that i thought would make this taste good.

It wasnt TERRIBLE but it really needed that chicken seasoning to bump up the flavors and steer clear of the SOY SAUCE flavor. lol. I still enjoyed it but my other lo meins have been much much more successful.

How has having a craving for something let you down?

I was once craving crispy fries from Pomme Frites and the order i took to go was completely soggified. GAG

Do you think your PARENTS should use Facebook, and if so Should they be friends with you and your friends?

I say maybe. Parents should take a Facebook tutorial and study a List of Dos And Donts. This should be something for Melissas Three Things Thursday!

Palak Paneer Pizza

Midtown Lunch did several pieces on a pizzeria in Midtown called Bombay Eats. I saw the notes on this place and I was immediately intrigued. Its a genuis idea! If I had more time during lunch I would visit this place to try a slice for myself.
I don’t make indian food from scratch (yet) but I thought that by using some tried and true store bought indian fare, i could recreate my own version of Indian pizza. I was going to wait for Henry’s return but I had a craving for indian and decided to make it anyway.
I started with a whole wheat dough. When i thought this project up I didn’t put too much thought into the crust… because Trader Joe’s sells a pound of pizza dough for 99 cents… I really didn’t see any other options (but you will see one later). When i set the dough onto my floured surface… I nearly broke down and cried. I remember why I havent played with dough in so long. My last attempts at rolling bread dough were traumatizing. I didnt want to add too much flour but every time I got the dough to a size I wanted, it ripped or stuck to the surface. About 30 minutes later and a good upper body workout later, I finally won the battle of Snob v. Dough.

I cheated a bit and used a cookie sheet to press the dough out into. it was well floured and the bottom was slightly greased with some cooking spray. (cursing that stupid dough)

While I was beating the shit out of the dough (because it wasnt listening to me) I had some chicken breasts cooking with a heavy coating of Cumin. MMM. Smoky. When it was cooked and rested I sliced.

and diced. I probably should have left it in strips because these chicken chunks sort of disappeared into the pizza and I hardly recognized it.

I chose mozzarella becuase I thought it was a mild enough cheese and was the best melting cheese for pizza.

My original pizza was for a Jaipur pizza but I am gonna hold out on that one for as long as possible because that is Henry’s favorite dish. Palak Paneer is easy enough, its spicy spinach with indian cheese. who doesnt like spinach with chicken and cheese…. right?

I spread a layer of palak paneer onto the dough. I smushed the tofu-like cubes of cheese. (normally this dish is eaten like a soup but its really “IRON” tasting and its a little odd).

Next, sprinkle the chicken onto the green stuff.

and cheese. lots and lots of cheese. I used 2 cups of cheese. I could have used more but I wanted to taste the other ingredients, okay?

Bake this baby for 25 minutes at 400*.

MMM. Burnt cheese. See, you cant tell there is chicken in this dish.

I sliced it sicillian style.

and had two yummy slices.

Definite thumbs up on this masterpiece. I cannot wait to try the Jaipur with my slight modifications to the recipe. The crust was a big soggy on the bottom so i might cook it on a pizza stone next time and for a little longer… OR nix the whole wheat dough and opt for some Naan… although I think if I used naan as my crust I could get away with grilling and letting it get crispy.

Hope ya’ll enjoyed that! I sure did and my roomie agrees!

Consensus: YUM!

When Co-Workers Start to Read your Blog

…they get hungry…
and demanding. In a nice way though. For about three weeks my co-worker Karen has been dying to come over for some girl time in the kitchen. I FINALLY came through and invited her over after work.
Karen is one of my closest friends at the office. A real confidant. A real buddy. She is a wife and mommy and when the hubby says “I’ll take the baby tonight” she calls Mo. :-) She has lost a tremendous amount of weight after giving birth to her baby girl and shes done a great job at keeping the weight off. When she asked if I cooked healthy I was honest. Sometimes. And when she asked if I could teach her how to cook I said Definitely.
I might not be the fittest chick in the bunch but I know how to lighten up stuff. So I prepared a dinner for her and showed her how to make it.
First.
Does anyone like the Cheddar Bay Biscuits from Red Lobster?
OMG who doesn’t?
Most people I know go to Red Lobster just for the biscuits because the food isn’t as good as the garlicky cheesey biscuits. Did you know you can make these at home and save yourself a trip to the overrated chain?
yes you can!

I cheat. I use bisquick. But find an easy to follow recipe for drop biscuits and add extra sharp cheddar cheese to your dough. Bake according to directions and when it comes out, brush the biscuits with melted butter and sprinkle with garlic and parsley.
To lighten this up, I used Reduced Fat Bisquick, Fat free Sharp Cheddar Cheese, spray butter, powdered garlic and parsley. Same taste… but the texture is a bit more dry in the light versions.

Karens one request was shrimp. Its low fat and high in protein. I can oblige with shrimp. And since I was showing her how to cook simple things i figured i would give her a crash course in pesto. Pesto, which was very intimidating a long time ago is probably the most versatile sauce that any beginner in italian cuisine can master. Pesto and Shrimp- HOLY COW!
I purchased ingredients for Spinach Pesto. Let’s be honest, sometimes a bunch of basil and pine nuts can be expensive but spinach and walnuts are always reasonably priced. We took 2 cups of fresh spinach, 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts, 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup parm cheese, salt and pepper, and pulsed it in the food processor until…

pasty. A lil secret that might appall some people is that I hate the though of 1 whole cup of oil in a sauce- so i thin mine out using… water. GULP. I know! Its terrible. But the flavor is still there… and it still sticks to the pasta- its just lower in fat. (Karen, was impressed- not appalled)

While she seasoned HER pesto, I started the shrimp. I got the pan really hot so the shrimp would cook quickly. I cooked them maybe 1 minute per side. Overcooked shrimp sucks!!

Oh… while Karen was makin her pesto i whipped up some whole wheat angel hair.

Close up shot.

Beauty shot.

Oh, and a gift for the hostess. Why thank you Karen! This went divinely with dinner!

Karen really enjoyed dinner, as did I. It was very simple to make yet tasted fancy…karens words- not mine! LOL.

When clean up was done I told Karen I had a dessert to show her too. PUMPKIN Bread.

Mickey decided that Karen did enough cooking and needed some cuddle time. I let Mickey keep Karen company while I made dessert.

Yellow cake mix. 14 oz of puree pumpkin. 1/4 cup of maple syrup. 1 egg white. 1 heaping tbsp of pumpkin pie spice. Mix it all with a blender. Pour into a greased cake pan and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Fluffy. Moist. Fragrant and delicious.

If I could have you over for dinner…What would you like?