recipe of the week: spinach tortellini soup (slow cooker!)

spinach tortellini soup (in the crockpot!)

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups vegetable broth

3 cups water

6 oz raw mushrooms, washed and sliced (i use the wild mushroom blend from whole foods)

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon cayenne peper

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

freshly ground black pepper

2 cups cheese tortellini

4 cups fresh spinach leaves, torn

1 cup skim milk

1 cup whipping cream

fresh parmesan cheese to top

begin by stirring together in a crock pot the vegetable broth, butter, water, flour, mushroom, onion, garlic and spices.

 cover and cook on low from 6-8 hours

 add torn spinach leaves

 and tortellini.  stir together and cook for another 30 minutes or so

 add milk and whipping cream

 cook on low for another 20-30 minutes

 and enjoy!

 top with parmesan cheese if you wish. (we wish :-)

*adapted to eliminate pre-packaged mixes and to fit our tastes from this recipe

recipe of the week: spanakopita quiche

spanakopita quiche

 

here’s the problem with this quiche. i usually just toss stuff in. so all measurements here are approximate, mmmkay?

here's our favorite (at the moment) quiche :-)

sprinkle of powdered (non-flavored) coffee creamer

olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 large handfuls of spinach leaves (this is approximately 4 cups loosely packed. i think. it'll come out to be about 1.5-2 cups when processed)

3 eggs

1 cup feta cheese (preferably with mediterranean herbs)

1 cup mozzarella

1 cup whipping cream

nutmeg, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste

1 deep dish pie crust

secret to an awesome crust? poke holes in the bottom of your crust with a fork and sprinkle coffee creamer powder on it.  pop in the oven for 5-10 minutes. 

 meanwhile...

 heat oil on stove and saute onions for about 3 minutes.

throw spinach in the food processor and process into chopped spinach

mix with onions, add the spices, and saute until the spinach cooks down a bit. 3-5 minutes should do it.

 whisk eggs and then add cheeses.  

pour in the spinach-onion mixture and mix together.  

 pour entire mixture into pie crust.

 make whipped cream out of the whipping cream. once it’s ready, fold VERY carefully into the rest of the quiche.  you don’t want to mix too much just because the creaminess of the whipped cream is very important to the texture of this quiche.

 bake at 350 for as long as it takes…usually between 45 minutes to an hour.  you can tell it’s done with a toothpick comes out clean :-)

 enjoy!