Orzo Pasta Recipe with Spinach and Parmesan

Orzo Pasta with Spinach and Parmesan is an easy recipe using fresh ingredients to maximize flavor. This orzo pasta recipe makes an impressive meatless meal or side dish, but orzo pasta recipes are super versatile, so just add chicken for a heartier dinner that's quick and easy any night of the week.

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Orzo Pasta

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers with Orzo Pasta are full of Mediterranean flavors! They’re healthy, easy to make, and will kick your dinner rut to the curb!

My husband's rice loving ways got us stuck in a dinner rut! Every non rice dish I put in front of him he would say "this would be so good with rice." Can you see my eyes rolling, because I think I just saw my brain!

Thank goodness I found ORZO PASTA! This little rice-like pasta is so versatile you can use it in most any dish like my Orzo Pasta with Spinach and Parmesan, which is basically the dish that saved me from a life tortured by rice dishes! It's inspired all of my orzo pasta recipes, and I LOVE orzo in these Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers.

Orzo with Spinach and Tomatoes

Orzo with Spinach and Tomatoes is a delicious pasta salad you can serve hot or cold. I love this dish because it tastes so good, but it's also very versatile!

Spicy Chicken Pasta Recipe

Spicy Chicken Pasta is loaded with fresh ingredients! I mean to tell you this stuff tastes good! It's so pretty too! If it didn't taste so good, I just might be able to stare at it all day long, but truth be told, I'd rather be stuffing my face with all the fresh tasting, spicy goodness of this Mexican inspired dish! Oh yeaaaaah!!

Roasted Sundried Tomato Sausage & Vegetables over Parmesan Orzo

I have been volunteering with allrecipes.com for over a year now as an Allstar Brand Ambassador. As an Allstar I am tasked with activities each month. Sometimes the Allstars are asked to work with certain brands, as was the case this month, we were asked to work with al Fresco All Natural Chicken Sausage. I am not compensated for doing this, but I did receive a coupon for free sausage. With coupon in hand, I headed to the grocery to get inspired! We don't have a lot of choices around here for the al Fresco brand, but right away the Sundried Tomato Sausage caught my eye! It sounded delish, and you know what...it is delish! We really enjoyed it. I'm not a huge sausage eater, but this stuff was yummy and easy! A good combo!!

Because it is "all natural" chicken sausage, I wanted to keep my dish somewhat on the healthy side. I picked up some summer veges and some orzo pasta and got to work. The name of my original recipe is

Roasted Sundried Tomato Sausage & Vegetables over Parmesan Orzo

  

  It's a mouthful for sure, but I figure if I am going to create my own original recipe then I'm going to give it a NAME! A good strong and long name! HA! I think I accomplished that heehee  Don't let the name fool you though - it is much easier to make than it is to say <smile>

Ingredients

1 package fully cooked al Fresco Sundried Tomato Chicken Sausage, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

• 1 summer squash, sliced
• 1 red onion, cut into chunks
• 1 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pinch white sugar
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon chicken base
• 1/2 cup Sake or dry white wine (I really like the Sake flavor in this dish)
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 8 ounces orzo pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. While the oven is pre-heating, slice all your veges and mince your garlic. Place zucchini, squash, onions, mushrooms and sausage on a foil lined baking sheet. Top with garlic, olive oil, and sugar and toss gently to coat sausage and veges. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and make sure contents are in a single layer on baking sheet. Roast until veges are tender - about 20-25 mins.

While the veges are roasting, melt butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Stir in orzo and saute until lightly browned. Mix the water, chicken base, and wine and slowly add to the orzo; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until orzo is tender and liquid is absorbed - about 15-20 mins.. Mix in roasted veges and Parmesan cheese.  Be sure to taste and adjust seasonings as needed. ENJOY!

If you love roasted vegetables you need to head on over to see Shelby at Grumpy's Honey Bunch for her Roasted Garlic Artichoke recipe!!

Roasted Vegetable Orzo

Allrecipes.com Roasted Vegetable Orzo

With a dish like this there is hope for me being a vegetarian someday!  This was so yummy! I made some changes to the recipe mainly because asparagus was $5.99/lb, and I just could NOT bring myself to pay that. As much as I LOVE asparagus, I really felt this dish would still be great without it...definitely more cost effective for sure!

I served this with Roasted Chicken Breasts and it made for a great pairing! Honestly, I think this would go nicely with just about anything or even on its own!  Here is how I made this dish:

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 summer squash, sliced
• 1 red onion, cut into chunks
• 1 pound portobello mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pinch white sugar
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon chicken base
• 1/2 cup Sake or dry white wine
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 8 ounces orzo pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Place the zucchini, squash, onion, and mushrooms on a foil lined baking sheet; add in garlic, olive oil and sugar, and stir gently to coat vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast vegetables until tender, 20 to 25 minutes  

Meanwhile, melt butter in heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in orzo and saute until lightly browned.

Mix the water, chicken base, and wine and slowly add to the orzo; bring to boil. Cover. Reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15 - 20 minutes.

Mix in roasted vegetables and Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve warm. 

Be sure you taste this before adding salt. The Parmesan cheese will add salt and the veges have already been salted, so give it a taste to make sure you need to add more.

I really liked the Sake added to this dish - it really gave it a nice flavor, however, you can change up the liquid to suit your tastes. As long as you add 1 3/4 cups liquid in the end it can be the liquid of your choosing.  If you don't think the wine is going to be to your liking try reducing it to 1/4 cup and add 1 1/2 cups water (with the chicken base). If you prefer to use chicken stock instead of water and base - that is fine too. You can even try a vegetable base with water or vegetable stock.  Make it your own and enjoy!