Creamy Pasta & Spinach Recipe

As we try to eat less and less meat it gets harder and harder to come up with new recipes that not only taste good but that require less processed foods regardless if they’re organic or not. I’ve made it a goal to not buy any packaged (canned, boxed, jarred) or processed food unless it’s absolutely necessary or unless it isn’t too bad (if it doesn’t have too much crap or ingredients in it) for us.

I realized it’s extremely difficult to eat simple. Everything seems to have a buncha junk in it, I find it extremely annoying cause not only do I spend more time at the supermarket reading labels but then I have to come up with something else. Thank God for Ryan’s patience and not minding my experiments ;)

After having some of the trout we caught in our Honeymoon and having enough of this and that, I really didn’t wanna go shopping for food again–just wanted to use what we had in the fridge which wasn’t much. So I looked for some Vegetarian recipes and, well, that was it. I tweaked it just a bit and it came out pretty good for the first time–plus, Ryan loved it :) AND It was good left over food…DOUBLE PLUS.

Items marked with the asterisk (*) have been modified or added from original recipe.

Original recipe here.

INGREDIENTS:

several cloves garlic, minced
1/2  medium onion, chopped*
1/3 of a red pepper chopped*
2-3 cups of sliced baby Portabella mushrooms*
3-4 tablespoons of organic extra virgin olive oil
5-6 tablespoons of whole wheat flour*
2 cups organic whole milk*
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese*
1.5 cup organic vegetable broth
salt & pepper to taste
3-4 cups of fresh organic baby spinach*
3-4 cups of organic whole grain Penne pasta*

DIRECTIONS (mostly from original recipe):

In a pot, cook pasta according to box directions. Do not overcook, I cooked mine 2 minutes under instructions so it’s not over cooked in the over later. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small pot, saute garlic, onion & pepper in olive oil until softened.  Sprinkle flour & stir until mixture is pasty.

Add milk & broth.  Cook, stirring, at a low boil until sauce thickens.

Season with salt & pepper.  Lower heat & add mushrooms. Let it thicken a little more on low heat.

Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to baking pan & spread (I used a glass baking pan).Add pasta and on top, add spinach.

Pour the sauce over trying to cover the top. Sprinkle the cheese on top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes depending on how you like the cheese, I like mine a little brown :)

Makes: 6-8 servings

Next time I’ll add more veggies  like broccoli, carrots, peas, etc.

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