BSI: Spinach (Chicken and Spinach White Sauce)

Please take a few minutes to vote for my pets in the Pet of the Year contest, hosted by our local newspaper. I really appreciate it!

I made a little hors d'oeuvre platter for Johnny and me to snack on tonight while waiting on the pasta water to boil. Muenster cheese, pepperoni, and crackers.

Now, onto dinner! This week's BSI (blogger secret ingredient) contest is hosted by Brandi at Bran Appetit! and she chose spinach, which I was really excited about. It was pretty convenient, since I had a bag of fresh spinach on hand!

Unless I'm baking, I usually don't measure ingredients out, I just throw in what feels "right," tasting along the way. I'll try and estimate the measurements below, but feel free to tweak until it tastes good to you - that's what cooking is all about!

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp 50/50 Smart Balance
2 Tbsp flour
2 1/2 cups 1% milk
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzerella
2 pre-cooked chicken breasts, sliced
1 cup fresh spinach
spaghetti, enough for 2

To start, I melted the butter in a deep-sided skillet and then added the flour, stirring to make a roux. Let this cook for a few minutes over low heat, until it turns beige, so the raw flour taste disappears. Next, pour in the milk and whisk to incorporate, so there are no clumps. While the milk is fresh in the pan, and still cold, I like to whisk in the corn starch, otherwise it clumps in warm and hot liquids.

At this point, I turned the heat up to lower medium low, and left it at this level the rest of the cooking time. I like to create my white sauces on a really steady, low temperature. I stirred in the garlic powder and let those flavors develop a few minutes, and then stirred in the cheeses and let them melt. Whisk the sauce gently until everything is creamy and evenly distributed. (At this point, I thought the sauce was a little flat, so I added the salt.) Then, throw in the pre-cooked chicken slices (this is a good way to use up leftovers!) and let them come up to temperature a few minutes in the sauce.


Next, right before the pasta is ready to drain, throw the spinach leaves into the sauce. They'll only need a minute or two to wilt in the sauce. By the time you drain your pasta and spoon it on the plates, it should be ready to go!



I spooned the pasta on the plates first, and then ladled the sauce over top, making sure to let each plate get even amounts of chicken and spinach. Last, I topped with a little extra freshly grated parmesan cheese.


This is a really easy sauce that you can whip up in just a few minutes, in the time it takes the pasta to cook! There are so many possibilities with the cheese combinations and additions to throw in. Because I start with 1% milk it's never rich and heavy like an alfredo, so even gentler flavors, like the spinach, can hold their own paired with it.

Pet of the Year

Voting begins today for Pet of the Year!

PLEASE vote for Corky and Poe (entry # 3) once on each of the 6 sites:

www.frankfortstation.com/pets
www.homerhorizon.com/pets
www.mokenamessenger.com/pets
www.newlenoxpatriot.com/pets
www.opprairie.com/pets
www.tinleyjunction.com/pets

Vote on your desktop, your laptop, your work computer, your blackberry... etc. Anything that has an internet connection!

My votes aren't working again, but others miraculously have 400+ votes the day the contest opened -- so it's a long shot, but PLEASE VOTE on each of the sites, and pass it on to friends, family, and co-workers and tell them to do the same!


We thank you tons and tons!!!

Christina, Corky, and Poe

Pan-fried Pork Chops

Updated: You can now view a video of this pork chop dinner being prepared!

Tonight's dinner uses one of the buy 1 get 1 free packages of pork chops. I rinsed them, patted them dry and seasoned both sides with a little garlic powder. For the coating, I dredged them in salt and pepper seasoned flour, beaten egg, and panko breadcrumbs (no whey!). Then, I pan-fried them in a little vegetable oil for about two and a half minutes each side because they were only about 3/4" thick. If you were cooking the thick-cut ones, I would go 3-4 minutes on each side. I took them out of the pan and let them rest on paper towel for a couple minutes as the rest of the meal came together. They were really tender and juicy - just how I love pork. The instant it turns dry, nothing can save it for me.

To accompany the pork chops I made my mom's rice-a-roni. We ate this all the time growing up, made from scratch and it never occurred to me until I was in my late teens that it was rice-a-roni. Until I moved out, I'd never even had rice-a-roni from a box, only this home-made version. It's simple- I promise! Probably a lot healthier than the boxed version, too. Just break some dried spaghetti noodles into 1 - 2" pieces and brown in a saucepan with just a little butter and olive oil. Next, throw in 1 cup of white rice, 2 cups of water and a bouillon cube (or 2 cups of stock). Bring to a boil, stir, lower the heat, cover, and let simmer for 20 minutes. You could also substitute brown rice, just adjust the cooking time to 30-50 minutes, depending on the brand, package instructions, etc. This re-heats really well in the microwave, so you could make a big batch and have it as sides for two dinners during the week. My mom has frozen it before, thawed it, and reheated it later, too! Just remember to add a small amount of water to prevent the rice from drying out and getting crunchy in the microwave.

