Chicken Florentine Pasta

I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog, and it was WONDERFUL!  Very delicious, and it made me feel healthy. :-)  She has much better pictures, and a much better description, so you should just hop on over to her blog and read it there....

but for those of you committed to staying here, here is the list of ingredients:

1 pound of penne
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup dry white wine (didn't have any so I skipped this)
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 bag of baby spinach
2 cups grape tomatoes, cut length-wise
4 ounces of parmesan cheese, shaved with vegetable peeler (did not have chunk parmesan, just grated parmesan for spaghetti, so I used that ~ it doesn't look nearly as nice, but it tastes good!)

Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain, and set aside.

Cut the chicken into bite sized chunks, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add to skillet on high heat with butter and olive oil.  Lay flat in one layer and let the chicken cook on one side for a couple minutes.  Turn chicken over and cook on the other side.  Let the pieces cook through until they are nice and done.  Remove chicken from pan and set aside.   Turn heat down and add garlic to pan, stirring it around so it doesn't burn.  Pour in the white wine (if using) and chicken broth (double the amount of chicken broth if not using wine).  Allow the liquid to bubble up, and then cook so it is reduced by at least half.   Turn off the heat.

Add spinach, tomatoes, chicken, and cooked pasta to the skillet.  Toss to combine.  The spinach will wilt a bit as you toss with the hot chicken and pasta (and this is a good thing).  Add parmesan shavings (or grated parmesan) and toss again.

Voila!  Chicken florentine pasta!  Thank you Pioneer Woman!

Food Prep for the Week / Menus for the Week

With two birthdays this month, one party, Mother's Day, driver's ed, and an unexpected washing machine repair, we came to the end of the money in the grocery envelope, with several days of the month left to go, and no available envelopes to "rob" from.  I love challenges like this!  Last weekend I spent considerable time preparing the food we did have for future meals, so as not to waste any.  Also, this makes dinner preparation go much more smoothly during the week if some of the steps have already been done.  I enlisted the children's help, and we got a lot accomplished!

We cooked up the three pounds of hamburger I had in the freezer, then split it into 3 bags and re-froze it.

We chopped up a bunch of veggies for dinner that night, sautee'd the leftover onion and then froze it.  I have not frozen pre-cooked onion before, so this is an experiment!

 

 

We pulled the skin off lots of chicken thighs and drumsticks, marinated some of them for dinner, and froze the rest for future meals.

We had several over ripe bananas, so we mixed up a huge double batch of banana muffins to have at breakfast over the course of the week.

I also baked four loaves of bread for the week!  (three pictured)





With all of our cooking on Saturday, by Sunday we were tired of being in the kitchen, so we made something super fast and easy for dinner ~ scrambled eggs!

Here are our dinner menus for this last week of May:

Friday:  pizza and salad

Saturday: tomato-curry lentil stew (crock pot), home made bread

Sunday:  roast, carrots, and potatoes (crock pot)

Monday:  bbq chicken on the grill, garlic potatoes, fruit

Tuesday: taco soup (crock pot), tortilla chips

Wednesday: poppyseed chicken, steamed veggie


Thursday is payday, which means GROCERY SHOPPING and therefore all new food to work with!!!!!!!!

Honduran "Reprochetas"

For extra credit in her Spanish class, our daughter made these reprochetas one night for dinner. They were a bit labor intensive, and because she fried just one at a time, it took a while to make enough for the whole family. But they were really, really good! They are a traditional meat-less Honduran dish.


Ingredients

corn tortillas (we prefer flour, but bought corn ones for this in order to be "authentic"!)
tomatoes
onions
lemon juice
salt to taste
oil
Queso fresco, a soft white cheese similar to mozzarella (we found this with no problem at our large local grocery store)


Chop tomatoes and onion, mix with a bit of lemon juice (sorry no measurement!) and salt to taste. Set aside.


Heat just enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan. Slice the cheese and put between two corn tortillas.




Lay the tortilla stack in the hot oil and fry on one side until lightly browned. Flip over and fry on other side until equally done.




Remove from pan, drain, and pat excess oil dry with paper towels. Top with the tomato/onion mixture and eat like a tostada.


Enjoy!

Fresh Raw Tomatoes with Basil

Here is a simple way to use up the last of your fresh garden tomatoes, and it's sooooo good!!!


Ingredients:

Fresh Tomatoes
Fresh Basil
Parmesan Cheese, sliced
Garlic Expressions salad dressing

Slice up tomatoes and cheese. Layer around a plate. Cut up some basil and sprinkle over tomatoes/cheese. Dribble some garlic expressions salad dressing over everything. Chill, and serve! Soooo delicious!

(thanks to my friend Lisa for the Garlic Expressions recommendation!)

Whole Wheat Corn Waffles

This is another breakfast recipe I found at The Happy Housewife. Love her website!

Heat up waffle iron while mixing batter. In the original recipe she says to mix the wet ingredients first and then stir in the dry, but I did the opposite so I could more easily adjust the addition of the milk. I'm glad I did, as I used just slightly over 3 cups of milk, rather than 4. I just kept checking the consistency of the batter as I added.

Mix in large bowl:

3 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground or store bought - can also mix whole wheat and white)
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 T baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt

Add to dry mixture:

4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup oil
3-4 cups milk (add milk slowly to adjust - if using white flour you will use less milk. Batter should be pourable but not runny)



Pour mixture onto hot waffle iron and cook.


Voila!


The children ate theirs with syrup, but I put vanilla yogurt and blueberries on mine. YUM!


Freeze leftovers and re-heat in the microwave or toaster!

Homemade Granola

Another recipe from The Happy Housewife, and another winner! The first batch I made didn't even get used for breakfast by the kids ~ it was munched on as a snack until the bowl was completely licked clean! (I did manage to sprinkle some on a bowl of yogurt for breakfast)

3 cups dry oatmeal
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup wheat germ (didn't have so left this out)



First melt the butter in a 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the honey and salt and stir well. Turn off heat and add the oatmeal and wheat germ (if using). Stir well, then pour the mixture onto a greased cookie sheet. Try to spread the mixture out as flat and evenly as possible.


Bake at 375 for 10 minutes (I baked mine for 15). It will be a golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container.


GREAT breakfast or snack, easy to make, and very popular with the children. I plan to make repeatedly!

Bull's Eyes for Breakfast!

This is a recipe I got from The Happy Housewife, and it was a real winner!

Need:

slices of bread
butter
eggs

Put a dollop of butter in hot frying pan to melt. Cut a circle or a heart or whatever shape you desire out of a slice of bread, and lay the bread and the cutout piece in the pan to begin frying. Break an egg into the cutout so that it cooks along with the bread. Cook about 2-3 minutes on one side, then flip and cook an additional minute on the other.


Serve the bull's eye with its little cutout piece and enjoy!