Spread Thin (Spinach Ricotta Pasta)

I think I scared the folks at the office today. I brought in my tasty lunch (leftovers from dinner last night) and everyone was all, "Wow, that looks so good." I told them that it was a little bland and I added a lot of parmesan too it. I said it would be better with homemade ricotta too. That's when they started looking at me like, seriously? They're finally learning about my baking/cooking happiness. I had to describe how to make ricotta cheese and how simple it is. Then I had to explain the dairy farm. Thankfully, the focus was shifted off of me when JoNell emerged with tasty bread/olive treats. I tried one and was pleasantly surprised with it. I'm not a fan of green olives and that's what the majority of them were, but there were green things and some black olives. And plenty of olive oil. Yum. I liked it.

Anyways, the recipe. I found it in a book I bought last summer (?) called "The Basic Cooking Bible." The recipes are, I swear, 5 steps at the most. Last night's was three, with one of them being, "boil the pasta."

Spinach Ricotta Pasta (Pictures to come)
1-10oz. package frozen spinach, thawed, drained, and chopped
1 box tri-colored rotini (my very favorite pasta ever)
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 container ricotta cheese (I will make it myself next time and probably use most of it, so about 2 cups?)
3 tablespoons parmesan cheese (plus more for garnish/taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Boil the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, put garlic and spinach in a pan. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add the water, ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese. Stir until everything is creamy.

When the pasta is done, drain it and mix it in with the spinach mixture. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and it's done!

We had it with some Texas Toast and it was a big hit. I found it a little bland, so I like to add more parmesan cheese then they say too. I can't remember if this was in the low-fat section of the book, but it seems like it's pretty healthy. Spinach is good for you right? Full of protein and green things. Taking food pictures is on my agenda tonight so I'll make sure to post everything before I head off to GR for the weekend. :)