One Pot Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna Soup

February 24, 2016

One Pot Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna Soup  Sarcastic Cooking

Who in the heck made it so hard for women in their thirties to buy clothes? I mean seriously. Come on. I feel like I am living in the scene from This Is 40 where Leslie Mann is like, “But I don’t wanna shop at J. Jill and Chico’s.” Where do you ladies of a certain age buy your clothes? Help!

I went through all my clothes recently. I packed up all my maternity stuff and realized that I have no clothes. Oh, before I get really ranty about women’d clothing, dudes if you wanna skip ahead to the recipe or just skim pictures, feel free! Back to clothes. I was literally wearing maternity clothes for like the past two years. With my second pregnancy, I needed those stretchy pants a lot sooner than the first time around.

All I had in my closet were maxi dresses and blazers. All that was in my drawers were 2 t-shirts that I wear religiously and leggings. Yeah, I had a few things missing.

I recruited my mom and we hit the mall over the weekend. First stop on our trip was American Eagle Outfitters. Yes, you heard me right. I am trying to convince my friends, so I assume I will have to convince you all too, that I just bought the best pair of jeans I have ever had in my life from there. A nice high waisted skinny jean with just enough stretch to keep it all sucked in and not get too stretched out after each wearing. Perfect! I ordered the jeans online. I bought a 12 and a 14 just in case. I was shocked to see that post baby I fit in the 12. So, I had to return the 14.

I figured, go to the actual store and return it rather than wait for the USPS to bring me a new pair. Um, boy was I wrong. Not only did they not have my size in the jeans I wanted but all the shirts that I tried on, just regular old button up shirts, looked like they were shrunken. I felt like an Amazonian woman. Even my mom was like, “Something is wrong with these clothes, it’s not you.”

And you know, if anybody is gunna say “Hey, you shouldn’t be wearing an article of clothing like that at your age/for your size,” it is gunna be your mama! Always keep it real Mom! Muah!

One Pot mushroom and Spinach Lasagna Soup | Sarcastic Cooking

I had money to burn and, instead, I am adding money back into my account by just returning the jeans. Talk about a Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman moment! Just let me shop, people!

My next stop was Nordstrom. Have you ever been in their women’s section? It is very confusing. I wanted to ask somebody where they keep the non-designer, everyday clothing? Instead, I walked around clueless and just grabbed a few Madewell shirts because I recognized the brand name and was happy with the price. My mom and I were remarking on some weird trendy clothing when a young girl, maybe 16-18 at most, came up to me and asked me if I needed any help.

“Yes! I need to try these on and I am looking for high-waisted dark wash skinny jeans. Do you have any?”

Her response…

First a little smirk. Then, “Oh I don’t know, this is the junior section.”

“Oh, I had no idea.”

Ummm, you little skinny brat. If this is the junior’s section and you’re gunna shame me for being in it and wanting some semi-trendy mom jeans, then don’t come up to me and ask me if I need help! Really!

What all of this has to do with soup, I haven’t a clue.

I ended up buying the Madewell shirts and giving teeny-bopper the commission and then going to Gap (where my Mom said to go in the first place) and buying some staple t-shirts and tops and then coming home and buying the American Eagle Outfitters jeans online like I should have just done from the get go.

From henceforth I will let my clothes come to me therefore, never have to deal with the youths that work at these stores. Then I will hide the labels on my jeans with appropriately sized longer shirts so I have no judgement cast upon me.

Anyway, lasagna soup for all! Done in one pot with tons of mushrooms and spinach because you want to feel good about eating a ton of carby noodles and creamy ricotta as you wear your snug skinny jeans. Am I right?

One Pot Mushroom and Spinach Lasagna Soup

Replacing the hearty flavor from ground beef with ground mushrooms and spinach makes for a lighter take on a classic lasagna only in soup form!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 6 -8 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 10 Ounces Cremini Mushrooms cleaned and stems removed
  • 1/2 Yellow Onion diced
  • 4 Cloves Garlic minced
  • 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
  • 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 Teaspoon Dried Basil
  • 1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
  • 1 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
  • 1, 24 Ounce Jar Marinara Sauce
  • 1, 16 Ounce Can Crushed Tomatoes
  • 1 1/2 Cups Water
  • 4 Cups Low Sodium Vegetable Stock
  • 10 Lasagna Noodles broken into 1 inch pieces
  • 2 Cups Fresh Spinach chopped
  • Handful of Fresh Basil chopped
  • Handful of Fresh Parsley chopped
  • 16 Ounces Ricotta lowfat or full fat
  • 1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
  • 1/2 Cup Shaved Parmesan

