Creamy Spinach and Pasta and You CAN Work Out!

Hi everyone!
What a week!  TWO Parents Who Rock concerts to organize and perform in, the start of school for four kids, a night time special needs meeting, a back to school meeting and I still had to cook dinner!
What I should have talked about on the Today Show last month (Oh, didn’t you know I was on the Today Show????) was how quick and easy pasta can be if you add the right ingredients from your freezer, fridge and pantry.
You don’t need to be a gourmet chef to cook like one. You just need to be busy and smart 🙂
I hope you enjoy this delightfully delicious recipe I created and that you look below the recipe to see about some easy ways to stay fit AND give back even while you are busy.
Have a great week!
Quick Creamy Spinach and Pasta
Serves 2-3
1/3 lb  pasta-preferably angel hair
1  1/2 cups frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 minced garlic cloves
pinch of nutmeg (optional)
A few TBS sliced, toasted almonds and crushed red pepper to taste to finish off the dish
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for cooking
Steps:
1)  Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until tender while making the following spinach mixture below
2)  In a frying pan, heat up 1 tsp olive oil and add thawed, drained spinach. Saute until heated through
3)  Push spinach to the side and cook 2 minced garlic cloves in a little olive oil until translucent
4)  Add in 1/4 cup heavy cream and stir everything together. Add pinch of nutmeg if you are using it
5)  Add spinach mixture to the cooked pasta and top with sliced almonds and crushed red pepper. Salt and pepper to taste

If you are a Montclair local:

ZUMBA® Madness! ZUMBA® for Strong Kids

September 13, 2012

9:30 – 10:30 a.m. Registration starts at 8:30 a.m.

September 14, 2012

7:00 – 8:30 p.m. Registration starts at 5:30 p.m

YMCA of Montclair 25 Park Street, Montclair, NJ

You do not need to be a member to participate! Member Entry Fee: $5 Non-member Entry Fee: $10

Contributions allow children and teens the ability to participate in after school programs, youth sports, camps, leadership development programs, and other positive activities regardless of their families’ financial situation.

PUNKROPE!!!

Please join me Sept. 23rd from 10-5 to get certified in punkrope: www.punkrope.com  This course will allow you to stay fit even if you can’t get to the gym. You owe it to yourself! Email me for more details!

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2 Responses

  1. Hey Alma,

    Couple of questions:

    1. What’s the comparable of frozen store-bought spinach? I think those bricks of spinach are 10 oz? Any ideas?
    2. What does it mean “Sautee until dry?” I’ve never really worked with frozen spinach before, thawed or otherwise. (That was one of those evil items from my childhood!)

    Love you!

  2. Hi Elizabeth! You can certainly use fresh spinach but you’ll need a lot more of it! I buy the bags of organic frozen spinach as opposed to the very challenging boxes since you can easily take out just part of the bag to use.
    Sauteing until dry just means getting all the moisture out from having been frozen. You can even microwave it first, squeeze it dry and THEN start sauteing. You just don’t want watery spinach on your pasta. Let me know how it works out!!

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