Dishing it up

This week I started out with a rough meal plan. And a hellaciously large grocery bill-- due in fact that I went to the store ALONE. I milked the alone time for all it was worth. I walked EVERY SINGLE aisle in the store. Dangerous. Then to top it off, I managed to forget at least one major ingredient of nearly every planned meal. Required a trip back to the store on Tuesday, but since I only needed about 4 things, it was fast and easy.

Monday
Spicy Pork and Tofu
Brown Rice
Salad

Tuesday
Whole Wheat Rotini with Pesto and Veggies
Salad

Wednesday
Stuffed Portobello Caps
Salad

Recipe

4 large Portobello mushroom caps
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, divided
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
2 tablespoons finely chopped Kalamata olives [I didn't have these and left them out and don't think they were missed]
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
3/4 cup prepared marinara sauce

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray.
2. Place mushroom caps, gill-side up, on the prepared pan. Sprinkle with salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Roast until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, mash ricotta, spinach, 1/4 cup Parmesan, olives, Italian seasoning and the remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a medium bowl. Place marinara sauce in a small bowl, cover and microwave on High until hot, 30 seconds to 1 1/2 minutes.
4. When the mushrooms are tender, carefully pour out any liquid accumulated in the caps. Return the caps to the pan gill-side up. Spread 1 tablespoon marinara into each cap; cover the remaining sauce to keep warm. Mound a generous 1/3 cup ricotta filling into each cap and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. Bake until hot, about 10 minutes. Serve with the remaining marinara sauce.

Makes 4 servings.

Thursday
Chili
Salad

Friday
Lasagna. Well, that was the plan. I had cooked it, and taken the foil off the top to brown the top layer of cheese when Avery started crying. I went upstairs to nurse her and she decided to take her good old time. And honestly, I totally forgot about the lasagna. Needless to say, it was burned by the time I smelled it and remembered. So dinner ended up being Wendy's. A real bummer when you consider the time and cost of making lasagna. Sigh.