butternut squash noodles with spinach, ricotta, and toasted pecans

I've made a lot of zoodles (zucchini noodles) recently.  With pasta being my first love--sorry David, I am always looking for ways to make similar dishes no carb!  I absolutely love my Paderno Spiral Veggie Slicer.  I mean seriously!  And they are on sale right now, so it is the perfect time to get yourself one if veggie noodles interest you!  

I got the idea to spiral a butternut squash the other day.  I've been wanting to try something other than zucchini for awhile... and I'm REALLY glad I did!  I was trying to think of fall flavors to incorporate in my dish.  I have never made up a dish before, so I was really nervous.  I even had a back up dinner ready to go if it failed miserably!

Fortunately, that back up dinner did not get made.  The butternut squash noodles turned out to be amazing.  All of my flavors came together so well.  It felt like fall melting in my mouth!

This is a easy to make recipe that I know you will love.  I get hungry all over again thinking about it!  It would also be good with regular pasta!

Butternut Squash Noodles with Spinach, Ricotta, and Toasted Pecans

Serves 4

1 large butternut squash

1 package of frozen leaf spinach

1 2.25 oz package of pecans

4 tbsp low fat ricotta cheese

1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

2 large chicken breasts

2 tsp minced garlic

Olive oil

Garlic salt

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Spiral butternut squash.

Toss pecans on greased sheet pan and toast them for 5 minutes.  Then, set aside.

Season chicken breasts with garlic salt and pepper.  Cook in skillet for 10 minutes, or until done.

Cook spinach as package instructs.  

While chicken and spinach cook, heat up olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper in large skillet until fragrant.  About 2-3 minutes.  Be careful not to let the garlic burn.  Then toss in the butternut squash noodles.  Cook until tender.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked spinach, squash noodles, and toasted pecans.  Lastly, stir in ricotta and parmesan cheese.  Once everything has melted, serve it up with sliced chicken on top!  

And enjoy!

If you try it, let me know what you think!

After dinner we finally got around to carving our pumpkin.  Isn't he a cutie?

spinach stuffed portobello mushrooms

Today, my 3rd period class (of upperclassmen) decided to play a trick on my 4th period class (of underclassmen).  They turned the desks upside down.  It was truly hilarious.  They continually play pranks on my 4th period, and I get just as much joy out of it as they do!

After being under-the-weather last week, and only feeding David soup, I decided it was time to get back to cooking.  I went to Aldi yesterday, and very randomly grabbed a pack of two portobello mushrooms.  I brainstormed all day about what to do with them.  I desperately wanted to incorporate some tomatoes into our dinner.  I came up with something so delicious.  And I think there are so many other possibilities for the future!

Spinach Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

2 large portobello mushrooms

1 package of frozen spinach

1 large tomato

1/3 cup 0% Fage greek yogurt

1/2 tbsp minced garlic (or 4 garlic cloves)

1/4 garlic powder

1 tbsp parmesan

Mozzarella to top

Salt to taste

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cook spinach as package directs and add in minced garlic.

Once it cooks down, drain, and pat out water.  Mix the spinach, greek yogurt, garlic powder, parmesan, and salt.  Place the spinach mixture inside of the mushrooms.

Thinly slice the tomato and lay a few slices on top of the spinach.

Cover with mozzarella and bake for 20 minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy :)

Let me know what you think!  Do you stuff portobello mushrooms?  

smothered spinach chicken

Pre-planning is in full swing and I've been staying up late trying to get everything ready.  I always feel extremely overwhelmed this time of year.  There is so much to get done before the first day! But me and Hazel have still found a little bit of time to get in our FRIENDS for the day ;)

As I have mentioned before, I love 90s music.  It's one of the things that really keeps me going during this time of decorating and rearranging my classroom, creating new lesson plans, pacing guides, syllabi,  common core curriculum and much much more.  So when I arrive in the morning, I immediately put on my playlist and get busy.  

Yesterday morning, one of my favorite 90s songs came on.  I was filling out my desk calendar, singing/rapping EVERY word, and dancing.  I was really not expecting anyone, however my principal was going around the school greeting everyone and stood in my doorway silently watching me as I jammed to Gangsta's Paradise.  Embarrassing. But he thought it was hilarious.

One of the other things that helps me get through this stressful time is cooking.  It's been a long time since I cooked for just David and I, and we both wanted to stay in.  Of course the first place I looked for a recipe was Pinterest.  I was drawn to something called Smothered Chicken.  It sounded great, but not healthy or easy to make! So many ingredients!  I thought I might be able to make a easier, faster, and healthier version.  It turned out great! Husband approved!

Smothered Spinach Chicken

4 chicken breasts

Garlic salt

Seasoned salt

1 package of frozen chopped spinach

1 package of frozen mushrooms

1 tsp minced garlic

2 tbsp 0% Fage greek yogurt

Mozzarella cheese

Chicken:

Preheat to 350.

Cover chicken breasts in garlic salt and seasoned salt.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Smothering:

You will need two skillets.

In one, put a dash of water and the spinach.  Begin cooking and add minced garlic. Cook down.

In the other skillet, put a dash of olive oil and the mushrooms. Cook down.

Once mushrooms have cooked, drain excess water and add to the spinach over low heat.

Add Fage yogurt and fold together.

Once your chicken is cooked, add "smothering" on top.  Then add as much mozzarella as you would like.  It will melt from the heat!  The "smothering" would also be good as a side!

ENJOY!

spinach and parm baked eggs

In my last post, I detailed our wonderful trip to Savannah, including the yummy breakfasts we ate at the President's Quarters Inn.  But what I didn't mention was what some of those breakfasts included.  Ever since our last morning there, I have been trying to recreate (with my own twist) their baked eggs dish.  

Now lets get real...up until this point in my life I have only liked eggs cooked one way...

scrambled with cheese.

However, I'm almost always open to trying new things and I went for it.  I ordered baked eggs.

And I was genuinely surprised at how much I loved it!

When I got to my mama's house, I located a couple ramekins the first morning and tried to recreate the wonderful breakfast I ate at the inn.  First try was a fail.  My mama ate the other one and pretended to like it, but we talked about some changes I could make to create something better.  That's how I made what you see in the picture above!  The best part is that the spinach and mushroom I used could be substituted with anything, including breakfast meats!  I promise you won't regret eating this yummy egg dish!

Spinach and Parm Baked Eggs

Serving Size: 2

4 eggs (separated)

Half a bag of fresh spinach

Handful of chopped mushrooms

2 tbsp of parmesan cheese (halved)

3 tbsp 0% Fage Plain Yogurt (halved)

1 tbsp water

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.

Put 1 tbsp water, spinach, and chopped mushrooms into skillet and cook down.  This usually takes about 10 minutes.  While they are cooking separate 4 eggs into two bowls. Yolks in one (stir together) and whites in the other.  Add some salt and pepper to the egg whites and stir.

Then put 1 tbsp of parm and 1 1/2 tbsp yogurt into each ramekin.  Mix together.

When spinach and mushrooms are ready put an equal amount into each ramekin and mix together with yogurt and parm.  Cover the bottom of the dish with mixture.

Put half of the eggs whites over each dish.  Then drop in a little bit of the yolk.  We are not big on the yolk, so I just added what I felt like the yolk of one eggs was to each dish.  Feel free to add more if you wish.  Below is a picture of what mine looked like before going in the oven!

Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until it is puffy and solid on top.

I have been known to open it halfway through cooking and add a little parm to the top too.

What can I say, I like cheese!

Again, these could be made with any type of cheese, bacon, ham, or breakfast sausage.

They are truly so easy!

Let me know if you try it or make changes, I would love to know!