Category: Recipes

O.M.G. Salisbury Steak

Y’all, I made the BEST Salisbury Steak the other night.

Totally by accident.

It was so good, I don’t even have a picture of the finished meal to share with you.  My family devoured it before I could take one!

O.M.G. Salisbury Steaks in the pan
goodness in progress

So, I can’t SHOW you how yummy it was. But I can certainly TELL you.  And SHARE the recipe so that you can try it out yourself.  And it is so easy to make.  What you need most is a little time.  Not Thyme – Time.  I think the secret to this dish is cooking is slowly and letting the flavors really “percolate” in the dish. The longer you can let it simmer, the better it will be.

Seriously.  I wanted to DRINK the gravy it was so good…  oh.my.goodness.

There’s nothing fancy you need for this recipe.  It’s pretty much all basic ingredients.  Unless, of course, you consider mushrooms or brown gravy mix “fancy” ingredients?  Those are the only two things I don’t always keep stocked in my pantry.  But they’re worth the shopping trip to purchase.

I made the patties from ground beef – almost exactly like I make my meatloaf – and then browned them in my cast iron skillet, adding the onion & mushrooms to brown alongside the steaks.

O.M.G. Salisbury Steak & Gravy

2 pounds ground beef
~1/2 cup milk
~1/2 cup bread crumbs
Houston House Seasoning
2 eggs
2 tbsp dried minced onion
1 tbsp minced garlic

~1 cup mushrooms,diced
1 onions sliced

1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 package Brown Gravy Mix
1 bouillon cube (beef)
about 2 cups of HOT water

  1. In a large bowl, combine the milk & bread crumbs to make a paste.
  2. Add the beef, eggs, onion & garlic.  Add seasoning & mix well with your hands to combine.
  3. Form into patties – about 3/4 of an inch thick.
  4. In a large skillet, heat some oil and add the patties.
  5. Let them cook on one side for 5-7 minutes on medium heat. Don’t move or mess with them. Once they’ve cooked enough, they’ll release from the pan and you can turn them and cook on the other side.
  6. After you’ve flipped them, drop the onions and mushrooms in the pan with the patties – cover.
  7. In another bowl, whisk the soup, gravy mix, bouillon and hot water.
  8. Pour the gravy over the steaks. Re-cover and cook on low for about an hour.  You may need to add more water (I added close to a cup) to keep the right consistency of the gravy.  It will get dark brown and delicious.
  9. You can also run a wooden spoon across the bottom of the pan to get the brown bits off the bottom to get mixed in the gravy for even more goodness.
  10. Serve with mashed potatoes and die of happiness.

You can also do this with cubed steaks – I’ve done that before, too.

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Baked Ravioli

 

Well, that was fun (not) –

I’ve been sick for the past two days with a stomach bug – the kind that reminded me of the worst morning sickness days of my pregnancies.  I lived off of saltine crackers, plain bagels and ginger ale for two and a half days. Not sure if it was a virus or food poisoning, but it was most definitely not fun and I’m so glad I’m feeling better this morning.

I have a yummy and easy recipe to share with you.  This is one you can literally have in the oven in 10 minutes if you have the ingredients on hand – and dinner in a half hour. Super simple.

Baked Ravioli

I made it one night last week when I was crazy busy with work and needed something filling and fast.  I served with a salad and garlic bread and the family loved it.

It’s kind of like a lazy-woman’s lasagna.  But tasty in it’s own right.  And, ironically, the little one doesn’t like lasagna, but loved this.

Baked Ravioli

1 large package prepared three-cheese ravioli
1 quart marinara sauce (you can use jarred, I used leftovers)
1 pound ground beef
Italian Seasoning
Houston House Seasoning
2 cups mozzarella or three-cheese Italian blend

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Brown the ground beef. Season with Houston House Seasoning & Italian Seasoning.
  3. In a large casserole dish (deep dish is best) put about 1/2 cup of marinara. This will coat the bottom of the pan so the pasta won’t stick.
  4. Add in one layer of ravioli. (if they are frozen, that’s fine)
  5. Spread about half of the ground beef on top and cover with some more marinara.
  6. Add in another layer of ravioli and top with the remaining beef and marinara.
  7. Top with cheese
  8. Bake, uncovered, about 20 minutes.

Let it sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

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Serve with a salad & garlic bread.

