Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Spinach

Last month when I was browsing Margaret's blog for recipes to make for the Secret Recipe Club I realized that she not only loves her tea and scones but she love her shrimp and pasta!  My kind of girl :)  When I saw that she had made this Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Spinach for the Cooking Ellie group I knew then and there I would be making that dish..

I have been in a blogging slump again.  Mostly because believe it or not, we just aren't eating anything new that I want to post about.  We have been following the guidlines for Grumpy's diabetic diet pretty faithfully which has cut a lot of high carb and baked goods out of our life.  Instead we are having protien smoothies and lots of fresh fruit and veggies throughout the day and for dinner usually a quick and easy throw together meal and several of them ones that I have posted here throughout the years such as the Red & White Cauliflower Bake which Grumpy devours like crazy and I think its funny because its a tofu dish!  Because we are both pasta lovers it is hard to not make at least a couple meals a week with pasta so I decided to make them as healthy as I possibly could and I have been using the Dreamfields pasta.

This dish was full of flavor and I will definitely keep it on my list of shrimp/pasta dishes to make.  I love that its healthy and delicious!


I am submitting this post to Presto Pasta Nights being hosted this week by Stash of Simple Kitchen Seasons.  You still have time to submit if you want to join in.  Just visit the PPN website for the submission guidelines.  Make sure to visit his website tomorrow for the round up of yummy pasta dishes made this last week for this event!

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Shrimp Fra Diavolo

by May-31-2012

slightly adapted from Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb Pasta of your choice
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 medium onion onion, diced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3 cups baby spinach

Instructions

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the pasta and cook until al dente and according to the directions on the package.

While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook, stiffing, for 1 additional minute.  Add the tomatoes, wine, tomato paste, the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper, and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, 8 to 10 minutes.  Add the shrimp and spinach and cook, stirring, until the shrimp is just cooked through, about 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat.  Add the drained cooked pasta to the sauce and toss until well combined.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 4 servings

Berried Cheesecake Cups

I haven't made a dessert in quite some time now.  Grumpy has been doing fairly well sticking to the The Low-Carb diet he needs to stick to and I've been following suit.  It hasn't been all that hard and I really haven't been craving sweets....much.


I came across some cheesecake cups in a Woman's World Magazine, but they called for a crust and they were no-bake.  I really love cheesecake but I don't care for the crust and I would rather have mine baked.  But I took that idea and decided to make it a better cheesecake (in my opinion) and bake mini cheesecake cups.  I didn't want a lot around the house so I made a small batch of 6 cups.  These fit the bill, killed my craving for a baked cheesecake, and didn't kill Grumpy's low carb diet!

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Berried Cheesecake Cups

by Shelby Law Ruttan May-29-2012

Mini Baked cheesecakes that form a cup after cooled - perfect for a fruit filling!

Ingredients

• 1/3 less fat cream cheese 8 ounces (1 package)
• 1/4 cup Splenda
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup non fat yogurt
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place cupcake wrappers in a Circulon 12-Cup Muffin Pan filling 6 muffin cups.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer on medium speed, mix cream cheese and sugars until creamy.  Add egg and almond extract and mix well.  Blend in yogurt until mixture is smooth.

Divide mixture among the cupcake liners.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.  Once cooled place in refrigerator to continue setting at least 3 hours.

To serve, remove wrappers and top with fruit. Notes:  it is very important to let these cheesecakes set for at least 3 hours in the fridge.  It would be best to let them set overnight.  

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 35 mins Yield: 6


Nutrition information:
1 cup = 1 serving
Calories 109
Fat 5.3 grams
Carbohydrates 11.3 grams
Sodium 126.4 mg
Fiber 0 grams
Protien 4 grams

Baked Ziti - Cook This! Not That!

Grumpy was very skeptical when I made this dish.  He's the kind of guy that if there is any "watery-ness" to his pasta sauce, then he wants nothing to do with it.  So, needless to say, for the most part, the only sauce he will eat and not complain about is Prego.  He doesn't care for homemade sauce in any way because he swears its watery.  I don't know what he's talking about by the way - I don't think my sauce is watery!  When we went grocery shopping (and normally he does NOT go with me) he told me to get a good spaghetti sauce for the baked ziti.  Well, he was none too happy when I told him I was making the sauce and not buying pre-made.  His words were - it better not be watery!  For the record, I used Hunts tomato sauce (not the spaghetti sauce) and it was not watery.

This turned out delicious and so flavorful!  Grumpy?  He even went back for seconds and as he got up to get his seconds, he said, make sure you tell your "blog people" (don't you just love it?  ha ha) that I went back for seconds.  Sounds to me like it passed the "Grumpy test", what do you think?

 

This is my submission Presto Pasta Nights for this week.  Rachel (a fellow NY'er and local to me!) of The Crispy Cook is hosting this week.  (BTW, we are so close we should really have a meet up Rachel!)  Make sure to check out her blog on Friday for the round up!

So for the calorie comparison facts:  This recipe was compared to Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti al Forno which comes in at a whopping 1050 calories, 48 grams of fat, and 2,370 mg of sodium!  By following the Cook This! Not That! recipe, you come out with 410 calories, 12 grams of fat, and 600 mg of sodium.  So, not only is the nutritional counts better for you but its quick and easy to make and Grumpy loved it.  This one's a definite keeper!

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Cook This! Baked Ziti

by May-22-2012

a recipe compared to Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti al Forno in Cook This! Not That! Cookbook

Ingredients

• 10 oz ziti
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• pre-cooked chicken or turkey sausage 2 links
• medium onion, diced 1
• garlic, minced 2 cloves
• red pepper flakes 1 tsp
• (1 can) tomato puree 28 ounces
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh basil leaves 1 cup
• cubed mozzarella 3/4 cup
• parmesan for grating

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta until a minute shy of being done.  In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add sausage and cook for about 2 minutes or until lightly browned.  Add the onion, garlic, and pepper flakes and cook until the onion is soft and translucent.  Stir in tomato puree, plus a good pinch of salt and pepper.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.Drain the pasta.  Add to the skillet and toss with the sauce.  Remove from the heat and stir in the basil and mozzarella.  Place in a 12x9 baking dish and sprinkle the top with parmesan cheese and cover with foil  Bake 15 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, until the top is crusty and browned.  Garnish with basil leaves.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 25 mins Total time: 40 mins Yield: 4 servings