Creamy Spinach & Sausage Pasta

Ingredients

• 6 oz. smoked sausage 
• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• 1 medium onion 
• 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes w/chiles 
• 2 cups chicken broth 
• 8 oz. pasta 
• 3 cups fresh spinach 
• 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded monterrey jack 
• 1 whole green onion 

Instructions

1. Thinly slice the smoked sausage and add it to a large skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Saute the sausage over medium heat until it is nicely browned (about 5-7 minutes). Drain off the excess fat.
2. Dice the onion and add it to the skillet. Continue to saute until the onion has softened (about 5 minutes). Add the can of diced tomatoes with chiles and the chicken broth. Stir to combine and dissolve any browned bits off of the bottom of the skillet.
3. Add the uncooked pasta to the skillet and make sure it is all submerged under the liquid. Place a lid on the skillet and allow the mixture to come up to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer for about ten minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Stir once or twice while the pasta cooks to keep it from sticking.
4. Stir in the fresh spinach, one cup at a time, until wilted. If you add it all at once, the skillet will be too full to stir. Keep the heat on while adding the spinach, so the liquid will continue to simmer and thicken.
5. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top, replace the lid, and let it sit for a few minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Slice the green onions and sprinkle them over top. Serve hot!

Step By Step Photos

I like to use meat sparingly and balance it out with other ingredients, like past and vegetables. So, I only used half of this 13 oz. link and froze the rest. There was still plenty of meat in each serving! Grocery stores often have turkey smoked sausage, too, if you want a lower fat option.

Slice the sausage thinly (so you get more medallions and more in every bite), then cook in the skillet with olive oil over medium heat until browned. Drain off the excess fat after it has browned.

Dice the onion and add it to the skillet. Continue to saute.

Cook until the onion has softened. As you can see, the moisture from the onion has dissolved most of the browned bits off of the bottom of the skillet. That’s a good thing. If not all of it comes off, that’s okay because it will dissolve in after we add the liquids.

Add the can of diced tomatoes with chiles (this is the same as Rotel tomatoes). If you can’t find these in the grocery store, you can use regular diced tomatoes and a separate 4 oz. can of diced green chiles.

Also add the two cups of chicken broth. That is the chicken “base” that I use to make broth for recipes. It’s usually between $4-$5 for one of those little jars, which makes 32 cups and stays good in the refrigerator for a LONG time. It also comes in many different flavors (beef, mushroom, vegetable, low sodium, organic, etc.).

Once you’ve added the tomatoes and liquid, add the dry pasta.

Make sure the pasta is mostly under the liquid so that it will cook. Put a lid on top and let the skillet come up to a simmer. Once it reaches a simmer, turn the heat down to low and let it continue to simmer for about ten minutes, or until the pasta is tender. Stir it once or twice while it’s cooking to make sure the pasta doesn't stick.

And then like magic it looks like this!

I bought this HUGE bag of spinach, which, believe it or not, was only 50 cents more than one of those small bags of salad spinach. It’s the exact same thing, just marketed as “spinach for cooking”. Psh. They can’t fool me.

Stir in one cup at a time until it is wilted. Let the skillet keep simmering away as you do this so that the liquid will thicken up a bit.

Sprinkle the shredded cheese over top, put the lid on the skillet, and let it melt. Monterrey jack cheese is especially creamy and helps make the whole dish creamy despite not having any cream in it. Mozzarella will not have this same effect.

When the cheese is melted and gooey, sprinkle the sliced green onion on top. Enjoy!

Source from: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/01/creamy-spinach-sausage-pasta/

Creamy Tomato & Spinach Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil 
• 1 small onion 
• 2 cloves garlic 
• 1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes 
• ½ tsp dried oregano 
• ½ tsp dried basil 
• pinch red pepper flakes (optional) 
• freshly cracked pepper to taste 
• ½ tsp salt 
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste 
• 2 oz. cream cheese 
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan 
• ½ lb. penne pasta 
• ½ (9 oz.) bag fresh spinach 

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender (7-10) minutes. Drain the pasta in a colander.
2. While waiting for the pasta to cook, dice the onion and mince the garlic. Cook both in a large skillet with the olive oil over medium-low heat until softened and transparent (about 5 minutes).
3. Add the diced tomatoes (with juices), oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper to the skillet with the onions and garlic. Stir to combine. Add the tomato paste and a ½ cup of water to the skillet and stir until the tomato paste is dissolved into the sauce.
4. Turn the heat down to low. Cut the cream cheese into a few pieces and then add them to the skillet with the tomato sauce. Use a whisk to stir the sauce until the cream cheese has fully melted in and the sauce is creamy. Add half of the Parmesan to the skillet and whisk until it is melted in. Add the remainder of the parmesan and whisk until melted in again.
5. Add the fresh spinach and gently stir it into the sauce until it has wilted (3-5 minutes). Add the pasta and stir until it is well coated in the creamy tomato sauce. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm.

Step by Step Photos

Start by bringing a large pot of water to a boil so that the pasta can cook while you prepare the sauce. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Cook them both in a skillet with the olive oil over medium-low heat until they are soft and transparent.

