Crab Ricotta + Spinach Stuffed Shells

This recipe is my own spinach spin off of something similar I saw on the food network once. It is a baked pasta dish with a mild but yum flavor and stuffed with crab (for those of you into seafood). I used canned crab meat but if you enjoy the finer things in life, you can substitute that with any higher quality sea food you like. To make this vegetarian, just add in extra ricotta or additional cheese instead of crab.

You Will Need:

1. Two cups ricotta cheese

2. Two cups milk

3. Two tbs. butter

4. Two (generous) cups of fresh cut leaf or chopped spinach

5. Twelve oz. (2 cans) of lump or white crab meat

6. One cup shredded cheese blend -- I used a premixed bag of mozerella, provolone, parmesan, asiago, romano + fontina

7. Half a box (6-8 oz) of jumbo shells

8. One-two tsp. flour

9. Garlic powder -- to taste

10. Onion powder -- to taste

11. Salt + pepper -- to taste

First, boil a pot of water for your shells. You want to boil the shells al dente (around 7 minutes) so they're not mushy. You can add a bit of oil + salt so they don't stick + for flavor. While they're boiling, chop up your spinach.

Gently fold the spinach, ricotta and crab meat together in a bowl. Add salt + pepper to taste. When the shells are done, drain them and spread them out onto a lightly greased baking dish. Stuff equal parts ricotta mixture into each shell (will be about a tbs. per shell).

For the cream sauce, first heat the butter on medium heat and add in the flour for a thickener. When the flour cooks, sprinkle in some garlic + onion powder to boost the flavor. Then add in  the milk + cheese. Stir all together until uniform and creamy and remove from the heat.

Pour the cream sauce evenly over the stuffed shells and bake for 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. When done baking, all there's left to do is enjoy :)

- A + D

Yellow Coconut Curried Potato + Spinach (Vegan)

This recipe is vegan and yummy. It is also filling as is -- but if you prefer eating meat, you can easily add chicken or sea food on the side. I used cashew butter to add a nutty flavor. Peanut butter also works and gives an even richer nuttier flavor. You can leave out nut butters, too, in case of allergies.

You Will Need

1. One can coconut milk (around 13 oz)

2. Tbs cashew butter

3. Tsp curry powder (or to taste)

4. Half can of chickpeas

5. One medium/large potato -- cut up into small bites

6. Tsp minced garlic

7. Half cup of chopped spinach -- thawed + drained

8. About a quarter size wedge of medium white onion -- chopped

Drizzle veggie oil onto a hot frying pan on medium heat. Cook garlic until it starts turning golden.

Add in your chopped onions. Stir around for a few minutes until they soften (but don't caramelize them).

Throw in your chopped potatoes, spinach, and chickpeas. You may need to add a bit of oil or a bit of water to help cook the potatoes. Be sure your potatoes are cut up into small pieces so they cook with the rest of the ingredients. Stir around for a few minutes until everything cooks a bit.

Pour in coconut milk and add in the curry powder. Then, add in your cashew butter. This is going to thicken the curry a lot. Once everything is mixed, turn down the heat and let the ingredients simmer for a few minutes until potatoes are fully cooked. If the curry thickens too much, add in a bit of water and let simmer. Serve with rice or naan and enjoy!

- A + D

Sweet + Savory Stuffed Fried Plantains

Plantains are delicious. There are so many different ways to prep plantains--depending on what culture you're coming from, you probably have your own preference for how plantains "should" be. I (D) grew up eating extremely ripe, fried, gooey ones--so that is how I like to prepare them. Plantains are great just plain by themselves, but they are also easy to spruce up. Instead of having them plain, I decided to stuff them, going savory with one and sweet with the other. For the savory one, I used spinach filling (of course) and for the sweet dessert-like one, I used strawberry preserves + brie. Even though the sweet one was spinachless, it was also pretty good. Stuffed plantains are an interesting appetizer/finger food idea if you're having a gathering, and it's nice to offer both sweet and savory versions for different tastes!

You Will Need:

1. Large handful (1-2 cups) baby spinach

2. Softened brie cheese (which you can substitute with either cream cheese or mascarpone)

3. Pinch of minced garlic (less than 1/4 tsp. will do)

4. Juice of half a lemon

5. A couple of slices of butter

6. Two ripe plantains (the blacker, the better--even if the plantain is entirely black, it's still good)

7. About 1-2 tbs. strawberry preserves (or jelly/jam/preserves of choice)

First, peel your plantains. The easiest way to do this is to cut off the two ends, slice the peel down the entire banana and then just peel off in one piece. When peeled, slice the meat of the plantain down its entire length so that the plantain opens flat.

