Friday, April 27, 2012

3 cheese spinach orzo bake

Loving that my ipad is letting me post. You may see me post more regularly now. :)   And then again, maybe not.  It isn't letting me publish a draft, and it doesn't even publish line breaks.  Boo.  Ah well, at least the computer is set up again.  :)
Here is our dinner from Wednesday. Also from 6 o'clock scramble. It was so pretty coming out of the oven. My older boys loved this. The younger ones ate it without too much complaint - except for the spinach - OK; maybe that was only Mr. 6 year old. Mr. 3 year old is still pretty picky, but did eat his 3 bites. This recipe is also from six o'clock scramble. It actually called for 1 1/2 cups of red pasta sauce. I made up my own thing which is listed here. Feel free to use pasta sauce to make the meal easier if you would like.
 Prep time - 20 minutes cooking time -30 minutes - oven
servings 6-8 (depending on size. I cut it in 8 slices, little guys got 1/2 a slice, bigger guys got 1 1/2 slices, mom and dad had 1 slice. -2 slices left over for lunch.)

 Ingredients
  •  1 cup uncooked orzo pasta 
  • 1 box (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach 
  • 1 1/2 cup red pasta sauce or 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes with a dash or the following - balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. It's super quick if you are not measuring and just tossing in a dash of everything. Stir and use.
  •  2 eggs, lightly beaten 
  • 1/2 cup ricotta cheese 
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 
  • 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (or so. I'm sure I put more. ;)  
Directions.

  1. Cook orzo according to package directions.
  2. Preheat oven to 375.  Spray a 9 inch glass pie pan with nonstick cooking spray (mine was a deeper dish type and I would suggest that type.
  3. Thaw spinach in the microwave (about 4 minutes on high) drain.
  4. Make red sauce if combining crushed tomatoes with other ingredients listed above.  
  5. In a medium bowl, combine the orzo, 1 cup of the red sauce, and the Parmesan cheese.  Spread over the bottom of the pie pan.
  6. In another bowl (or the same bowl rinsed out) combine the spinach, eggs, ricotta and nutmeg.  Spoon over the pasta and spread evenly.  Spread remaining red sauce over spinach mixture and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
  7. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.

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