Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Pasta

It was half day at kiddo's school today & all his classmates' parents decided to meet out at a local park for a picnic lunch and play date. The question was what should I pack for lunch that would be tempting enough to make him sit through the meal without distractions at the park. And I did not have much time to prepare anything. Had to prepare this meal along with dinner in a little over an hour as the rest of the day was jam packed with activities.

Pasta seemed like the best alternative - he loves it and if I used ready made pasta sauce and added some veggies it would satisfy my needs too. All the cheese would also make it filling.

I had bought some jumbo pasta shells with the idea of trying some stuffed pasta recipe. So, I decided to use those. Now came the question of stuffing. Used whatever cheese I could find in the refrigerator. I had some Parmesan cheese and a packet of shredded five cheese blend for pizza, so used both those. I also had some Creamy Swiss flavored Laughing Cow Cheese, so used that as well.

Now came the veggie part. Spinach seemed like the most suitable option, so that's what I used. The pasta sauce was some ready made tomato basil marinara sauce.

My son of course ate his limited portion size but I absolutely pigged out!

Preparation & Cooking: 50 minutes            Serves: 2
Ingredients:
Jumbo Pasta Shells - about 15 shells
Spinach - ½ cup, chopped fine
Basil - 2 tablespoons, chopped fine
Instant Mashed Potato Flakes - ¼ cup
Grated Cheese - ½ cup (I used a mix of Mozzarella, Parmesan, Somked Provolone, Asiago, White Cheddar & Romano)
Creamy Swiss Flavored Laughing Cow Cheese - 3 wedges
Sour Cream - 2 tablespoons
Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese - for topping off
Pasta Sauce (Marinara) - 1 & ½ cup
Nutmeg - a dash
Pepper -  to taste, freshly cracked
Salt - to taste
Oil/Cooking Spray - to grease the baking dish

Method:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius).

• Cook pasta in boiling water al dente (about 8-10 minutes approximately). Drain and set aside.

• In a bowl take the chopped spinach and basil, grated cheese, cheese wedges, sour cream, mashed potato flakes, nutmeg, pepper and salt to prepare the stuffing.

• Microwave this mixture for 2 minutes with about a tablespoon of water & mix  well.

• Grease an oven safe deep dish and fill it with about a cup of pasta sauce and keep it aside.

• Fill each pasta shell with the spinach & cheese stuffing

• Place the stuffed shells in the prepared dish.

• Ladle another quarter of a cup of pasta sauce over the pasta shells and then grate some parmesan cheese over it

• Bake it in the oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit (190 degrees Celsius) for about 35 minutes. Take it out of the oven once the cheese gets bubbly.

Serve hot...

Quick Creamy Orzo Risotto

My little one was home sick today. So, I wanted to make something quick for lunch, at the same time I wanted to make sure it was something he liked. Mac n cheese is a very popular choice with him but I was very particular about including vegetables in his meal. Then I thought of making risotto with orzo and vegetables.

Risotto is an Italian rice dish typically cooked with arborio rice and broth to a creamy consistency. After seeing N number of cooking shows and contests where the judges typically rip the participants to shreds over the perfection of cooking a risotto, I wasn't too keen on trying it. But I had also read somewhere that a shortcut option would be to use orzo instead.

Orzo is a pasta shaped like a large grain of rice. And pasta out of a box is definitely easy to cook :) Can't really mess that! So, orzo pasta it was.

Now came the vegetables part. I would have loved to roast some spring vegetables and proceed from that, but this week has pretty much been making do with a thread bare refrigerator since I haven't had the chance to do my weekly grocery shopping! But a foray into the freezer revealed half a packet of frozen Italian vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, beans and zucchini) and my requirement was complete!

Preparation & Cooking - 15 minutes            Serves - 2
Ingredients:
Orzo - 1 cup
Mixed vegetables - ½ cup, diced chunky
Vegetable Stock - 1qt
Mixed Dried Herbs - 2 teaspoons (I used Parsley, Basil, Oregano, Thyme & Rosemary, you could use Italian Seasoning mix instead)
Fresh Cracked Pepper - 1 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Heavy Cream - ½ cup
Parmesan Cheese - ¼ cup, grated

Method:

• Microwave the vegetables for 3-4 minutes and set aside.
• Simultaneously, bring the vegetable stock to a boil.

• Add the orzo, cooked vegetables and the stock and let it all cook for 10-11 minutes (that's usually enough to cook the orzo al dente and the vegetables will be done too as they were previously microwaved.

• Switch off the flame. Add freshly cracked pepper and a little salt if required. Add the cream and the grated Parmesan cheese. Let it all melt and thicken in the heat of the cooked risotto.

Rich creamy orzo risotto is ready! Serve immediately.