Easy Weeknight Spinach Alfredo

We are moving soon, so we're doing our usual thing where we don't want to buy any groceries because that's less to take to the new house. So, we're having to get creative with what we can find in the pantry/freezer/fridge. This includes making random assortments of things...which I'm going to do blog posts on...probably tonight...maybe tomorrow....no worries!! :)

Ingredients
-1 bag of shell pasta (or whatever kind of pasta you have floating around...make sure it's not full of weevils like my first bag was..yuck!)
-1 jar of alfredo sauce (we used Ragu)
-1 can of spinach

1. Cook pasta according to package.
2. Drain pasta and put back in pot.
3. Pour in whole jar of alfredo sauce.
4. Drain can of spinach and add like 3/4 of can to pot.
5. Stir around on medium until hot/warm.


We took some bread we had and toasted them with butter, parmesan cheese, and garlic powder & cut it up for "garlic bread". This was super yummy and took maybe 30 minutes to make...tops! Mostly though because I had to wait for the water to boil twice being that my first bag of pasta had unwanted inhabitants.

Let me know what you think!!

Mexican Spinach

Serves: 4

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

-1 cup fresh, chopped cilantro

-16 oz of fresh spinach

-2 Tbsp olive oil

-1 Tbsp cumin

-2 Tbsp chopped pickled jalapenos

-2 Tbsp liquid from pickled jalapenos jar

In order to wilt the spinach, you can either steam them or saute them. I'll put both methods...I sauteed them, because my steamer basket was dirty.

Saute: Pile all the spinach leaves into large skillet over medium-high heat. (Don't worry about burning them, the juices the spinach releases will keep it from burning). As the bottom-of-your-spinach-haystack leaves wilt, use a big wooden spoon or spatula to rotate the leaves until they are all wilted, and that nice pretty green.

Steam: Put 1 inch of water in a large saucepan, and bring it to a boil. Place spinach in steamer basket, and place over the water. Steam spinach about 1-2 minutes until wilted. Drain off any liquid.

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat, or add to skillet of wilted spinach. Mix in cilantro.

2. Add cumin and saute for about a minute.

3. Add jalapenos and pickling liquid to mixture.

4. Remove from heat, and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Nutrition Facts: One Serving= 1/2 cup, 116 calories.