Instructions

  1. Roughly chop the mushrooms and then add them to a food processor. Pulse a few times until almost minced. The idea is to replace a ground meat kind of texture in the lasagna.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven for a minute or two over medium heat. Add the mushrooms to the pot. Sauté the mushrooms for 5 minutes while stirring around.
  3. Add the onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic and stir to combine. Cook for one minute.
  5. Mix in the balsamic and the tomato paste. Cook for two minutes.
  6. Add in all the seasonings and mix to combine.
  7. Turn the heat down to low. Add in the marinara, crushed tomatoes, water, stock, and noodles. Stir to combine. Press the noodles down into the liquid. Cover and bring to a simmer over low heat. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through.
  8. Add a little more stock if the soup is too thick for your liking.
  9. Remove the lid add in the spinach, basil, and parsley. Stir to combine. Cook just until the fresh greens start to wilt, about a minute or two.
  10. At this point the soup is done. You can either add the ricotta to the big pot of soup in large dollops or you can choose to wait and add it to each individual serving. Or you can dollop a little bit on top of the big pot and save some more for individual servings. I prefer the latter.
  11. Top each individual bowl of soup with a bit of shredded mozzarella and shaved parmesan and more red pepper. Serve and enjoy!
  12. When reheating, add a little bit of stock or water to each bowl because the noodles keep sucking up liquid as they cool.
  13. Recipe adapted from Carlsbad Cravings

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  • Celeste
    February 28, 2016 at 11:54 am

    This recipe looks delectable! I live in an area with lots of wild mushrooms so I think I’ll give it a try. BTW, I also buy most of my clothes online and found that NYDJ (Not your daughter’s jeans) are perfect for me and they really do make you look 1-2 sizes smaller. I buy them on Zappo’s (always free shipping). Check ’em out!

    • Stefanie
      February 29, 2016 at 10:11 pm

      Gotta love that free shipping!!!

  • Deb
    February 28, 2016 at 10:26 am

    Holy Crap this was AMAZING!!! Thanks so much for the recipe. Even my husband, who was decidely unhappy with the no meat content (and most often suggests that something I made would taste better “if you added more meat”) thought this was incredible. Yum 🙂 and even awesome the next day for lunch. Have a great day!

    • Stefanie
      February 29, 2016 at 10:11 pm

      Awesome! Ha! Your husband sounds just like mine.

  • Debi Pippitt
    February 25, 2016 at 9:42 am

    My whole family loves lasagna and I cannot wait to try this soup recipe! One thing I do with another soup with pasta ingredient when a large batch is not consumed in the first sitting is to cook the pasta separately and store it separately also. Then there is no loss of broth and pasta does not become soggy. Pasta can be reheated in <20 sec in hot water.

    • Stefanie
      February 25, 2016 at 10:21 am

      That’s a great tip Debi. Especially for somebody like me who loves her noodles and always adds way too many and then ends up with no liquid left! Haha!

  • Cindy
    February 25, 2016 at 12:09 am

    I do almost all of my clothes shopping online! I can try things on in the comfort of my room. We just KonMari’d our clothing and I literally have 1 pair of pants left and a handful of tops. I buy a lot of things from Gap and Old Navy and Target, sometimes Modcloth for things that are less basic. My style isn’t super exciting and I wear a lot of black, I like to think of it as effortless but really it’s basic, ha!
    This soup looks fantastic!!

    • Stefanie
      February 25, 2016 at 6:29 am

      My style isn’t exciting either. I think my uniform is like any plaid or chambray button up.

  • Candy Charters
    February 24, 2016 at 12:41 pm

    The soup looks great – I’ll bet it smells divine when cooking!

    Now – clothes: I am a woman of “a certain age,” and I LOVE Chico’s. But I rarely pay full price for anything I’ve ordered there (I do 99% of my clothes shopping online), because they have the BEST sales. You may be a little young for Chico’s yet (and some of their stuff I wouldn’t wear on a bet – even at my age), but when you DO get to this point, you’ll love their stuff, too. I think I started wearing my first Chico’s pieces about 10 years ago, and now virtually everything in my wardrobe came from them – including shoes, jewelry and accessories. On my body – and probably most women around my age – the clothes fit well and are flattering. I really like their “jeggings” and jeans – they fit great. I just wanted to encourage you for your wardrobe shopping in the years to come!

    • Stefanie
      February 24, 2016 at 3:48 pm

      Oh Candy!!! I love you! Thank you for encouraging my future Chico’s online shopping addiction. It is totally so much better to shop online no matter what store you go to! Oh, and this soup DOES smell amazing while it cooks!