I think I mentioned a few months back that there was going to be a dramatic change in our daily lives. I might have even been whining a bit. A little.

Well our lives have changed. Our Nanny has left and moved on to start her own life and her own family. I could tell you about how pleased I am for her and all that, and I am, but this post is about me.

No seriously, I’ve been dealt a healthy hand of reality as of late and I’ve needed to make some changes to how I approach a few things (like actually approaching the laundry, for example).

Meal planning has changed too. I’ve always been a meal planner. When we had our Nanny I would plan our menus for the week with recipes that she would sometimes get started or pull together for us. So the planning part hasn’t changed. I do it now, and I did it then. But how I meal plan has changed a bit. I’m a little more considerate of how long a meal will take from start to finish now. Before I could easily give her something that could be put together in the afternoon and then need to bake for an hour, I can’t do that anymore. Now the time between when I walk through the door to the time we sit down to eat needs to be less than 30 minutes.

This pasta dish was on our meal plan this past week. It was truly a 30 minute meal and fit perfectly into our schedule. Kids loved it too. Feta adds so much flavour, you really only need a little bit to bring the meal to life. Each serving includes a healthy dose of protein (from the mushrooms as well as the feta) and greens.

Game plan:

• Put the water on to boil.
• Wash the spinach, if it’s needed, and set it to dry.
• Clean and slice the mushrooms.
• Once the water has come to a boil, add the pasta and put a large (big enough to hold the finished dish) skillet on medium high heat.
• Once the skillet is hot, melt the butter and add the garlic and thyme. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle with black pepper, and cook until tender.
• By the time the mushrooms are tender, the pasta will be done, save some of the pasta water and drain the rest.
• Add the pasta to the mushrooms. Add the spinach and toss to cook the spinach – 2 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and add the feta and lemon juice and zest. Eat! 

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30 minute Fusilli with Mushrooms and Feta

Ingredients

• 340 gram box of fusilli
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 300 g cremini mushrooms sliced button mushrooms are a good substitute
• 100 g shiitake mushrooms sliced
• 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 bunch spinach washed, trimmed, rough chopped
• 2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 1/3 cup feta cheese

Instructions

• Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions. Save 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking liquid for the sauce.
• In a large skillet melt butter, add thyme and garlic and saute for 30 seconds - don't let the garlic brown. Immediately add mushrooms and black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until mushrooms are tender.
• Sprinkle mushrooms with flour and stir for 1 minute. Gradually pour in milk and the 1/2 cup of pasta water, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer and stir until slightly thickened - about 4 minutes.
• Stir in pasta and spinach. Let spinach wilt slightly - about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, squeeze lemon juice over dish, add lemon zest and feta and toss well. Serve.

Notes

Slightly adapted from Canadian Living Magazine