Chicken & Spinach Pasta

Our oven died a couple weeks ago, when our menu plan was filled with things that needed to be baked. Thankfully, we've gotten it fixed since, but of the handful of things left on my plan, not ONE of them was crock pot or stove top only. We had pizza the first night I realized it was completely dead (that's also the day I dropped a wooden shelf on my head.... so we probably would've had pizza anyways), and I came up with some alternate meals. 

This Chicken & Spinach Pasta is actually something that was on the original menu, but originally required baking. With some slight adaptation to make it stove top (and a decent amount of adaptation simply because I wanted to), it worked. 

It's actually a pretty basic dish, but I really like adding the cream cheese/sour cream for some extra creaminess. 

The cutest thing about this was Gabriel's reaction to the spinach/tomato in it. It isn't unusual for me to put (small) pieces of tomato in things, but for some reason he said "icky" when he found a piece at the edge of his plate. I explained that it was tomato & it was yummy, then showed him the spinach & said that was yummy too. So he picked up a piece of spinach, told me "spinach yummy!" then promptly ate it. When we had leftovers the next day, he ate all of the spinach before even touching the pasta. :)

Chicken & Spinach Pasta

Ingredients

• 16 ounces dry small pasta
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1-2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 2 cups cooked chicken, diced
• 1 cup diced tomatoes
• Fresh basil or parsley, for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°, if desired. (Baking is not necessary.) Spray a 9”x13” baking pan with non-stick spray.
2. Cook pasta; drain and set aside.
3. While pasta is cooking, heat butter in a large saute pan set to medium heat. Add in the onion and garlic. Saute for 3 - 4 minutes to slightly soften; do not brown.
4. Add in cream cheese; stir to melt. Reduce heat to low. Stir in sour cream, milk, Parmesan cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Stir until everything is well combined and bubbling. Add pasta, chicken, spinach and tomatoes. Add more milk as needed to obtain desired consistency.
5. If baking, stir to coat and immediately transfer to baking dish. Add remaining cheese and bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes.  
6. If not baking, add remaining cheese and heat thoroughly.
7. Top with basil or parsley for garnish.

Yield/Time

8 servings

20-45 minutes

Source (for original): Inspired Dreamer

Taco Seasoning, and more thoughts on convenience foods...

Today you can get basically anything as a convenience food. Many food advertisers are directing things at busy moms, working moms, businessmen on the go, etc. "Get dinner on the table in 5 minutes!" "Just add milk!" etc. They even (sometimes) advertise these products as healthy for you.

Then, there is the opposite end of the spectrum--especially when you are looking for recipes online. Many bloggers seem to advocate making everything from scratch-and I mean everything. From bread, applesauce, cream-of-soups, ricotta cheese, peanut butter, marshmallows....

Given that I am posting about making taco seasoning from scratch, you may think I am at the opposite end of the spectrum. And that's true--kinda. I think it's (in general) healthier to make some things from scratch. I've already posted about my lack-of-love for pre-packaged foods. It may have something to do with my mama, who generally doesn't buy foods like that. However, it's simply not practical to make everything from scratch, especially in a home where both parents are working. I work 4 days a week, and I do a lot of my prep/mealmaking beforehand, but there are times when I don't. If I get home from work and there are no leftovers and nothing prepped, I just want to get a meal on the table as fast as possible. (Well, Gabriel wants a meal on the table as fast as possible. I can usually wait; him not so much.) Sometimes those convenience foods really make my life a lot easier (and my boy a lot happier!). 

Sometimes it's fun to make things from scratch that you can get -easier & probably cheaper- prepared at the store. For example, oatmeal cream pies. (And yes, I've done that. It was fun!) And cheez-its. (Again, fun! But so time-consuming!!) It's just not practical to do it all the time.

Then, there are things that are easy, cheaper, and healthier than the storebought! For us, taco seasoning is one of those. When I was doing a not-so-great job at mealplanning, it seemed like we never had it when I wanted it. And, while it's not really expensive, the spices in taco seasoning are all things that I have on hand regularly. (Unlike nutmeg, which I apparently am destined to always run out of...) On top of that, you can change it up to suit your needs. Lower the salt, make it spicier, make it less spicy, etc. 

