Spinach Mushroom Lasagna

I wanted to try this recipe because I am a huge fan of roasted red peppers, cheese, and pasta.  This seemed like it would be a pretty good mix.  The lasagna is very filling and healthy for a pasta dish – and the fat and calorie content can be controlled depending on your choice of ricotta and parmesan.  I did enjoy it and it made a ton of leftovers – I actually had to freeze about half of it because we just couldn’t eat it all!

Spinach Mushroom Lasagna (expected time 2 hours, 12+ servings)

(adapted from Kraft Foods)

Ingredients

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce – I used a tomato/basil marinara.  Your choice in sauce will affect the overall taste of the dish, so choose wisely!

2 large  red peppers, roasted, seeded and peeled – I used canned roasted red peppers.  Much easier.

1 egg, beaten

2-1/2 cups  Light Ricotta Cheese

2-1/2 cups Shredded part-skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided

1 pkg.  (16 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry

1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

1/2 tsp.  ground nutmeg

12 lasagna noodles

2 tsp.  olive oil

1 large sweet onion, chopped

1 lb.  fresh mushrooms, sliced

Directions

1.)    Heat oven to 350ºF.

2.)    Cook lasagna noodles as directed on package, omitting salt.

3.)    Blend spaghetti sauce and peppers in blender until smooth.

4.)    Combine egg, ricotta, 1-1/4 cups mozzarella, spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan and nutmeg.

5.)    Meanwhile, heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add onions; cook and stir 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Stir in mushrooms; cook 10 min. or until tender and browned.

6.)    Spread 3/4 cup sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, 1/3 of the mushroom mixture and 3/4 cup sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining noodles, sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan. Cover with foil sprayed with cooking spray.

7.)    Bake 1 hour or until heated through, removing foil after 45 min. Let stand 15 min. before serving.

I cooked my noodles with a half dry red wine – half water mixture.  It adds just a touch of a wine taste to the noodles.  This dish needed something extra.  It was OK as is, but a little garlic powder and cayenne pepper on the leftovers helped its taste tremendously.  Next time, I’ll probably add these two spices into the ricotta mixture – or sauté a few garlic cloves with the onions.  This should make this dish tastier.  The spinach and mushrooms were also slightly overwhelming. I will use only 10 oz. of spinach in my future endeavors and chop the mushrooms instead of using slices.  That should definitely help keep the focus on the overall lasagna and not its component parts.

Ricotta, Spinach, Tomato, & Mushroom Pizza

Ricotta, Spinach, & Mushroom Pizza (6 servings, total time approx. 45 minutes)

(adapted from Kraft Recipes and AllRecipes)

Yummy deliciousness!  Thick pizza crust (just the way I like it) and tasty toppings.  Cannot wait to make it again and again (while trying different toppings, too).

Ingredients

• Crust:

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• Toppings:

o       1-1/2 cups shredded Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided

o       ¾ cup Part Skim Ricotta Cheese

o       ¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese

o       1 tsp. dried basil leaves, crushed

o       ½ tsp. dried oregano leaves, crushed

o       ¼ tsp. garlic salt

o       ¼ tsp. ground black pepper

o       1 cup fresh spinach leaves, torn and patted dry

o       ½ cup fresh mushrooms, chopped and patted dry

o       1-2 roma tomatoes, sliced and patted dry

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Stir water, sugar and yeast together until dissolved. Add the olive oil and the salt. Stir in the flour until well blended. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. Pat dough onto a pizza stone.
4. Mix 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and seasonings; spread evenly onto pizza crust.
5. Top with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, and remaining ½ cup mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and edge of crust are slightly browned.

The center of my crust took a little long to bake, so I added “patted dry” to the vegetable ingredients. I also added some vegetarian pepperoni to the top of my pizza because I had some leftover.  If you’re looking to increase protein, you can add the pepperoni, burger crumbles, or crumbled sausage-less sausage (either Trader Joe’s or Morningstar Farms would be my preference).

I like that this is a cheesy pizza, but it also very filling.  The thick crust (which is very thick even though I rolled it out to almost the edge of the pizza stone) and vegetables on top help the filling of fullness – I only needed one slice!  The ricotta/mozzarella mixture is quite tasty and works well with the veggies that I used.  A healthy pizza which is also tasty = a winner in my book!