 

Chicken Noodle Soup Casserole

My menu plans went out the window this week when the girls got sick.  I needed comfort food, and fast.  I had pinned this recipe and decided to try it out – I figured it might be comfort food-y enough to give the girls some goodness in their sick little bodies.

I mean, doesn’t that just look delectable?

Of course, I made it my own with a few modifications and I thought I’d share the finished product with you here.  The verdict from the family?  Well, the sickos weren’t crazy about the crackers on the top but SuperMan and I absolutely loved it.  And the leftovers for lunch are even better after the flavors have settled in together even more.

So, this one comes with the highest of recommendations from our family.  Next time I make it I’ll only put crackers on half, but that will be the only change.  It is really, really good.

chicken noodle soup casserole

Chicken Noodle Soup Casserole

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Houston House Seasoning
minced onion (dried)
minced garlic
Mrs. Dash (garlic variety) if you have any, not necessary if you don’t
2 bouillon cubes (chicken)
1/2 pound of egg noodles (uncooked)
1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used low fat/low sodium)
1 can cream of chicken soup (I used low fat/low sodium)
1 cup sour cream (1 small container)
1-2 cups Mexican blend shredded cheese
1 sleeve butter crackers (like Ritz) crushed
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

  1. Season chicken breasts generously with Houston House Seasoning and Mrs. Dash.
  2. In a large stock pot, place the chicken breasts, bouillon cubes, about 1-2 Tbsp of minced onion and 1-2 Tbsp of minced garlic.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.
  3. Cook chicken in water for about 1-2 hours or until tender.
  4. Pull chicken breast out of water (reserving water) and shred. Set aside.
  5. Bring the chicken broth back to a boil and add the egg noodles.  Cook until al dente.  You do not want to overcook so they will not be soggy in the casserole. A little “firm to the tooth” is better.
  6. While noodles are cooking mix the cream soups & sour cream in a large bowl.  Add about 1-2 tsp of Mrs. Dash and 1-2 tsp of Houston House Seasoning and mix well.
  7. Mix in the chicken.
  8. Pull noodles from the water (I saved the broth & froze it for another use later) and mix in gently with the chicken/soup mixture.
  9. Place in a greased casserole dish – 9×9 or larger.
  10. Top mixture with 1-2 cups of cheese. You want to see noodles peeking out. It should not completely obliterate the casserole. It’s just a garnish, so to speak.
  11. In a small pot, melt the butter. While butter is melting, crush the crackers if you have not already. (good stress reliever)
  12. Remove melted butter from heat and add the crackers to the butter and mix well.
  13. Sprinkle the crackers on top of the cheese, spreading in a thin layer.
  14. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes. (uncovered)

Let sit for about 5-10 minutes before serving so you don’t scorch anyone’s mouth.

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ENJOY!

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Saturday Sweetness: Apple Cake

 

Hello, Sweet Things!Saturday Sweetness

Happy Saturday to you!  It’s an overcast, gloomy day here in our neck of the woods… looks like it will be rainy around here for the next four or five days. I’m not complaining, though, because it means the weather will cool down even more and that means I might get my first fire in the fireplace for the season! Yippee!

Today I’m going to be spending some time in the kitchen – I’m planning to make a batch of my beef stew for a get together with some friends.  We’re not getting together until tomorrow evening, but I’m making it today so the flavors can meld and be even tastier by tomorrow.  I’ll cook it in the crock pot and then I can stick the crock in the fridge until it’s time to warm it up tomorrow.

I’m also going to make this awesome Apple Cake recipe. I’ve shared it with you before (years ago) but I thought I’d share it again. To me, it’s the quintessential fall cake recipe. My mom and I make it many times throughout the fall. Baking this sort of signals the beginning of the fall baking season to me.

It’s so simple to make and you probably have most of the ingredients on hand… and it is so worth it. It tastes super good.

I’m off to the kitchen – well, I am as soon as SuperMan relinquishes control in there. Right now he’s making our weekly Saturday breakfast smorgasbord and since it is one of the highlights of our weekend, I’ll just stay out of his way and let him go.  THEN I’ll get in there and do my thing the rest of the day. Smile

Here’s the recipe.  I hope you enjoy.