Once the onions have softened, add the can of diced tomatoes (with the juices), dried oregano, dried basil, red pepper flakes, salt, and some freshly cracked pepper, then stir it all together.

I wanted it a little “saucier” so I also added 2 Tbsp of tomato paste and about 1/2 cup of water. This is what it looked like *after* adding the tomato paste and water. 

I have to pause for a second to tell you a crazy story. This is the second can opener in the past month that has spontaneously stopped working. It works one day and then the next thing I know the gears suddenly don’t match up, it won’t clamp on the can correctly, and when it finally does start to cut, it cuts through the side rather than the top of the can. I broke a sweat opening this can of tomato paste and finally had to use a fork to pry it open just enough to scoop some out. Weird, right? Hopefully the third can opener will be a winner.

Anyway, at some point the water will be boiling, so you can add the pasta and let that cook while you finish the sauce.

Turn the heat under the skillet down to low. Cut the cream cheese into a few chunks and then add it to the skillet with the sauce. Use a whisk to stir it in as it melts…

It will look kind of chunky or grainy at first, but just keep stirring…

Eventually it will begin to melt in and get all creamy and delicious. Once the cream cheese is melted in, add about half of the Parmesan and stir it until it is melted in. Add the second half and stir until melted in again.

Add the fresh spinach…

And gently stir it in until it has wilted. This can get kinda messy, so stir gently so that the spinach doesn’t fly out of the skillet.

Finally, add the cooked and DRAINED pasta. You can use any shape, but I like a tubular pasta the best because the sauce gets all up inside those holes and makes it SO good. My next choice would have been bow-tie pasta. 

Source from: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/07/creamy-tomato-spinach-pasta/

Spinach Feta Grilled Cheese

Ingredients

• ½ Tbsp olive oil 
• 1 clove garlic 
• ¼ lb. frozen cut spinach 
• Pinch of salt & pepper 
• 2 ciabatta rolls 
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 
• 1 oz. feta cheese 
• pinch red pepper flakes (optional) 

Instructions

1. Mince the garlic and add it to a skillet with the olive oil. Cook over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or until it begins to soften. Add the frozen spinach, turn the heat up to medium, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until heated through and most of the excess moisture has evaporated away. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Cut the rolls in half. Add about ¼ cup of shredded mozzarella and ½ oz. of feta to the bottom half of each roll. Divide the cooked spinach between the two sandwiches, then top with a pinch of red pepper flakes, plus ¼ more shredded mozzarella on each.
3. Place the top half of the ciabatta roll on the sandwiches and transfer them to a large non-stick skillet. Fill a large pot with a few inches of water to create weight, then place the pot on top of the sandwiches to press them down like a panini press. Turn the heat on to medium-low and cook until the sandwiches are crispy on the bottom. Carefully flip the sandwiches, place the weighted pot back on top, and cook until crispy on the other side and the cheese is melted. Serve warm.

Step by Step Photos

We start by cooking the spinach a little. Add a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and a minced clove of garlic to a small skillet. Cook the garlic for a minute or two over medium-low heat, or until it begins to soften.

I buy these bags of frozen spinach because it’s really easy to just use some and put the rest back in the freezer for later. I only made two sandwiches, so I used 1/4 of this one pound bag. Just eyeball it. No need to be super accurate.

Add the frozen spinach straight to the skillet, no need to thaw. Cook this over medium heat for a couple of minutes…

Until it’s heated through and most of the extra moisture has evaporated away. Season it lightly with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, you can start building the sandwiches. I used these store bought ciabatta rolls. Despite being far more expensive than what I’d normally pay for bread ($3.99 for a pack of 6), the sandwiches were still insanely inexpensive compared to a deli. The extra rolls can be frozen for later.

I buy these big bags of shredded cheese then divide them up and freeze. It’s much less expensive than buying the 2 cup size bags. I buy an 8 oz. block of feta cheese and usually cut it into four pieces to easily measure out 2 oz. This time, I cut one of the squares in half once more, to make a one ounce square, which I then split between the two sandwiches.

Measure out a half cup of the shredded cheese, then divide it between the two sandwiches. Take a one ounce cube of the feta and crumble it over both sandwiches.

Divide the cooked spinach between the two sandwiches and add a pinch of red pepper flakes. Measure out another 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and add it to the tops of the sandwiches (I felt that one layer of feta was plenty, so I didn’t add more to the top).

Add both sandwiches to the skillet and turn the heat on to medium-low. I find that medium-low works best for grilled cheeses because it heats them slowly so that the inside has time to warm up and melt the cheese before the outside browns too much.

To “press” the sandwiches like a panini, take a big pot and add a few inches of water for weight. Place the pot directly on top of the sandwiches and press down. The weight from the pot full of water will flatten the sandwiches like a panini press and help the heat transfer through faster. Or, you could just use a George Foreman Grill (sandwiches are one of my favorite things to make on my George Foreman!). Cook for 5-7 minutes on each side or until the outside is crispy and the cheese is melted on the inside.

Cut the sandwiches in two so that all of the goodies come squishing out to greet you.

Excellent for dipping into marinara!

Source from: http://www.budgetbytes.com/2013/08/spinach-feta-grilled-cheese/