I have a confession to make – I am addicted to Pinterest. At night, it is not too uncommon for me to be snuggled up on the couch while my husband plays on the video game consoles, happily pinning away on my laptop. More than once, I have to admit, I didn’t even realize he had turned off the tv and was getting ready for bed since I was busily writing comments on other blogs or saving recipes that looked absolutely delightful! I’m just so busy looking through homemade recipes or eyeing the latest vegetarian dinner recipe that someone created on Pinterest. My only problem is that I know I won’t make half the recipes I’m pinning, since I see many of them as rare treats, or foods I will only make if someone is visiting.
As always, I am constantly looking for fun, quick vegetarian recipe ideas to add to my arsenal of recipes for vegetarian days. Some of you may know from reading prior entries that my husband and I try eating vegetarian three to five days a week, and Demelza herself is a vegetarian. Finding good vegetarian dishes is never easy, since many people assume that ‘vegetarian’ means throwing tofu or processed fake meats into a pot, hoping that is ‘good enough’. Personally, I am a purist. I love my dishes being filled with fresh fruits and vegetables that I can pick up at the grocery store or preferably, the local farmers market.
Anyways, recently on Pinterest, I found a vegetarian recipe that really caught my interest. The recipe, from the Kitchn, was titled “Spaghetti with Mascarpone, Meyer Lemons, Spinach, and Hazelnuts.” Now, I was a bit baffled looked at his recipe, since I only ever heard of using Mascarpone cheese in Tiramisu. Like most thing, I decided to take the risk of curiosity killing the cat (or our food budget) and picked up what we needed to make this, since Mascarpone cheese was on sale for $3.50 a container and would easily be the most expensive part of it.
Not being too thrilled about some ingredients in the original recipe, I decided to experimenting and do some changes. What I ended up with a delicious dish that was unlike anything I had ever tasted! It was rich, creamy, and very much unlike any other vegetarian dinner recipe I had made. While my husband was unsure what to think at first, we both ended up loving this simple dish. Best of all, this vegetarian recipe was easy to make and looked pretty fancy (at least I thought it looked fancy!)
Vegetarian Recipes: Marscarpone Spinach Delight
Marscarpone Spinach Delight
Ingredients
- 2 cups Mascarpone Cheese
- 2 Lemons
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 pinch Pepper to taste
- 1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
- 5 cups Fresh Spinach
- 1 Box Ronzoni Garden Delight Spaghetti
Instructions
- Put 1 teaspoon of dried lemon peel in a bowl, or zest a lemon to get about the same equivalent from one of your lemons.
- Cut open the lemons and squeeze the juice out of the lemons. After squeezing the lemons, scrape out some of the flesh from the lemons and put them in a bowl. This will give a more lemon flavor to your dish.
- Combine your your lemon mixture with the mascarpone cheese, pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Mix thoroughly in a bowl.
- Place the cheese mixture in the pot with your pasta on low heat.
- Place the spinach in the pot with the pasta and sauce, and cook until the spinach looks wilted. Stir constantly for about five minutes to keep from burning. Note: I put the spinach in whole. If you want smaller pieces, cut it up prior to this step. This may also speed up the cooking process.
- Take off heat and serve hot.
About Susan Bewley
Susan Bewley is a professional writer who has been writing content online & in print format for over 10 years. As well, she is an alumni of the University of Louisville with a Masters Degree in Special Education. When not working as an online business consultant or ghost writing, she can be found writing on Budget Earth, on her own novel, or working with various entities in the pet industry.
The dish looks lovely, I'm sure it was delicious. Fresh vegetables and fruit are what I eat too. I consider myself a whole food vegan, I eat as close to the natural food source as possible. These days I don't eat too much of the traditional pasta, but I sure love my vegetable pasta. I use squash in my vegetable pasta machine, to create the look of spaghetti, perfect for those who're gluten intolerant.
I love using spaghetti squash in place of pasta when I can. A pasta machine is one of those things on my wish list 🙂
Oh you should try the plastic spiral vegetable slicer, that's what I use to turn my vegetables into "spaghetti". I mainly use zucchini with it, but sometimes I use other squash, carrots, and sometimes cucumbers.
It's a useful tool, and it has a permanent place in my kitchen. I've had mine for over six years. I got it for under $40.
My weakness is pasta, and I did not have lunch yet today, and this looks sOOOO good! Trying it out tomorrow!
This looks yummy thank you for sharing I love pasta and making different things with it.
This sounds delicious! And so easy! Thanks for sharing!
I don't know how I missed this recipe. That looks fantastic. I love all the recipes that you post.
I’m so glad! Thanks!
i was browsing at your site when my husband saw this noodles hehhehe. he loves noodles. this looks good, thanks for sharing the recipe
Mmmm… that looks so yummy and appears to be very simple. We are a vegetarian family here (well, hubby is on home ground, but "indulges" when we eat out) and there are many nights when a tasty and quick meal are in order.
This looks incredibly yummy! I’m always looking for new vegetarian dishes to try and this one is right up my alley. Pinned this to try making later this week.
I hope you like it! It is a family favorite and sooo easy!