APPLE NUT CAKE

1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups apples, peeled & chopped (the smaller the pieces the better)
1 cup raisins

  1. Cream oil, sugar.
  2. Add eggs and vanilla.
  3. Sift flour with salt and baking soda.
  4. Slowly add (in 1/2 cup increments) to wet ingredients.
  5. Add pecans, raisins and apples.
  6. Pour into greased Bundt pan.
  7. Bake at 350 for one hour.

 

Cast Iron Skillet “Shepherd’s Pie”

My girls love “shepherd’s pie.”  Well, they love the shepherd’s pie that I make for them which has no vegetables in it.  Which, to me, is not really shepherd’s pie.  No matter what they say.

However, the “shepherd’s pie” that I make for them is an adaptation of one of my favorite things my mom would cook for us when we were growing up.  I’ve taken her base recipe and melded it with a shepherd’s pie recipe to create something of a hybrid of the two.

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Mom’s was mostly ground beef and mashed potatoes – with a lot of seasonings, of course.  I took that, along with the shepherd’s pie recipe that I learned from an old work chum who was from Britain and made something that my girls would eat.

Personally, I love shepherd’s pie. I love the amalgamation of meat, veggies and a hearty broth topped with mashed potatoes.  Comfort food at the very best.  But the girls would turn their noses up at the veggies and I would never get my shepherd’s pie.  So, I compromise – make this hybrid that they love and everyone is happy.

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This one I made in my cast iron skillet. It was genius – one less pot to wash – and I think it turned out really well.  You can certainly add some frozen mixed veggies to this to make it more of a true shepherd’s pie. If I was making it for grownups, I’d do that for sure.

Cast Iron Skillet “Shepherd’s Pie”

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
2-3 cups beef broth
1 cup finely diced carrots
1 cup finely diced onion
1-2 tsp minced garlic (about 1-2 cloves)
1 packet brown gravy mix
5-10 large potatoes
Worcestershire sauce
milk, butter, sour cream for mashed potatoes
salt & pepper
bay leaf

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. Peel, cut, & boil potatoes
  3. In a large cast-iron skillet, add some oil (about 1 tsp) and sauté the carrots & onions until the onion is translucent.
  4. Add the ground beef, seasoning with salt & pepper and garlic.
  5. When the beef is browned, sprinkle about 1-2 tsp of Worchestershire sauce over the mixture.
  6. In a separate small bowl, mix beef broth, gravy packet, to make a gravy.
  7. Pour the gravy mixture in the beef.
  8. Put one bay leaf in the mixture (remember to pull it out when you’re serving or someone will get a surprise)
  9. Mash potatoes, using butter, sour cream and milk. Season with salt & pepper.
  10. Top beef mixture with mashed potato.
  11. If you want, layer some cheddar or American cheese slices on top.
  12. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted & bubbly. (about 15-20 min)

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A few notes: you want your mashed potatoes a little dry as they will absorb some of the gravy while cooking in the oven. If they are too most to begin with they get runny.

I snuck the carrots in on the girls (they had no clue) and would probably even try some other finely diced veggies if I thought I could get away with it in the future.

I hope you enjoy!!
Linking up here:

Cheesy Breadsticks

My plans for dinner on Tuesday night went awry when I couldn’t make what I’d planned – and I ended up coming up with a new dinner to cook.

I rummaged around on my Pinterest pins and tried to find something that would be easy to prepare and simple for the girls to serve/eat as I would not be home at suppertime and I wanted minimal fuss for them.

I ended up stumbling across this pin – and it was a fortunate stumble indeed. We thoroughly enjoyed these – and the girls took leftovers in their lunches today. I sent them with a salad and these breadsticks for a side.  They were pretty excited about their lunches (which is always nice).

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I’d strongly encourage you to try this one night. Other than the rise time, it was pretty quick to assemble and well worth the wait for the rise.  GREAT, kid-friendly food (and would be good for a game-day snack, too!)

I served ours last night with marinara for dipping. I had some leftover spaghetti sauce from Sunday’s dinner, but you could easily use a jarred sauce. If and when I use a jar sauce, my preference is to use Barilla or Bertolli Tomato Basil marinara sauces.

The secret to these breadsticks:

I think the secret to these yummy breadsticks is the fact that I tried to mimic the environment of a pizza oven like you’d find at a pizza kitchen. You know how they cook pizza in a screaming hot oven? Like 900 degrees or something crazy like that? Well, I think that is part of what makes them so good. The dough rises fast, cooks crisp and turns out fantastic.

