Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Sautéed Mushroom, Spinach and White Bean Puree Stuffed Pitas

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Sautéed Mushroom, Spinach and White Bean Puree Stuffed Pitas

What?! This post isn't about a Mexican meal?! It's a little change-up, but I wouldn't get too used to it. Mexican will be on the menu pretty much all next week - Jen's got some ideas......

Anyways, I have been feeling under the weather for the last couple of days, and this is the first time I've felt almost decent enough to cook (basically, I'm tired of frozen pizza, take-out, and have food that I don't want to waste). I hope in a couple of days, I'll be back to 100%.

This meal was pretty easy and quite yummy.

Note: This makes more than enough for a meal for two, so we will be having the leftovers for lunch. We dipped these in Annie's Tuscany Italian dressing.

Idea for a variation: This would probably be good with a little more garlic and/or some kalamata olives pureed with the beans. We both thought this would be really good with plain or garlicky hummus instead of the white bean puree.















Sautéed Mushroom, Spinach and White Bean Puree Stuffed Pitas
















Pureed White Beans:
2-3 cups navy beans
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 clove garlic, minced
basil
salt

In a food processor blend all ingredients until smooth.















Mushroom and Spinach Mixture:
4 large white mushrooms, finely diced (or about half of one of those large packages of button mushrooms)
4-5 cups fresh spinach
1/4 onion diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
veggie broth
Italian seasoning
salt

Heat a few tablespoons of veggie broth in a medium sized pan. Add onions and cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, mushrooms and seasoning (and more veggie broth if needed), and cook until the mushrooms are soft. Add the spinach in batches, covering with a lid if necessary to wilt. Drain any excess liquid before transferring to a bowl.

Putting It All Together:
canned, quartered artichoke hearts, rinsed
whole wheat pita bread

Spread a thin layer of the pureed white beans, a few spoonfuls of the mushroom/spinach mixture, and a few artichoke hearts. Enjoy!

I wanted to end by touting another of Brett's posts. I can't help it, he writes about topics that are of great interest to me, so I feel the need to share. This post is about stupidity. I still find there to be something ironic and a bit funny about an intellectual or scholarly discussion of stupidity. Anyways, if you want to check it out, you can find the newest post here.

'Til next time!

20 comments:

Kumquat Peekapoo said...

OMG! It's like joy stuffed in a pita! Those are half of all my favorite veggies all in one yummy dish.

Anonymous said...

I hope you feel better soon! These stuffed pitas look AMAZING. Pita will never be boring again. ;-)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

now THAT is my kind of pita pocket sandwich - looks wonderful!!

get well soon!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

that white bean puree looks/sounds great

ChickPea said...

YUM! Spinach and mushrooms are probably my two favorite veggies! I will defnitely have to try this, and I don't think it would be too hard to recreate in my dorm room--thanks for the idea:)

Unknown said...

I like sandwich. But i did not eat sandwich you mention here. It looks far better than which i eat. so i wud try your Recipe....
Windows Server Monitor
Anti Spam Software

Lizzy said...

You made the white bean puree!! Was it good? I mean in general, not neccessarily in this dish, because I thought about using my can of white beans for white bean pesto.

Can't wait to see the mexican food porn you've come up with ;)

And I just started reading Bretts post and after the first sentence I was like "Oh my god YES, THANK YOU!" =p
This is a topic for me!!

Unknown said...

Spinach and mushrooms always go together well. Hope you get well soon.

Bianca said...

I adore anything with white bean spread! But you know, I've never thought to put it in pitas. I usually spread it on crusty French bread. I will try this next time.

Vegan_Noodle said...

So sorry to hear you're not feeling well!
I love white bean purees, what a great idea to put it in a pita!

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness! This sounds SO good--artichokes and garlic and white beans and spinach?! Could you include more of my favorite foods in there?! (I don't think so unless you know how to incorporate watermelon in with those ingredients...!) Yum!

I hope you feel better soon!

Courtney

Lindsay (Happy Herbivore) said...

Jennifer, only you could make something so beautiful and so delicious when she was sick! amazing. truly amazing... and now that I'm over my fungus issue, you know I'll be sampling this delight as soon as possible!

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

Aww dear Jen, please feel better soon.

The pitas look fantastic-- I love how you can stuff anything into a pita and it turns into a meal!

Animal-Friendly said...

I can't wait to make this for a tasty, healthy school lunch. Looks great! (Oh, and there's nothing wrong with a little, or a lot, of Mexican food!)

Alicia said...

It looks great, but I'm wondering... why do my stupid pitas break when I try to open them?

J said...

Kumquat Peekapoo - Thanks! It was pretty good!

Romina - Thank you, I am starting to feel a lot better, my energy levels are just lacking now. I love pitas, I don't eat them enough!

VeggieGirl - Thanks!

Pleasantly - Thanks!

Chickpea - I bet this IS something you could do in your dorm room! It was nice and simple and there were ingredients left over for other meals.

Sachinagg - ?

Lizzy - It was pretty good, a little lacking in flavor, that's why we dipped the pitas in the dressing. I think next time I might puree up some kalamata olives in there.

White bean pesto?! Try it! I'd happily try to recreate it too!

Lots of Mexican awaits.

Hahaha! I thought he did a great job with this post.

Cookiemouse - It's a great combination. Thanks, I'm getting there.

Bianca - I never thought to put it on french bread! :-)

Vegan_Noodle - Aw, thanks, I'm starting to feel better. I too love white bean purees, I'd like to think of more applications.

Courtney - Hehe! Not sure the chocolate and watermelon would go well in here. Thanks!

Happy Herbivore - You are just too sweet Lindsay! ;-)

Chocolate Covered - Thanks, I am. You CAN stuff pretty much anything into a pita (or burrito for that matter) and it be awesome!

Animal-Friendly - This would make a good sack lunch too. I hope you enjoy it should you make it.

Hehe! That's my motto!

Alice - I used to have that problem too. Have you tried warming them in the microwave or oven first? This makes them more pliable and I've found, less likely to bust open.

Simple and Divine said...

All of these dishes look amazing Jen! Especially the spinach and shrooms! Yummmy! I love spinach so much, almost as much as steamed broccoli (I'm so weird, I know, it's my fave snack ever since I could eat solid foods ha)! your dishes always look fabulous by th e way, and i was wondering if you had any great recipes for hummus! I'm trying to find one that's reasonably low in cals because I like to eat a lot of it and hate having to eat only 1 tbsp of the stuff bc it's like 100 calories per serving, you know? Haha I want a recipe with more volume to it, so if you have one, I'm lookin! Hope you have a great night Lovely!

Jill said...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yum! That looks so good!

J said...

Simple and Divine - I've loved broccoli since I was a kid too, I would also eat the top off and leave the stalk. ;-)

Here is my basic recipe for hummus:

1 quart of garbanzo beans cooked
1 clove garlic, sauteed
juice of one lemon
1-2 tablespoons tahini
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt to taste
cumin to taste
cayenne pepper to taste
water for consistency

In a food processor combine ingredients until desired flavor and consistency.

Not sure about the caloric content of this hummus, I know I use less oil than other people, as I hate slimy food. I do know that tahini is pretty caloricly dense. You might also check out Happy Herbivore's Blog (http://happyherbivore.blogspot.com/), I think she had a recipe for fat free hummus.

Azelma - Thanks.

TC said...

That looks so amazingly good and I will try it this weekend. Thank you !