Ravioli with Creamy Curried Spinach Sauce

I worked with a woman several years ago from Europe and she cooked wonderful, interesting foods. This dish is one she shared with me and has been a favorite ever since. It sounds weird, but tastes delicious! My hubby does not like curry at all, but he really likes this dish. He also dislikes cream cheese, I mean really hates the stuff, but seems to like it in this recipe. This dish cooks up quickly, so it is a good one for a busy night.

Ravioli with Creamy Curried Spinach Sauce

1 family size package cheese ravioli

2 X 10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

4 oz reduced fat cream cheese

1 can coconut milk (reduced fat works well too)

2 tsp veggie bullion

1 TBS curry powder

1/3 cup chopped green onions

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Salt to taste

1. Cook ravioli, drain

2. Add coconut milk, curry and bullion to a sauce pan. Heat over medium heat until simmering. Add cream cheese and stir until melted. Add cooked spinach and keep warm.

3. Pour sauce over the pasta, gently stir to combine.

4. Serve and sprinkle with green onions and peanuts.

Tortellini Summer Salad

This recipe captures summer time at it's freshest. The past 90 degree weather got me in the summer time mood a little early, but it was still tasty. My sister in law made this years ago and I had to get the recipe from her. Simple and Delicious. If you can wait until summer is actually here, the flavors will be even fresher. Even better, visit your local farmers market for most of the ingredients!

I love the smell of fresh basil and lemon! This dish not only looks pretty, but fills the kitchen with the aroma of summer time!

I served this tonight with a side of peas, Italian flavored tofu and dinner bread.

Tortellini Summer Salad

Family size cheese tortellini

11 oz can corn

1 TBS grated lemon peel

1/8 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup fresh chopped basil

1 cup chopped tomato

salt/pepper

1. Cook tortellini, rinse with cold water

2. Mix together lemon juice and olive oil

3. Mix together remaining ingredients, add tortellini and lemon juice mixture. Salt/ pepper to taste. Gently stir to combine.

Arugula and Pear Salad with Toasted Walnuts

Have I mentioned before how much I love arugula? Really, it is a fabulous green, full of peppery flavor, good enough to eat alone. Any salad made with arugula is one to try, and this one is particularly tasty. If you can get to a local farmers market for locally grown arugula definitely make the effort as the flavor will be really fresh and intense.

Arugula and Pear Salad with Toasted Walnuts (May 2009 Cooking Light)

1 TBS minced shallots

2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp white wine vinegar

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp Dijon mustard

1/8 tsp black pepper

6 cups baby arugula leaves

2 Bosc pears, thinly sliced

1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, stir with a whisk.

2. Add arugula and pears to bowl. Toss to coat. Sprinkle with walnuts.

Tofurky Sausage Stuffed Manicotte

Have you ever tried Tofuky brand Italian sausage? If not, now is your chance to buy it, cook with it and enjoy it's flavor. You can find Tofurky sausage with the other veggie deli style products, usually in the refrigerated section with the tofu and temphe.

This dish was pretty easy, other than the stuffing of the shells, and really tasty! Definitely a keeper. I liked using jarred pasta sauce, which surprised me, because usually this kind of recipe calls to make your own. The jarred sauce worked out just fine. I did modify the recipe a little bit by adding ricotta cheese, oh, and of course using fake sausage. Took a prep picture, but forgot to take one of the final dish!

Tofurky Sausage Stuffed Manicotte (modified from Cooking Light 2009)

10 uncooked manicotti (I cooked more knowing some would split and tear)

1 package Tofurky Italian sausage, chopped

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

2 TBS butter

2 TBS all-purpose flour

2 cups low-fat milk

1/8 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded Italian cheese

2 cups (1 jar) of tomato-basil sauce (Newman's Own worked great)

1/2 cups Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Cook pasta according to package.

2. Heat a large skillet over med-high heat. Add small amount of olive oil and saute onion for a couple minutes. Add veggie sausage and bell pepper. Cook until sausage begins to brown.

3. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour, cooking a minute, stirring constantly with a whisk. Remove from heat and slowly add milk, stirring with whisk. Return to heat and bring to a boil over med-high heat, always stirring. Cook about 5 more minutes until thickened. Add black pepper. Remove from heat.

4. Preheat oven to 350.

5. Add about 1/2 cup milk mixture and 1 cup ricotta cheese to the sausage mixture. Stir well.

6. Spoon sausage mixture into the manicotti shells. Arrange shells in a single layer in a 13 X 9 inch baking dish coated with oil or cooking spray.