So, I tried to do this in my oven. There are a few suggestions for you:

  1. Preheat your oven.  As hot as you can. 500 degrees is the max on your oven? Go for it. I cooked mine at 500 degrees.
  2. Preheat your pizza stone. While the oven is heating, put it in there and let it get smoking hot, too. Don’t have a pizza stone? Use an upside down cookie sheet. (suggested in the original recipe I linked to above)
  3. Roll out your dough on parchment paper. This will allow you to just slide your parchment paper right onto the baking stone and then right off the stone and onto a pan when you take the pizza out. Less chance for accidents that way.

I did make some modifications to the original recipes, so I thought I’d share my finished recipes with you here –

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Cheesy Breadsticks

1 recipe pizza dough (recipe below)
2 Tbsp butter, room temperature
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 c parmesan
2-3 c mozzarella (or Italian cheese blend)
salt/pepper

  1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees (or as hot as you can)
  2. Add pizza stone to preheat with oven.
  3. In a small bowl, mix butter, garlic & Italian seasoning. Set aside.
  4. Roll out your dough on a piece of parchment paper. If you are using the fool-proof recipe below, you should get two “pizzas” out of it. I rolled mine to about a quarter of an inch thick by about 12-14 inches in diameter. (although it was nowhere near a perfect circle)
  5. Spread the butter mixture on the dough
  6. Sprinkle your cheese on the top.
    (I also sprinkled some mini pepperoni on there before I put the cheese down)
  7. Slide parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and then off the cookie sheet and onto the baking stone in the oven.
  8. Bake for about 9-10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and brown. Your dough should also bubble up nicely, too.
  9. Remove from oven. Let cool for 1-2 minutes before slicing into strips.
  10. Serve with marinara for dipping.

Pizza Dough

1 cup very warm water
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp honey (I used Agave syrup)
2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash Italian Medley)
~3 Cups flour (I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour)

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine water, yeast & honey. Let the yeast “bloom” for about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the oil, half of the flour (1.5 cups) and mix with a dough hook.
  3. While mixing, add the Italian Seasoning, salt and gradually add the remaining flour a little at a time until the dough begins to form a ball and pull away from the sides of the bowl.
  4. Knead for 6 minutes.
  5. Once the time has elapsed, remove the dough hook and form the dough into a ball.
  6. Lightly oil the mixing bowl and put the dough ball back in.  Cover with a towel and let rise in the for 45 minutes to an hour. (preheat your oven while dough is rising)

You can use this dough for breadsticks, pizza, calzones, etc.

You can also add 1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese to the dough for a cheesier crust. You may need less flour if you do this.

Remember, doughs are going to behave differently based on the humidity in your home – if it is a rainy day, you may need more flour than the recipe calls for. If it is dry, you may need less. The three cups the recipe calls for is a good guideline, but use your instincts and go slowly adding the last half of the flour into the dough. Let it incorporate a little at a time until you have the right consistency.  If you’ve got enough flour, your dough should not stick to the sides of the bowl and you should have a nice ball of dough that is not sticky to the touch.  (the original recipe I used has some good pictures of the consistency you are looking for)

Linking up with the Weekend Potluck.

Saturday Sweetness: Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars

Saturday SweetnessI stumbled across these bar cookies on Pinterest.  I decided they were going on my must-make list right away.  So, on a Saturday afternoon a couple weeks ago, I made them.

All I can say to you is this – You need to make these.

Like now.

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Go, get thee to the grocery store and get the ingredients if you don’t have them already.

Seriously.

These make great after-school and lunch snacks.  And because you’ve made them yourself, you know they only have real food in them, not a bunch of artificial junk.

And they’re deliciously addictive. It is hard to eat just one.

You’ve been warned.

