Rock Star Lifestyle Design

Welcome to the Rock Star Recipes, a weekly look into eating like a Rock Star. Every Wednesday, we will take you into the kitchen of Gen-Y Cooks as well as our rock star mom (well, my wife’s mom to be exact) to learn some cooking secrets, recipes, look into shopping carts and see how eating healthy can also lead to a healthy lifestyle. I hope you enjoy this series and please feel free to share photos, stories, ideas, tweaks and comments to make Rock Star Recipes something special.

Bruschetta Ravioli with Spinach and Shrimp

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoon olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic crushed or chopped – or use 3 T of chopped garlic from a jar.
• ¼ teaspoon crushed chili peppers (optional)
• 1 onion
• 1 sweet red pepper
• 2 red tomatoes (about 2 cups chopped) – can also use plum, grape or cherry tomatoes
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 3 Tablespoons chopped Basil – fresh is best but you could used dried
• 2 cups sauce - I use Bertilli Organic olive oil, basil and garlic
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups frozen cooked shrimp rinsed – could use fresh but frozen is just as good and a whole lot easier
• 1 8oz. package whole wheat cheese ravioli – I use Monterrey whole wheat tomato, basil, mozzarella ravioli or Buitoni but any will do.

Getting Started

• Chop onion
• Chop garlic
• Chop red pepper
• Chop basil
• Chop tomatoes
• Chop spinach

Keep these chopped ingredients in separate bowls

Directions

• Put 2 Tablespoons of oil in large fry pan – heat oil on medium heat about 1 minute – add 2 Tablespoons of garlic.
• Mix with spatula then add chopped onions and ¼ teaspoon chili peppers (optional) but it gives the dish just a little kick
• Mix and cook covered for about 5 minutes.
• Turn heat to low and add chopped sweet red pepper
• Cook covered till tender – stirring every 5 minutes or so (total cooking time varies with your cook top approximately 10 minutes).
• When this is cooked add 2 Tablespoons of chopped basil – stir and remove from heat
• Heat 2 cups of tomato sauce in separate pot
• Boil water for Ravioli and follow package directions (usually takes about 4 minutes to cook) so while this is cooking if you are using shrimp do the next 4 steps
• Add 1 Tablespoon of oil to another fry pan and heat on medium for about 1 minute.
• Add 1 teaspoon of the chopped garlic and mix till blended
• Add 2 cups of the frozen shrimp – rinse the shrimp first and pat dry - mix and cook on medium/low for about 5 minutes – remember if you use the frozen kind the shrimp is already cooked so you just have to make sure that it is heated through
• Add the rest of the garlic and 1 teaspoon of the basil – mix to combine
• In the pan with the onion, garlic and red pepper add the chopped tomatoes, ¼ teaspoon salt,
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper and the rest of the basil. If you are skipping the shrimp (and the last 4 steps) then use the rest of the garlic and basil here.
• Heat on low about 5 minutes or until heated thoroughly
• Ravioli should be done – drain and mix with 1 cup of heated sauce
• Divide the 2 cups of chopped spinach on 2 dinner plates
• Distribute the rest of the heated sauce on top of the chopped spinach on each of the dinner plates.
• Add the ravioli on top of the spinach
• Add the shrimp (if using) without the liquid on the ravioli
• Finally add the Bruschetta mixture on top.

Rock Star Secret - I try to use a bed of fresh organic spinach under as many dishes as I can – it doesn’t change the tastiness of the dish and nutritionally it is so good for you.

This tastes good even without the shrimp and is just a bit quicker to make – just eliminate all the shrimp steps. You can use this topping for any pasta but it is really great with the ravioli. Enjoy!

This recipe comes from our Rock Star Mom, Janet Heyden. You can learn more about how she continues to live a healthy life by clicking here. For recipe questions Janet can be contacted via email.

Please leave any comments, pictures and live taste testing experiements in the comments below!