Spinach and Goat Cheese Pizza

Man, aren't you glad it's not another soup recipe?

Here's a quick and easy pizza recipe that can be thrown together in no time. And it's TASTY too!

INGREDIENTS

14-oz Pillsbury pizza crust
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
6-oz bag of fresh baby spinach
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
4-oz goat cheese, crumbled
DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat the oven to 400. Spread the dough on a baking sheet and sprinkle with olive oil and the parmesan. Bake for 8 minutes.

Toss the spinach with olive oil. Top the crust with the spinach, tomatoes, and goat cheese. Drizzle the pizza with more olive oil and bake for 15 minutes more.
VERDICT

Oh, yum! This was perfect, and tasted similar to our grilled pizza we did so much of this summer. And believe it or not, the two of us finished off the entire baking sheet.

Tomato Garlic Soup with Parmesan Croutons

I've been cooking soups every Sunday night through the fall. Some have been great, and some have been... different. This was one of them.

INGREDIENTS

4 large tomatoes, cored (about 2 1/2 pounds)
2 quarts water
2 quarts ice water
1 1/4 cups uncooked seashell pasta
4 teaspoons olive oil, divided
3/4 cup finely chopped red onion
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup water
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
1 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
2 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 (1/2-ounce) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette (about 1 inch thick)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Score bottom of each tomato with an "X." Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a Dutch oven. Add tomatoes; cook 30 seconds. Remove tomatoes with a slotted spoon; plunge tomatoes into ice water. Drain and peel. Cut each tomato in half crosswise. Push seeds out of tomato halves using the tip of a knife; discard seeds. Chop tomatoes.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain. Toss pasta with 1 teaspoon oil. Cool completely.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add onion; cook 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 3 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring frequently. Stir in tomatoes, 1 cup water, parsley, chives, oregano, thyme, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pasta, vinegar, and pepper; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated.

Preheat broiler.

Place bread slices on a baking sheet, and top each slice with 1 tablespoon cheese. Broil 1 1/2 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with soup. Garnish with thyme sprigs, if desired.

VERDICT

I really expected this soup to have a lot of flavor. There were TONS of herbs in there, fresh tomatoes, giant slices of garlic... but it was just blah. It actually tasted like a can of chopped tomatoes.

But on a good note, the croutons were EXCELLENT!

Creamy Basil and Red Pepper Pasta

It's very rare when my husband actually requests pasta for dinner. But once in a while, when the temperature starts to drop and it gets dark early outside... he relents and actually requests some spaghetti for dinner.

Never one to squander an opportunity, I tried out a new recipe on him this week.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups penne pasta, uncooked

4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Fat Free Cream Cheese, softened

1/4 cup fat free milk

1 jar (7 oz.) roasted red peppers, well drained

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves

2 Tbsp. KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (oops, I forgot to buy chicken. This ended up being a vegetarian dish for us!)

DIRECTIONS

COOK pasta as directed on package. Meanwhile, place peppers, cream cheese, milk, basil and Parmesan cheese in blender; cover. Blend until smooth; set aside.

SPRAY large skillet with cooking spray. Add chicken; cook on medium-high heat 3 min., stirring frequently. Stir in pepper mixture. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 min. or until heated through, stirring frequently.

DRAIN pasta. Add to chicken mixture; stir gently until well blended.

VERDICT

I didn't give this recipe much hope for being outstanding. It was from the Kraft Foods site (which basically is just one giant advertisement for their products and usually lacks any seasoning) but it sounded decent enough. We were so pleasantly surprised!

The sauce has kind of a funny color, and it does seem like it will be really rich with all that cream cheese, but it was delicious! I imagine it's even better with the chicken as directed.

Best of all, we used giant rigatoni from Wegman's Italian collection. Well worth the extra price.

This was so good I saved the left-over sauce (and there is quite a lot) in a tupperware container in the freezer for future use!

Famous Pork Chops

Pork. You know it's good for you. And it IS "the other white meat." It just doesn't taste as good. Sigh. Here's another attempt to make these chewy, tasteless things palatable.

Judging by this recipe's name, I expect this pork recipe to be a keeper.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup crushed butter crackers
• garlic salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 4 pork chops
• 1/2 cup butter

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a shallow bowl combine crushed crackers, garlic salt and pepper; mix well. In a separate bowl beat eggs.
3. Dip your pork chops in the egg batter and then in the cracker mixture. Place the pork chops in a casserole dish. Place chunks of the butter around the pork chops. Cover and bake for 45 minutes.

VERDICT

45 minutes? WAY too long. They were pretty chewy. And the crunch was nice, but still no overpowering taste. It's a pretty decent recipe as pork chops go... but I'll continue to keep looking anyway.

Herb-stuffed Chicken Breasts

I'm back to cooking! Though it doesn't show yet, I've made two new recipes a week over the last several weeks. I figure it will tide me over in December when we're so busy that we eat pizza and Chinese take-out on alternating nights.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh basil leaves
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 6 chicken breast halves (about 2-1/4 pounds total)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
• 1 tablespoon water
• Fresh chives (optional)
• Fresh basil (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. For the stuffing, in a small bowl stir together cream cheese, basil, chives, and garlic.

2. Skin chicken, if desired. Cut a slit horizontally in each chicken breast to make a 3-inch-square pocket. Insert a rounded tablespoon of stuffing into each slit. Fasten slit closed with water-soaked wooden toothpicks. Combine oil, lemon or lime juice, and water.

3. Grill chicken, bone side up, on an uncovered grill directly over medium coals for 15 minutes, brushing occasionally with oil mixture. Turn chicken and grill for 20 to 30 minutes more or until chicken is tender and no longer pink, brushing occasionally with oil mixture. Garnish with fresh chives and basil, if desired.

So yeah... about that grilling thing... it was really cold outside and it gets dark at 5pm this time of year. So we threw it in the oven.

Makes 6 servings.

VERDICT

The filling is really rich, but this is really good. The richness of the filling could also be because the recipe called for 6 chicken breasts and I only used 2. So the filling was tripled in each chicken breast we used.

Also, it probably would have been really good grilled, but it tasted just fine in the oven. Just a note, if you do put it in the oven, it takes about 45-minutes on 350 degrees.