Day 117.
I took like twelve pictures of this and none of them look very appetizing---I don't see myself with a career as a food stylist any time soon.
But!
It tasted good!
Michelle's Slow Cooking Thursday post a month ago or so popped into my head while I was at the store last week. I couldn't remember everything that went in it at the time, but remembered enough to sort of recreate it for an easy weeknight dinner. This is a wonderful, creamy dish, and if you use low or fat free ingredients, the creaminess stays without unnecessary calories.
The Ingredients.
--2 T butter
--1/3 cup flour (I used Pamela's again. And I'm almost out. We need to hit up Whole Foods this weekend.)
--2 1/2 cups milk
--1/2 t pepper
--1 t kosher salt
--3 T dijon mustard
--15 oz ricotta cheese
--1/4 cup parmesan cheese
--10 oz package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
--1 chopped red pepper
--16 oz package of un-cooked noodles
The Directions.
I made a roux (and this time I spelled it right!) with the butter and flour, and then added the milk, the container of ricotta cheese and stirred in the spinach, red pepper, and spices. Oh! Use a big pot, so you don't have to transfer halfway through the way that I might have needed to do. And then you won't drop slimy spinach on the floor...
Spray the inside of your slowcooker with cooking spray and dump in a package of uncooked pasta noodles. Turn on your crockpot so you won't "shock it" when you stir your cheese and spinach mixture into the noodles. Crockpot stoneware shouldn't change temperatures rapidly.
Top with 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese.
Cook on high for 5-7 hours, or until the noodles are tender. The noodles on the top will be a bit crunchy, but this seemed to have more liquid than the ziti I made, and every noodles could be eaten.
Ours took 6 hours to cook on high.
The Verdict.
I initially had to give the starving children speech, but once my kids tasted this they gobbled it down. Adam and I had ours with a great big salad. I would definitely make this again.
I wonder what it would be like if I added nutmeg? I felt like I wanted a dash of nutmeg...
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