Finally, I steamed the last of the Superbowl broccoli with some frozen peas. I love vegetables, so I never really require much spice or seasoning. I prefer the untampered flavor of steamed vegetables, as long as they aren't overdone and soggy. I like them on the crunchier side, where the colors are all still bright and vibrant, and the flavors haven't been watered down.


An interesting little tidbit for you, that my brother told me: panko, which are Japanese-style breadcrumbs, are actually ELOCTROCUTED (crazy, right?!?) loaves of bread. There are two types of panko, the white (what I used), which uses crustless bread, and tan, which uses the entire loaf. Apparently they send a surge of electricity through the bread and it electrocutes it, exploding it into the crunchy little breadcrumbs, packaged up and sold as panko! If you're having trouble finding panko at your grocery store, try looking in the ethnic food aisle, by the Chinese food. That's where mine was hiding!

Speaking of my brother, he's currently back home in North Carolina, visiting my parents with his girlfriend, who is also a CIA graduate chef. My dad was bragging to me earlier that the two of them are making dinner for my parents tonight. Baked chicken, risotto with real, yes real, black truffles (his words), squash, and mushrooms. Lucky ducks. Not only do chefs cook really awesome meals, but they are dish-washing phenoms! I guess they must get a lot of practice, but Michael can have a whole sink of dishes washed and drying before the meal even hits the table. Double lucky ducks.

Cuisinart contest! Make a video, less than 10 minutes in length, cooking a "how-to" recipe and just use a Cuisinart product in the process. Then, submit the video and if you win you get to choose five Cuisinart products! There's six different entry periods, ranging all the way until December of 2010! View their website for more submission and contest rules, but what a great prize!

Alisa at One Frugal Foodie is giving away two separate boxes of dairy- and nut-free dark and milk chocolates for Valentine's Day!

Pie Plate Salad

Another pie plate salad tonight, since Johnny's re-heating the stuffed crust pizza he ordered during the Superbowl. I set to work using up leftovers my own way - on a salad!

Tonight's salad consisted of:

Butter lettuce leftover from the lettuce wraps
Superbowl broccoli, celery, carrots, green peppers and cucumbers
leftover chicken breast from last night's dinner
sliced almonds
sunflower seeds
chinese rice noodles from the lettuce wraps
shredded sharp cheddar cheese
dried cranberries
Annie's Goddess dressing

This week's BSI is hosted by Brandi at Bran Appetit and she chose SPINACH! I'm really excited because I absolutely loved Popeye growing up and could not have fallen for the whole spinach ploy harder. I cannot remember ever not liking spinach, even though it always had a bad reputation. Earlier today I was trying and trying to rack my brain to recall a recipe I used to make in high school. I can vividly remember thawing frozen spinach to squeeze out the excess water and mixing it in with a batter of some sorts, but my memory ends there! Very frustrating. I'll have to search through some old notebooks I used to write recipes down in and see if anything looks familiar. Otherwise, I'll get creative with some fresh spinach I have on hand.

How cute is this pasta for a special Valentine's Day dinner? Bonus that it's on sale!

No Reservations: Chicago

Tonight was Anthony Bourdain No Reservations: Chicago. How exciting was it to watch a show and actually be within reasonable distance to go try the things out?! Very. Well, at least for me.

My new goal in life is to eat at every one of the establishments Tony visited. They even condensed them in a neat little list for me. Well, maybe not all, because Moto and L20 have three figure menu prices per person. That's a little out of the budget.

I have to say, I agreed wholeheartedly with every word he said about Chicago pizza. God, it felt good to hear somebody else say it aloud. Wickedly good. I was giddy. I'm sorry, but I'm just not a fan of Chicago pizza and I seem to be the only person in a 5 state radius that thinks this. It doesn't quench that "pizza" craving for me, because something about it just isn't pizza in my mind. If I'm eating it, I just have to look at it as a generic meal and I can admit it tastes good, but "pizza," as I know it, it is not. Although, I am willing to give Burt's a chance, because even Tony liked it. And Burt made me laugh out loud, literally.

I was also really excited to see that fish smokery! Good seafood! Hallelujah! I'm not a super huge fan of smoked food, but again, I want to give it a chance and also will definitely enjoy the fried seafood.