(here’s the link to the original recipe)

Lunch Lady Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Ingredients

1 1/2 C All-Purpose Flour
1¼ tsp. Salt
½ tsp. Baking Soda
¾ C Butter
¾ C Sugar (I used Sucanat with Honey)
¾ C Brown Sugar (I used Sucanat)
1 ½ tsp. Vanilla
1 1/2 C Creamy Peanut Butter (split – I ended up using a whole jar of Peanut Butter)
2 Eggs
1 ½ C Quick Oats

Frosting:

½ C Butter (1 stick)
3 ½ C Powdered Sugar
(I used Sucanat with Honey and just “powdered” it in my blender)
2 T Cocoa
¼ C Milk (I used 1%)
1 tsp. Vanilla

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugars, 3/4 C peanut butter, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.
  4. Gradually add dry ingredients, just until incorporated.
  5. Then, stir in the oats.
  6. Spread onto a greased 11 x 15 Jelly Roll Pan (cookie sheet). (I used my Silpat mat and it worked great)
  7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes.
  8. The frosting is a two step process.
  9. First, whip the remaning ¾ C Creamy Peanut Butter until it becomes lighter colored and fluffy.
  10. Carefully spread the whipped peanut butter over the pan cookie. (the cookie should still be warm so the PB will spread, but not melt)
  11. Then, add butter to a small sauce pan and melt the butter.
  12. Add the milk and cocoa.
  13. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Heat just until boiling.
  14. Remove from heat and add vanilla.
  15. Then, gradually add the powdered sugar. Stir until thickened.
  16. Pour over the peanut butter and gently spread over the cookie.
  17. Cool completely, and slice into bar cookies.

And devour them like you’re the Cookie Monster

Join up with our Saturday Sweetness Link Up!

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Saturday Sweetness

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I’ve also linked up with the Country Cook Weekend Potluck.

Best-Ever Black Beans & Cuban Pork

 

Last Friday SuperMan and went to a Cuban restaurant for lunch.  I hate to say it, but the food was less than what we’d hoped for. As a matter of fact, it really just left me with a hankering for some good Cuban food. I was rather disappointed.

So, we decided to make our own!

I bought a pork butt and marinated it over the weekend and then decided Monday was the day to cook it. It was really good, but what was even better were the black beans I cooked with it.

They were surprisingly good. Like, really, really good.

Almost exactly like I’ve had from some of the best Cuban restaurants I’ve eaten at in the past and exactly like what I think of when I think of Cuban black beans.

After raving about it on Facebook last night, I received many requests for the recipes so I decided to share with you here.

It may not be “officially” Cuban, but it sure was good. We devoured it.

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(sorry for the blurry phone picture – didn’t have my glasses on and didn’t know it wasn’t focused!)

Pork Butt in the Crock Pott  Smile

4-5 pound pork butt

Marinade:
1/4 cup fresh lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
1 bay leaf (or 2)
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp minced garlic (or more)
1 Tbsp minced onion
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cumin (or more)

Houston House Seasoning

  1. In a large ziplock bag, add all of the marinade ingredients.  Add the pork and refrigerate. Let it marinate from 8-24 hours.
  2. Place marinade and pork butt in the crock pot and cook on high for the first hour and then on low for 6-7 hours.
  3. Shred meat, and serve with juices from the crock pot as “gravy.”

Best-ever cuban black beans

2 cans black beans (do not drain)
1 finely diced onion
1 finely diced green bell pepper
1 can petite diced tomatoes
1-2 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp minced onion

  1. Add all ingredients to a small crock pot (I use my “baby” one)
  2. Allow them to cook on low for 1-3 hours (no less than an hour)
  3. Serve with cooked rice.
  4. You can add some heat by adding some red pepper flakes if you desire.

eat and die of goodness. Smile

 

From my kitchen

 

Today is my crazy busy day – for work and for the girls.  Both of them have dance class and I have an afternoon of back-to-back conference calls. It makes for one tired mommy in the evening, that’s for sure.

To combat that, I try to do a little prep work ahead of time in the morning – preparing something yummy & healthy for dinner and planning out whatever else I need to for the rest of the day. It just saves my sanity and helps me to enjoy being with my kids more rather than stressing out and being cranky.

Today, I changed up my planned dinner. Usually, Thursdays are leftover nights (because it is easier to warm things up than cook from scratch when you’re running back and forth between school & the dance studio. can I get an amen?)

But today, I was thinking about the jumbo pack of mini-sub rolls I got at the warehouse store the other day… the same mini-sub rolls I just knew the girls would love for cute little sandwiches for lunch.  And the very same mini-sub rolls they most definitely do not like for their lunches – as evidenced by the returned, uneaten sandwiches two days this week. Sigh.

