Easy lunch: Mushroom, spinach and goat cheese rollups

Fact: If I could, I would only eat macaroni and cheese, pb&j sandwiches, greek yogurt, oatmeal, bananas and grapes. I swear I have the taste buds of a 5 year old. I'm not into spices or variety, and certainly not most vegetables. So when I eat veggies they have to be GOOD. So in an effort to eat more spinach I decided to work out an easy lunchtime recipe that has spinach incorporated, and I have to say it's pretty great!

Ingredients

2 whole wheat tortillas

1 tbsp (or less) butter

1 tbsp (or less) olive oil

1/2 cup chopped baby bella or crimini mushrooms

1/2 cup fresh baby spinach

2ish ounces goat cheese

1 tbsp chopped garlic

** As a side note, keep a small jar of minced garlic in your fridge and it will cut down on prep time when you are making solo meals. You probably wont even notice the difference.

Directions

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium.

Add a little butter and a little olive oil.

Add the chopped garlic and chopped baby bellas. Saute until the mushrooms begin to brown.

Remove the skillet from heat.

Add the baby spinach and stir mix. The residual heat from the skillet will wilt the spinach.

Once the spinach is a beautiful bright green color and still a little firm it's ready to go.

Warm your tortillas in the microwave for 5 seconds, just to get them soft.

Spread goat cheese in the center of the tortillas. You want a pretty good layer because some cheese will melt in the cooking.

Add the spinach and mushroom filling to each tortilla, distributing evenly.

Roll up the tortilla so the cheese, mushrooms and spinach are safely inside.

Heat up a george forman grill to medium.

Lightly butter the outside of the tortillas (not required), and place on grill seam side down.

Grill until lightly toasted. It should still be warm through because of the mushroom/spinach.

Cut in half and enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving 1 (2 rollups), Calories 533, Fat 40g, Protein 19g, est ww points 13

Review and Notes

I would definitely give this recipe 5 out of 5 honeybees for ease, taste and texture.

* A note about goat cheese. I really recommend seeking out good quality, local and ethically produced goat cheese. You might pay a little more than the 'national' brands, but the money stays in our community and you can seek out high animal husbandry standards, which I think is worth it. Here in DFW we are lucky to be the home of Latte Da Dairy. They care so much for their goats that they are animal welfare approved, plus their goat cheese is some of the best I've ever tasted! You can catch them at several local farmers markets, Central Market or at one of their open houses all listed on their web site.*

Toasted Mushroom Pasta

Yum! This stuff is good! And quick! And moderately healthy! I totally recommend trying it!

Ingredients

3 Tbl olive oil

1 Tbl butter

2ish cups of mushrooms thinly sliced, we used portabellos

2 minced garlic cloves

1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 cup white wine

1 1/2 cup pasta, we used whole wheat spirals

2 cups veggie stock

1/4 cup cream

1/4- 1/2 cup grated parm cheese

fresh ground black pepper

salt to taste

Directions

In a large skillet on high heat, add 1 Tbl olive oil. Saute the mushrooms until just brown, 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat and add parsley, garlic and oregano. Cook for about a minute. Pour in wine, and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer mushrooms and sauce to bowl.

In another skillet, add remaining olive oil and butter. Add pasta and cook until a golden brown, about 5 minutes.

Once toasted, pour in the veggie broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes.

Add the mushroom mix and cream to the pasta. Cook for a few more minutes until the sauce comes together.

Remove from heat and stir in parm and pepper.

Nutrition

This assumes 4 servings, this is for 1

Est WW points: 7

Calories: 327

Fat: 22.7

Carbs: 18.4

Fiber: 2.9

Sugar: 1.7

Protein: 9.7

Enjoy!!

Portobello 'Pizza'

This is a SUPER easy, quick meal to make for lunch or dinner. I literally ran home over a break during class, did about 5 minutes of prep and ate a delicious (and healthy!) lunch less than 20 minutes later. Awesome!

Ingredients

1 Portobello mushroom cap

2-3 Tbl Spaghetti sauce, whatever you have on hand (I used a traditional tomato basil)

A good sprinkle of shredded mozzarella cheese

(I also added a little sprinkle of a parm mix I had on hand)

Directions

Lightly wipe down the mushroom cap with a damp napkin. Trip out the stem.

