Hello from the land of, “gosh I wish I would have gotten around to doing X by now”. For me, that X would be loading all of my old recipes from The Rose Record 1.0 to this new site. But quarantine times call for tacking as-needed tasks, rather than want-to projects. Maybe someday? Anyways, I’ve now made this dish twice, a spin off of this recipe from the old days, and figured I’d put it up here for all of you.

This is another make-it-work-for-you type recipe based on what you have. Don’t have frozen spinach? Use fresh. Don’t have orzo - use rice or any short-cut pasta. Have chicken? Add it in (we grilled ours and served it on the side). Don’t want to bake it? Eat it as a cold or room-temp salad. I personally love that this is a “bake” so that I can assemble it all when I have a spare moment (re: nap time) and pop it in the oven during that crazy five o’clock oh-crap-what-are-we-going-to-eat time. However which way you do it, it’s hearty, cheesy, and full of flavor. It’s like eating spinach artichoke dip as a meal!

Spinach Artichoke Orzo Bake

Total Time: 45 minutes Hands-On Time: 15 minutes Serves: 6

Ingredients:

10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, prepared and drained thoroughly
1 1/2 cups orzo pasta
32oz. box low-sodium chicken stock or broth
2 cloves garlic, smashed
14 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
8 oz. fresh mozzarella, cubed (or use mozzarella balls)
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes (totally optional)
juice from half a lemon
salt and pepper

Directions:

In a medium sauce pan, heat chicken stock and smashed garlic cloves until boiling. Once boiling, salt the stock and add orzo. Boil for 8 minutes or according to package directions.
While orzo cooks, drain and chop your veggies and cheese and place in large bowl.
Before draining orzo, reserve a few ladles of chicken stock from the pan. Drain orzo.
Add hot orzo to bowl with spinach, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, cream cheese, and parmesan. Stir to combine and until cream cheese has melted and coated the pasta. If mixture begins to get a little dry, add some of the reserved chicken stock.
Taste and add salt and pepper and lemon juice. You can completely eat this as is right now, but if you want more of a cheesy-casserole dish, keep going. We’ve had it once as a cold-salad and it was just as delicious!
Pour mixture into greased casserole dish. Sprinkle with a little more parmesan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes until bubbly. You can broil the top for a few minutes to get some good crust.
Serve as is for a hearty vegetarian meal or as a side dish to grilled chicken or fish.

Enjoy! If you make it, be sure to tag me on Instagram so I can see your work!