I recently came across a recipe that involves absolutely no cooking, uses fresh veggies, and takes about, oh , 15 minutes to make.  I like to think of it as a salad  that you can carry in one hand and eat without a fork.  Everyone, meet my stuffed tomatoes:

Aren’t they pretty?

I’ll bet you want to know what’s in them…

• 5 oz {about 140 grams} raw spinach
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 C cashews
• 1 T lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 8 oz {about 230 grams) mushrooms
• 1 medium onion
• salt
• pepper
• 3 lbs {1.3 kgs} raw tomatoes

Even I, a girl who doesn’t particularly care for mushrooms, like this recipe.

Rinse spinach, dry, and placein a large bowl.  Drizzle olive oil over the spinach and start rubbing it into the leaves.  You want them to get kind of wilted, so don’t be afraid to squeeze them and soften them.  Chop the mushrooms into chunks and finely dice the onions.  Add to spinach.

Place lemon juice, garlic, and cashews into a blender and blend till it forms a chunky paste {if you’re lucky and have a bullet-style blender, you can blend it into a smooth paste… mine was chunky and tasted just fine}.  You may have to scrape the sides of the blender and push the mixture back down, then blend again.  Dump this into the spinach mixture and toss with your hands.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Rinse the tomatoes and slice off the tops, then scoop out the innards with a spoon {make sure you save the tops and tomato pulp – you can use it for salads or salsa or something else}.  Stuff the tomatoes with spinach mixture, then eat!

A Few Notes: Chris and I both enjoyed these, but I thought they were a bit strong on the onion.  If you’re like me and prefer a milder version, you might swap the medium-sized onion for a small onion {or half of a medium-sized onion}.  I’m trying to reduce the amount of dairy in my diet, but if I weren’t, I would add some shredded mozzarella to the mix.  I think that would make the flavor a bit more mild and complement the other ingredients quite well.  Chris ate his with some avocado.

All told, this recipe took me 15 minutes to make.  I whipped it up and set the tomatoes on a plate.  Chris and I ate them for dinner, saving some for lunch the following day {they did well in the fridge overnight}.  It was a tasty, easy, fresh, healthy dinner.

Original recipe can be found here.