Chelsea Tavern – Wilmington, DE

http://www.chelseatavern.com/

I have only been to Chelsea once before, for a beer and some pizza, but have wanted to go back for more than a year.  The menu looks so enticing and the selection of beer is fairly good – better than your average restaurant.  As you enter the restaurant, you walk into a welcoming bar area – it is well-lit with nice wooden tables – a good place to eat if you want something slightly more casual.  You then walk back into the dining area, there are both booths and tables – the lighting is slightly dimmed for a slightly romantic ambience. 

We sat at one of the tables in the middle of room – they are close together, so I felt that the couples on either side of us were way too close, but after my beer came, I perked up.  We started out with the House Made Soft Pretzel Crullers, served with Queso Poblano sauce.  The pretzels were just a touch too hard for my liking, but they were not overly buttery and barely salted.  And the Queso dip – delicious.  Perhaps the pretzels had been apart of another batch – I’d be willing to give them a second taste test.

As my main course, I had the Wild Mushroom Soup (which, sadly, is not on their current menu) and the Baby Spinach salad.  The soup was to die for, honestly.  It was mushroomy, but had a touch of cream in the middle and topped with just a hint of pesto.  There were a few mushroom chunks – and all this added up to be so tasty – my mouth is actually watering as I think about it.  If you don’t like mushrooms, then this isn’t the soup for you, but if you even slightly like them, I would recommend trying it (if they add it back to the menu).  I also had the Baby Spinach Salad.  It was very lightly dressed – a little bit more dressing would have done the salad good.  It was okay – not great for a salad.  I thought that I would like the dressing more, but it was nothing spectacular.

For dessert, we attempted to please both of our palettes and ordered the Chocolate Chocolate Cake.  Well, the cake was good, and so was the ice cream, but the spicy caramel sauce – way too much!  And that’s not just me saying it because I don’t like caramel – my husband agreed that it was too spicy for a dessert.  I have definitely learned that spicy desserts are not what I like.  We were able to scrape a lot of the caramel sauce off of the cake so that we could enjoy it, but the taste mostly stayed with us for the rest of the night – kind of a bummer.

Overall, Chelsea has a nice atmosphere and tasty food.  I would recommend it for the vegetarian restaurant-goer.  FYI – They also have a downstairs room with a bar for private events – right beside the wine cellar!

September 2012 Update:
On a recent visit to Chelsea, I enjoyed the Hand Cut Signature Trio Fries appetizer and Veggie Margherita pizza.  The fries consisted of crispy Vidalia Onions, Idaho & Sweet Potatoes and were seasoned with a homemade spice.  They were paired with a house aioli.  The aioli was a tad spicy, perfect for my taste!  All of the fries were crispy, but some were slightly burnt.  I think I’d get the dish again if I went with a group of people to share it with.  I then had the Veggie Margherita pizza that comes out of the brick oven in the back of the dining area (a nice one, made of light-colored stone).  The pizza has a plum tomato sauce, mozzarella, basil, wild mushrooms, red onion, and roasted peppers (I opted to nix the olives).  It had a crispy crust and was slightly browned on the top (no burning for this item!).  It was a tasty pizza that I would definitely order again.

May 2013 Update:

My mother and stepdad came to visit over Mother’s Day weekend.  We treated them to dinner at Chelsea Tavern in downtown Wilmington.  My husband and I had ordered the House Made Soft Pretzel Crullers as an appetizer on a previous trip and didn’t much care for them, but he is on a soft pretzel kick, so we ordered them for the four of us.  Boy, am I glad that I gave these a second try!  They were soft and chewy and not drowned in butter like some soft pretzels.  They were served with a  spicy Dog Fish Head 60 Minute I.P.A. cheese sauce – delish!  Not really that spicy, but definitely tasty.  

As my main dish, I ordered the Chelsea Pizza.  It has a shallot and garlic spread and is topped with tomatoes, sautéed spinach, herbed ricotta cheese, and a bit of mozzarella. I love getting pizza at Chelsea because they serve it with your own little tri-bowl of parmesan, Italian herbs, and red pepper flakes.  I also loved this pizza!  Of course, that probably has something to do with all of the cheese on it.  The crust was thin, but not crusty or burnt – cooked just right in their brick oven.  The veggies were soft and chewy and I loved the garlicky taste that the sauce imparted on each bite.  I cannot wait to go back to Chelsea because I will definitely order this again.