spinach and mushroom stuffed manicotti with vodka cream sauce

I got an invite to Erin's house for dinner, so naturally I ask what I can bring. I suggest that I bring over the box of 1/2 priced manicotti that I bought last week at the grocery store. The half price was $3.15. After I got off the phone with Erin, I decided I wanted to make vodka cream sauce. This is easy and I had almost all the stuff I needed.

Gather together:
vodka
2 tablespoons of butter
3 cloves of garlic--minced
1 small onion or 2 shallots--minced
1 large can of tomatoes- I pulsed a can of whole tomatoes in the blender
1 tablespoon of dried basil--if you have fresh basil, use it instead
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
salt & pepper
1 cup of heavy cream

Saute the garlic and shallots over medium heat until they are translucent. When those are done, add the vodka, tomatoes and stock. Allow this reduce down by at least half--this is going to take a while. Once that is reduced, add the seasonings and salt and pepper. Remove the sauce off the heat and slowly stir in the heavy cream. Add this to your favorite pasta or.....


Gather together:
1/2 lb of your favorite mushrooms:button, portabella, etc.--cleaned and sliced
1 frozen block of spinach--thawed and squeezed
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tub of ricotta cheese
1 package of manicotti noodles
mozzarella cheese--shredded

Make the noodles according to the package. In another pan, add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, then add the mushroom. When the mushrooms are 1/2 cooked, add the garlic and the spinach. Then the spinach is completely heated, remove the mixture from the pan in to a mixing bowl. Add the ricotta to the mushroom/spinach mixture. Start stuffing the mixture in to the noodles--it's best if you rinsed the noodles with cold water after they are cooked and sprinkle them with oil. Place the stuffed noodles in a casserole dish sprayed down with oil. Add the sauce and cover with cheese. Broil the pan until the cheese is brown and melty.



Serve this with awesome egg bread made by Erin.

Roasted Beet & Garlic cream sauce

Before I post the pictures, ignore the color. This dish is made with red beets and thus the sauce is going to be beet colored. So it is the color of magenta play-dough. It was good and low fat.

Gather together:

• 1-2 pounds of beets
• 1 garlic bulb
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• low fat cream cheese (cubed)
• 1/2 cup of fat free milk (see I told you it was low fat)
• favorite whole wheat pasta

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut off the top of the garlic, add olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap in foil. Cut off the tops and bottoms of beets. Spray with olive oil and salt and pepper. Wrap in foil, but put them in a pan. It's less messy this way. Let those roast in the oven for about 45 minutes or until soft.

Remove from oven. Place in to freezer for about 5 minutes--just so they are cool enough to handle. They they are cool, squeeze garlic from the bulb and peel the beats. Add Beets and garlic to a blender with the milk. Get that going until you have a smooth texture. Add more milk if needed. Next transfer to a sauce pan and add the cream cheese. Mix this until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with rosemary. Serve over your favorite pasta. Ignore the color.
This was really flavorful and pretty in a spring/play dough kind of way. This might be a way to get the kids to eat beets.