Cray-ay-ay-zy

The first week of school is under my belt and after a 3-day holiday weekend, I'm almost complete with week 2 and am just now beginning to feel stable, less spun up and spit out.

I'm sure we've had some fun. I'm sure Miss F has done something cute. But I can't think of anything and prefer, now, to wax poetic about my two favorite cookbooks which have helped me through the past 2 weeks. My crockpot is my best friend, too, but crockpot tends to be fairly basic recipes (unless you read this blog about using a crockpot every day of 2008, but she exhausts me)

I love my 6 o'clock Scramble and my 5:30 Challenge. The 5:30 Challenge is 5 ingredients and 30 minutes. With recipes like Chile Rellenos Bake and Bacon wrapped, chipotle glazed shrimp, it goes from easy weeknight to fancy dinner in, well, 30 minutes with only 5 ingredients. Sweet.

The 6 o'clock Scramble has quick recipes and is divided by season which means your heartier meals are in winter and the summer meals are nice and light. Last night I made this recipe, 3-Cheese Spinach Orzo Bake and it had Miss F shoveling giant spoonfuls of spinach in her mouth while exclaiming--YUM, YUM, this is my favorite dinn-ah.

Here's the recipe:

1 c. uncooked orzo pasta

1 box (10 oz) frozen spinach

1 1/2 c. red pasta sauce

1/2 c. grated parmesean cheese

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup low-fat ricotta cheese

1/2 c. shredded mozzerella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spary a 9 inch glass pie pan with nonstick cooking spray. Cook the orzo (package directions) and drain. Thaw the spinach in the microwave and drain. In a medium bowl, combine the orzo, 1/2 cup of the red sauce and the parmesean cheese. Spread the mixture over the bottom of the pie pan. In a medium bowl, mix the spinach, eggs, and ricotta. Spoon the misture over the pasta and spread it evenly. Spread the remaining 1 c. of pasta sauce over the spinach mixture. Sprinkle with mozzerella cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the casserole is bubbly and heated through.