Oil your pan with a thick layer of light veggie oil (I used canola). Let heat on medium and fry plantains in hot oil for a few minutes on either side or until a crisp brown. If you like the plantains more crispy, leave them frying a bit longer until the surface blackens a bit.

For the savory spinach filling, add butter to a frying pan on medium heat. Add in the garlic and let cook until golden. Then add in the spinach leaves and lemon juice. Stir the leaves around until fully cooked + wilted.

When your spinach + plantains are done cooking, it's time to stuff! Open up the plantains so they are fairly flat. Top one with the spinach. For the sweet plantain, spread on a layer of brie cheese and then a layer of strawberry preserves over the brie. Fold over/close the plantains a bit (like a book) to keep in the stuffing. Once stuffed, cut up the plantains into small finger-food size pieces to serve.

And most importantly, enjoy!

- A + D

Spinach Guacamole

If you like guacamole, then you will like guacamole + spinach. Really, you can use whatever your favorite guac recipe may be and mix in as much spinach as you like. Here was our approach:

You Will Need:

1. Two ripe avocados--pitted

2. Half a lime

3. Small wedge of red onion--about a quarter to third a cup

4. A (generous) handful of spinach--one to two cups fresh leaves

5. A tbs. of salsa--we used an organic garlic salsa (this is cheating a bit since I didn't have tomatoes on hand)

6. Salt + pepper to taste

First, wilt your spinach leaves in a pan on medium heat until they are fully cooked and reduced. When the spinach is done cooking, take off the heat and let cool until the spinach reaches around room temperature.

Detroit Michigan Eastern Market: Good Spinach + Good Times

This weekend A and I visited Detroit's Eastern Market. It's worth visiting for a number of reasons -- but, because it's full of veggies + spinach is probably the number one reason. We didn't really go to buy a whole lot, we went more to just walk around and see what interesting things we would find. We found a lot.

The market (2934 Russell Street) is held every Saturday from 5am-5pm and there are over 250 vendors and 40,000 people that attend every week. You're bound to leave with something.

Mango + Sweet (Raw) Corn Spinach Salad w/ Citrus Honey Dressing

This salad is light and summery and a good dinner idea for days when you ate too much for lunch (like I did). The citrus dressing and mango make it sweet while the corn adds a subtle crunch and fresh raw veggie flavor. If you aren't a fan of mango then you can also use mandarin oranges.

The Powers of Spinach Powder

When I called Whole Foods to ask if they shelve spinach powder, the reply was "spinach what?" As is most people's response to any mention of spinach powder. Most people have never heard of spinach powder and most stores, like Whole Foods, don't even sell it. Which is a mistake.

Luckily, Spinach powder is fairly simple to make. There's one ingredient: Spinach. And two steps. One, dry the spinach in whichever way works best for you (air dry, bake on mild heat in oven, or use of dehumidifier). And two, mash up dried spinach into a powder (either with a mortar + pestle or food processor). I made a less-refined, chunkier spinach powder that turned out more like spinach flakes using a regular blender (above). 

Apple + Brie + Spinach on Bagel Thin

This sandwich is not a complicated one. Fruit + cheese always go well together. So we figured we'd put them together in a sandwich. To cut back on bread, I used bagel thins. You can use brie at room temperature if it's a softer brie. For less soft brie, you can warm in a toaster oven or even microwave for a bit.

Coconut Crusted Tilapia Spinach Arugula Salad w/ Ginger Dressing

If you eat seafood and love coconut and love ginger, than you will love this. This salad is kind of the lazy version -- but it doesn't taste lazy. I promise. It's lazy because I didn't make the ginger dressing from scratch, I just used a pre-made bottled dressing. And I didn't go all out when it came to making coconut crust for the tilapia, either. Normally, if making coconut crusted anything, you would use eggs or a beer batter to make a perfect crispy golden crust. I didn't really care too much about all of that -- I just wanted coconut. So that's what I did. I found that it browned quicker than it probably would have had I made the batter the all-out way. But as long as you keep it on low/medium heat, you'll be fine. If you use a prewashed spinach-arugula mix (like I did) then all the prepping involved is breading and frying the tilapia. Meaning this recipe is very easy.

Creamy Cheese Ravioli with Shrimp, Pesto + Spinach

Pasta is usually always delicious. And it's especially delicious with spinach. And spinach happens to be especially delicious with cheese. And this dish has all of those things. So as you can imagine, it is exceedingly good. Unless you don't like cheese or pasta (or spinach, but then you wouldn't be here).

The United States of Spinach

- A + D

Pink Eggs with Prosciutto And Spinach

These are not actually called pink eggs. But when you prep sunny side up eggs using a bit of steam, you get something in the middle of a fried egg and a poached egg. The the thin layer of egg white over the yolk appears a little pinkish. So when I was little, I always called these "pink eggs" and the name has stuck since!