Oven to broil.

Place upside down mushroom cap (stem portion up) on baking sheet. Spoon in spaghetti sauce, and top with choice of cheese.

Broil for abut 10 minutes, or until the cheese is nice and bubbly and you're confident that the mushroom is cooked throughout.

Nutrition

This recipe is for 1 serving.

Est WW points: 3

Calories: 120

Fat: 5.3g

Sodium: 274

Carbs: 4.5 g

Fiber: 1.2 g

Sugar: 3.1 g

Protein: 8.5 g

Notes:

If you happen to have a little oregano or basil laying around dont be scared to cut it up and toss right on top. This dish makes an excellent lunch, especially when paired with a nice crusty bread and a little olive oil!

Perfect Pesto

Ooohh how we love pesto in our house! Although the picture is not the greatest here, pesto made with fresh basil is bright green in color and incredibly fragrant. It is perfect to keep on hand to throw on otherwise uninspiring plain pasta, or in this case a little cheese ravioli. AND because it can be frozen into small cubes using a ice cube tray it's the perfect make ahead condiment that spruces up any meal even in winter.

Ingredients

3/4 cups olive oil, again the best you can find

3/4 cups fresh grated parm cheese

1/2 cup pine nuts

3 whole garlic cloves

4 cups chopped fresh basil leaves

1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Add all ingredients to food processor and pulse until desired consistency. If you have a smaller food processor, or are using a Magic Bullet, it is probably best to loosely split the recipe into 3rds to make it easier to chop/mix.

Nutrition

This recipe makes about 9 pretty generous servings. This is 1:

Estimated WW points: 8

Calories: 329

Fat: 27 g

Cholesterol: 6.6 mg

Carbs: 21 g

Fiber: 13.3. g

Sugar: .8 g

Protein: 9.2 g

Notes: Seriously this dish is super easy to freeze- just evenly pour the pesto into ice cube tray and allow to set. Transfer to freezer safe bag or container. If adding to a recipe, simply add to heated skillet. If adding to cooked pasta, allow to defrost at room temperature about 1 hour. Should keep 6-8 weeks with no problem.

Enjoy!

Portobello Fajitas

I LOVE portobello fajitas. The problem is, they are a leeeeetle hard to find in this beef lovin' town. I think the nearest is Mi Chula, which while delicious, is about 30 minutes away- too far for a random week night craving. So at the first sign of good weather we decided to try making them at home. Oh boy were these good! And easy! And cheap! They will totally be staying on our rotation!

Ingredients

2 large portobello mushrooms, sliced into long, thick strips 

1/4 large white onion, sliced 

1 green bell pepper, sliced 

whole wheat tortillas 

Mexican cheese mix 

Mexican rice mix (yeah um, dont judge this was an EASY dinner night!)

1 cup olive oil 

2 Tbl Fajita seasoning (recipe to make your own or from the bulk section of your local grocery store)

1 gallon sized ziplock 

Directions 

Prepare all of your vegetables. 

In a large gallon sized ziplock, pour in the olive oil and fajita seasoning and mix well until all of seasoning is damp. If the mix is too dry, add a little more olive oil, it's very difficult to over do on the olive oil. 

Pour vegetables into ziplock bag, seal and lightly shake to distribute the seasoning paste. Be mindful not to break the fragile portobellos. Allow to marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes, redistributing seasoning paste every 10-15 minutes. 

Get rice cooking as directed on packaging. 

At or after 30 minutes, remove vegetables from ziplock. If grilling, add to a grill basket and allow to cook until lightly charred. If using a wok, cook vegetables on medium heat. During last 3-5 minutes of cooking turn heat to high to allow to lightly crisp. 

Serve with fresh whole wheat tortillas, rice and cheese. 

Nutrition

I'm not really sure about the nutrition on this one since it can vary greatly based on the rice, tortillas and cheese. 

Notes 

If you own a grill and do not own a grill basket yet get one! We use ours constantly during the summer to make everything from green beans to egg plant. They are available in a variety of pricepoints, but you'll want to take into consideration the construction, the depth, the width and the handle. 

Enjoy!