 See below the recipe for comments on it...

Taco Seasoning

Ingredients

• ¼ cup chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 teaspoons paprika (I hate paprika, so I never have it on hand. So, I sub with cayenne pepper.)
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin
• 4 teaspoons sea salt (decrease as desired! I usually don't add this much, but I also don't usually measure it.)
• 4 teaspoons black pepper

Directions

• In a jar or small container add all the ingredients together and stir or shake until combined. (See how complicated this is? It's amazing I can handle a recipe with this many instructions.)

Yield/Time

5 minutes

Source (for original): What’s That Smell

For tacos, brown one pound beef then add 2 tablespoons taco seasoning. Simmer with ½ – 1 cup of water until most of the water has absorbed, or to your desired consistency.

Note on the amount of taco seasoning to add: 2 tablespoons makes the tacos fairly spicy, especially if you sub out the paprika for cayenne. I can't get away with that for Gabriel; I usually decrease it to 1 to 1 1/2. 

I usually double or triple this when I make it; it stores well and then I don't have to worry that I don't have enough right when I'm ready to add taco seasoning to something.


What about you? What convenience foods do you do from scratch, and what do you think is worth buying at the store?  

Penne Rosa

I love, love, love pasta. I could eat pasta every day, for lunch and dinner, and I would be quite happy. When we were newlyweds, I may have made a lot of pasta meals, because I was afraid to step out of my box. Thankfully, I have an awesome husband who pushed gently helped me out of my kitchen box, and I branch out a bit more now. 

Upon reflection, we still eat a lot of pasta, but the things I do with pasta have varied. (Don't be judgey, I like pasta.) I have branched out and cook with rice a lot too... I even got a 20ish pound bag of rice at Sam's Club last week! Nate was so proud, I thought he would cry.

Just kidding, my husband is all manly-ish and doesn't cry. Especially over sappy movies or his son doing sweet things. Nope.

Wait, where was I? Oh, yes, pasta. I saw an awesome recipe for Penne Rosa with Shrimp recently (shortly after making dinner for my little brother),  and decided I had to try it. Unfortunately, shrimp wasn't on sale and I am cheap frugal, so I switched to chicken, but I think shrimp would've been amazing with this!

(See below for detailed comments on the recipe.) 

(Yes, my camera is still MIA. Sorry.)

 

Penne Rosa

Ingredients

• 12 ounces penne (or whatever pasta you have on hand)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (or more.... remember, you can never have too much garlic)
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced (if you actually remember to add mushrooms to your grocery list)
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 4 cups fresh spinach, or 1/2  to 1 cup frozen
• 10 ounces medium raw shrimp, peeled and deveined (can easily sub out for chicken)
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• ⅔ cup plain Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Cook penne according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

In a large skillet with a lid, heat olive oil over medium-low heat. Add in garlic and red pepper flakes, cook for 2 minutes or until garlic begins to soften. Add in mushrooms, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms begin to release their water.

Turn heat up to medium-high; add shrimp. Cook for 1-2 minutes, or until shrimp are pink and opaque. If using another meat, simply add cooked meat and simmer until meat is heated through. Remove from heat, add in spinach and cover skillet. Let wilt for 2 minutes if using fresh.

Remove lid and place skillet back over low heat. Add the penne, Greek yogurt and pasta sauce. Stir until mixed well. Serve topped with parmesan cheese.

Yield/Time

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes

Makes: 6 servings

Source (for original): Back to Her Roots

All in all, we liked the taste. I would really like to try it with shrimp, but I'm going to have to watch for a sale. (I am soooo my mother's child.....) 

Note on the spinach: This is the second time recently that I've added frozen spinach to something, and I wanted to start small. Previously, I've added wayyyy too much spinach, and that has drowned the other tastes. Thus, we only used 1/2 cup. If using frozen spinach, I think you would be safe adding a full cup.

As always, comments are love.