New Recipe: Spinach and Artichoke Bake

I don’t know how many of you are pinterest users, but from what I can tell, the population of people who use the site is increasing rapidly!  My students, colleagues, family, and friends use it.  I’m constantly hearing people saying that they are addicted to looking through the pages or even some who have to limit their use of the site otherwise they’d spend all day on it.

I’m a member of the site and see it as such a great resource.  I’m found some of my favorite new blogs, diy ideas and recipes through the links that people pin.   The recipe I’m going to share with you today is one I came across on pinterest, but it actually comes from the Budget Savvy Diva. 

I’m looking to spice up what J and I eat for meals.  This sounded like a good recipe to try because I recently found out that J likes artichokes and I like spinach so the mix works out.  J is not looking forward to the next recipe I want to try because the main ingredient is brussel sprouts! I don’t actually know if I like them or not so I want to try it out and I told J I’d make an extra vegetable just incase my recipe is unpleasant.

Anyway, back to this bake.  I made this dish for J and I we both LOVED it!  It was the right mixture of sweet and savory.  Unfortunately for all of you J and I were in such a hurry to eat that we didn't get a chance to take any pictures of our ingredients or the process.  Whoops!

But doesn't it look so yummy!

Spinach and Artichoke Bake (adapted from Budget Savvy Diva)
What you need:

• 1 box Whole Grain Pasta (we used rotini)
• Drizzle of olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 Cloves of Garlic ( Minced)
• 1 Cup of Sour Cream
• 1/2 a brick of cream cheese (4 oz)
• 3/4 Cup of Parmesan Cheese
• 1 squirt of lemon juice
• 10 oz spinach (we used frozen, thawed and drained)
• 1 Can Artichoke hearts (mine said 8-10 large artichokes) rinsed and chopped
• 1 Cup of Mozzarella
• Salt and Pepper to taste

What you need to do:

• Set your oven to 425. Spray a large casserole pan.
• Cook your pasta and put to the side.
• Heat the olive oil in your pan(I used a large pan so I could dirty as few dishes as possible) and cook the onions until soft.  Add garlic and cook for a minute.
• Remove onions from heat and let cool for 5 minutes before adding the sour cream, cream cheese, parmesan and lemon juice.  Mix well and then stir in the pasta.
• Add spinach, artichokes, half of the mozzarella and salt and pepper to taste. (Here she also adds a 1/2 cup of pasta water, I did NOT do this and it turned out fine)
• Pour the mixture into the pan and top with remaining cheese (we also added some more parmesan here).
• Bake 10 minutes or until the cheese on top is a golden brown.

Enjoy!