7. Pour pasta sauce over manicotti and sprinkle with cheeses.

8. Cook 35 minutes until browned and bubbly. Yummy!!!

Ficken and Rice with Cilantro-Poblano Sauce

This was offered in Cooking Light June 2008 as a reader recipe. The woman that developed it said it is easy to prepare and can be made any night of the week. Hmmm, I am not so sure about the easy description. While there was nothing complicated, there were many different steps and pans involved, which made it longer to prepare and clean up than an "easy" meal should. But, it was yummy and I consolidated some of the steps to cut down on after dinner dishes.

The grocery store was sold out of Poblano peppers, so I ended up using two different kinds - a red one and light green one- in place of the Poblano. It worked out nicely, so if you can't find that particular pepper, just choose some other moderate/mild temperature pepper instead.

I did not have enough wild rice, so I ended up using wild rice, forbidden rice and brown rice. Worked great, although the deep color of the forbidden rice turned the mushrooms purple!

Chicken and Rice with Cilantro-Poblano Sauce

3/4 cup chopped green onions, divided

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/4 tsp black pepper, divided

14 oz veggie broth, divided

1 poblano chili, seeded and chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

olive oil

1 large package white mushrooms, sliced

1 cup uncooked long grain rice

1/2 cup water

1 tsp ground cumin

2 TBS fresh parsley, chopped

1 TBS butter

1 pkg of quorn naked patties, slightly thawed and cut into strips

3/4 cups grape or cherry tomatoes

1 avocado, chopped

1. Combine 1/4 cup green onions, cilantro, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper, 1/2 cup broth, chili and 1 garlic clove in a food processor. Process until smooth.

2. Heat 1 TBS oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add mushrooms to pan and saute until softened. Add garlic clove to pan and cook another couple minutes. Add cilantro mixture, remaining 1 1/4 cup broth, rice, 1/2 cup water and cumin to skillet. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, 25 minutes. Add parsley, remove from heat.

3. Heat small amount of olive oil in different skillet over med-high heat. Sprinkle small amount of salt/pepper and 1/2 tsp cumin in the pan. Add ficken. Cook until browned and heated through. Remove from the skillet.

4. Add small amount of olive oil to the same skillet the ficken was just cooked in. Add 1/4 cup green onions and tomatoes. Saute 2 minutes. Add ficken back to skillet.

5. Finally-arrange rice on a plate, top with ficken and tomatoes, then some avocado. Yummy!!!

Ficken and Feta Tabbouleh

This is a nice dish for a warm spring evening, exactly like the one last week when I served this for dinner. I was lucky to have tomatoes, cucumbers, mint and green onions from the farmers market to use in this recipe which made it even better. I served it with a side of toasted pita bread.

Ficken and Feta Tabbouleh (modified from April 2009 Cooking Light)

3/4 cup uncooked bulgur

1 cup boiling broth

1 pkg (4 patties) naked quorn patties

lemon pepper seasoning

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 cucumber, chopped

3/4 cup chopped fresh parsely

1/2 cup feta cheese crumbled

1/3 cup finely chopped green onions

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint

2 TBS lemon juice

1 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp black pepper

1. Place bulgar in a medium bowl. Cover with 1 cup boiling broth and let stand 15 minutes until liquid is absorbed.

2. Heat small amount of oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Add 1/2 tsp of lemon-pepper seasoning and garlic. Add quorn patties and cook until brown on both sides. Cut into cubes.

3. Combine ficken and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Add bulgur to ficken mixture. Toss gently to combine.

Asparagus, Green Onion and Goat Cheese Quiche

Alright, if you like asparagus this is the quiche for you. Jason and I visited the farmers market last weekend and found delicious local produce and goat cheese perfect for this dish. There was no local asparagus, but we did find green onions and goat cheese which were used for this dish. I can not say enough about how fabulous this quiche is. Really, this is the best quiche yet!!!

I did make a couple minor changes from the printed recipe - I used a pre-made pie crust rather than fixin' up my own and I added a small amount of white cheddar cheese.

I served this with a side of temphe and corn.

Asparagus, Green Onion and Goat Cheese Quiche (modified from April 2009 Cooking Light)

1 pre-made roll out style pie crust

2 TBS butter

1 bunch fresh asparagus, chopped into 1 inch chunks (hard base stem removed)

1/4 tsp salt, divided

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup sliced green onions

4 oz. soft goat cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup white cheddar cheese (Cabot brand is tasty)

4 large eggs

3/4 cup 2 % milk

dash of ground nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 425

2. Press the pie crust into a glass pie dish.

3. Melt the butter in a skillet over med-high heat. Add asparagus, 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Saute about 5 - 8 minutes until crisp-tender. Do not over cook!!

4. Add onions and saute 2 more minutes until asparagus just begins to brown. Remove from heat.

3. Spoon asparagus into the pie dish in an even layer. Arrange goat cheese and cheddar in an even layer over asparagus.

4. Combine eggs and milk and remaining salt/pepper and nutmeg. Stir with whisk. Pour into the pie dish.

5. Bake 30 minutes until set in the center.