So, I was trying to figure out how I was going to use those rolls before they became a science experiment on my counter.  I don’t eat (much) bread and SuperMan is trying to cut back… which leaves quite the dilemma. Until you start to think about things like… garlic bread!

So, once my mind went to garlic bread, I decided to try out this new recipe I’d found on Pinterest – it’s for a crock pot ravioli casserole.  Perfect! And because I’m-a good-a little-a Italian girl, I have all the ingredients on  hand. (wink, wink)img_1962

With dinner planned out, I decided to tackle another looming kitchen problem. Bread.  I have gotten back on the wagon of making my own bread; partly to help Big Girl’s tummy issues and partly because it’s just so darn good.  But the problem is that Little Bit doesn’t like it and SuperMan isn’t wild about it (he’ll eat it, but I think he only does it because he doesn’t want to hurt my feelings).  They say it is too dense. Which, ironically, is what Big Girl and I love about it.

ANYWAY – I rummaged around and found an old bread recipe and decided to whip up another batch to see if I could make a lighter loaf.

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I made one as a cinnamon raisin bread and the other plain.  They’re cooling on the counter now, so we will see what the troops think when they return home tonight.img_1968

They sure SMELL GOOD – between the garlic and the bread, my house smells SO GOOD right now.

And speaking of garlic – here’s another fallen soldier:img_1967

I am going to have to start counting how many of these I go through in a year. I think I open a new one about every 2 months.

No vampire problems here, that’s for sure.

So, what’s going on in your kitchen this week?

 

Spinach Artichoke Pasta with Grilled Chicken

This was one of my recent recipe experiments thanks to Pinterest. I stumbled across the recipe and thought it was worth a try given that we all love Spinach Artichoke appetizer at restaurants.

I have to say, this one didn’t disappoint.  It was really, really good. So much so that Big Girl decided to have leftovers for dinner the next night instead of what we had already planned for dinner… and she ate two helpings. of leftovers.

Yeah, it’s that good.

This makes A LOT of food. So much so that I shared a healthy portion with our neighbors for their dinner the night I made it and we still had some leftovers.  So, save this for a meal when you’re having folks over or make it and give some away like we did. Your friends will love you if you do.

I don’t have a picture – it didn’t last long enough for me to get one – but here is the one on the Pinterest link:

I used ziti pasta instead of the bowtie you see here.  I don’t think it really matters. You could even use linguine if you wanted. Whatever you have on hand. It’s merely a vehicle to get the luscious sauce into your mouth. Smile

I also added some grilled chicken that wasn’t in the original recipe. I marinated it in some Italian dressing and then grilled it, cut it up and added the bite-sized pieces to the mixture as I added the pasta.

It was a hearty and filling dinner, a one-stop cornucopia of goodness for your mouth and your body.

Spinach Artichoke Pasta with Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

2-3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Italian Dressing
Houston House Seasoning

1 12 ounce box of pasta

1 tsp butter
2 Tbs minced garlic (about 2-3 cloves)
1 8 oz package reduced fat cream cheese
1/2 cup milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream
1/2 lemon, juiced (I used about 1-2 tsp of lemon juice)
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 14 oz can artichoke hearts (packed in water) drained & chopped
10 oz chopped frozen spinach, thawed, with as much water squeezed out as possible
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
Additional parmesan for serving

Instructions:

  1. Marinate chicken breasts in Italian Seasoning & sprinkled with Houston House Seasoning for about 1 hour.
  2. Cook pasta.
  3. While pasta is cooking, grill chicken. (or sauté in a skillet)
  4. Cut cooked chicken into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
  5. In a large skillet, over medium heat, melt butter and add garlic. Cook for about 30-45 seconds, being careful not to scorch garlic.
  6. Add cream cheese, stir until melted and combined with garlic.
  7. Slowly add milk, whisking it gently into the cream cheese.
  8. Add sour cream, lemon juice, salt & pepper flakes. Combine, being careful not to boil the mixture as the sour cream can curdle.
  9. Add in the artichoke hearts, grilled chicken, parmesan cheese. Mix to combine – you can turn off the heat here.
  10. Drain pasta.
  11. Add the pasta (if your saucepan is big enough) and stir to combine.
  12. Season with additional salt & lemon juice as desired (I needed both)
  13. Serve topped with additional parmesan.