Meatless Monday: Spinach Mushroom Pasta

In a previous Meatless Monday post, I extolled the virtues of a great searchable recipe database. I mentioned a few ways you could use the search features, but I failed to mention one way that can be a real life-, er, meal-saver - you can search by ingredients you have in the kitchen and see what comes up.

The other day, I didn't have time to run out to the grocery store and the dinner hour was fast approaching. So, I took a peek in the fridge and saw that I had some spinach and mushrooms on-hand. I thought they might be good together in a pasta dish, but I wanted to venture out a bit and not fall back on my usual preparation methods (a little evoo and garlic). So, I went to the search engine and ran an 'enhanced recipe search.' I typed 'spinach' in the search window and then chose 'pasta' under 'main ingredients,' 'main dishes' under 'courses,' 'quick/easy' under 'conveniences' (figuring quick/easy would also mean less ingredients), and 'meatless' under 'dietary considerations.' After pulling up the results for that search, I typed 'mushroom' in the 'search within these results' window and VOILA! This recipe and 5 others came up. I scanned them quickly to check ingredients and preparation requirements and this one looked perfect . . .

Spinach Mushroom Pasta
Recipe

One substitution that I made, that I would recommend, was swapping out the cream cheese for Neufchâtel. Used for centuries in Europe, the American version can be found pretty easily in most U.S. grocery stores nowadays. It's substantially lower in fat and, because it's softer in consistency, it's also easier to work into a sauce.

Another good substitution recommendation would be to swap out the spinach for kale. If you do though, keep in mind that you'll want to add the kale to the sauté pan with the mushrooms earlier than you would spinach because it takes longer to wilt.

As with most recipes, this one instructs you to "season to taste with salt and pepper." I would advise not being shy in seasoning - a fair amount of salt will really bring out the flavors of the vegetables, and a generous sprinkling of fresh cracked pepper will balance the creaminess of the sauce with a nice little kick.

Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

Other Meatless Monday posts

Meatless Monday: Spaghetti Squash with Edamame-Cilantro Pesto

In my house, this next dish is one of our go-to comfort foods.










Spaghetti Squash with Edamame-Cilantro Pesto
Recipe

We skip the cilantro. (As I've mentioned before, I'm not a fan.) The dish doesn't miss anything without it, but you can substitute parsley if you really want. You can fiddle around with the ratios of vegetable broth, pepper, and garlic to find the combination that suits you best. I tend to like dishes more garlicky than most, and although I usually go light on pepper in most dishes, I like a lot of it in this one.We also use a food processor to get the pesto consistency really smooth.

The instructions advise preparing the squash halves a day or two before because it's easier to remove the flesh when it's cold. It really is so much easier to do when cold, so I highly recommend doing that part early. Doesn't need to be a day or two ahead though; doing it a few hours ahead and refrigerating works just as well. The way the spaghetti squash flesh really does looks like spaghetti is just so fun.

We typically run out of spaghetti squash before we run out of pesto. But that's okay because you can, of course, put it on regular ol' spaghetti too. We've also used it as a dip. And, on a whim, I even tried it as a sandwich spread the other day and LOVED it. Sooo versatile.

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

Other Meatless Monday Posts