The two I'm probably most excited about are the Silver Palm Restaurant and their three little pigs sandwich that Tony and Mancow went berserk over. I'm also a "total egg slut" and love a fried egg over anything. And, again, I agree wholeheartedly with Tony's words, this time complimentary ones, about Chicago dogs. I love hot dogs and this city does them right. Hot Doug's dogs had me wanting to lick the TV screen and I cannot WAIT to try the duck fat fries. Yummy, yummy!

Grilled Chicken and 4 Veggie Couscous

During the amazing meat department sale my favorite chicken breasts were half off, so I grabbed 5 packages. I love the Perdue thin sliced chicken breasts because a one pound package usually yields six to eight thin breasts, versus the three super chunky ones of a regular breast package. Also, they are usually trimmed very well with none of the tendons and veins that sometimes appear in the regular breasts. Because they're so thin, they cook up super quickly and are also great for smaller portion control and milking two to three meals out of one package.

Tonight, I made a quick marinade of Drew's garlic Italian dressing, garlic powder, salt and pepper. I heated my grill pan really hot and cooked the chicken on the stovetop. I like Drew's dressings because they're all natural and whey free, but the Italian one turned out to be a dud on flavor. It's taste is so mild it gets lost on a salad, so I've been using the bottle up as a marinade or in place of olive oil sometimes.

While the chicken was cooking away, I put 1 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan, a splash of Drew's dressing (in place of the recommended olive oil) and the seasoning packet from Near East's Herbed Chicken couscous.

I love the tenderness of couscous. It satisfies that pasta craving, but doesn't leave you feeling all weighted down and tired like a big bowl of spaghetti sometimes does. I saw it made on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern once and it was really cool! This woman had a very large, shallow wooden bowl filled with the ground semolina. She'd sprinkle water over top and roll her hands over the whole thing, forming the tiny pasta balls we know as couscous! She made it look easy, but I definitely think it's a practice-makes-perfect technique! Getting the right amount of water, and the right hand process down. I'm sure if I tried it'd just be big, soggy blobs and other areas still completely dry!

While the water and seasonings were coming up to a boil, I chopped about 1/4 cup each of carrots, celery, green pepper and broccoli from the Superbowl party's leftover veggies. I threw these in the boiling water for about a minute, then dumped in the couscous, cut the heat and put the lid on.


Five minutes later, we had a delicious plate of tender, juicy grilled chicken and a 4 veggie couscous that hit the spot!

***Giveaway alerts***

Biz is having her beginning of the month giveaway here.

Hangrypants is giving away a jar of almond butter here.

I had so much fun with my giveaway last month, I've decided to make it a monthly thing, too! In honor of my birthday, it'll be every month on the 23rd, so make a mental note!

Super Cheap Superbowl!

My mom, who just celebrated her 50th birthday yesterday, has been a piano teacher for over 30 years. Growing up, she hosted dozens and dozens of events, recitals, performances, Victorian teas, fundraisers, and parties in our home. She pulls out all the stops for each of these, and has always done it on a budget. I've watched over the years how a little bit of prep-work on your end can save a lot of money on the grocery shopping end.

Before each of these events, my brother and I (sometimes cousins and friends, too!) would each receive a chopping board and a knife and be put to work. Meanwhile, my mom would assemble an amazing antipasto platter that would be featured prominently in the center of the kitchen, on a rolling butcher's block.

To put things in perspective: our local grocery store has a 3 pound vegetable platter for $27.99. I've seen meat and cheese platters, pre-packaged for ~$15. By doing the work yourself, you not only cut the cost, but also have the freedom to choose the quality, quantity, and variety of your own ingredients. This is especially important if one of your guests has an allergy.

I'm not sure how many pounds of vegetables I cut up, but I know it was a lot more than 3, because I cut up 2 pounds of carrots alone. Also, 1 bunch of celery, 2 green peppers, 2 cucumbers, and my receipt says 1.49 pounds of broccoli. My cost? $9.83!

I made my own dip from sour cream and a soup packet, because I was unable to find a container that didn't contain whey. Not only did this end up saving me money, it is healthier and tastes better, in my opinion. The 12 oz. container of dip was on sale for $2.89, but my 16 oz. home made version cost $2.67.

Finally, I cut up my own brick of cheese and roll of pepperoni. Add the buy one get one free box of crackers that I also had a $1 off coupon for, and the entire platter totals $7.14.

All this washing, peeling, and cutting took me less than an hour and I actually enjoyed it! Maybe it's all those years of practice, but I find it relaxing to sit at the counter and work my way through vegetables, meat, and cheese - turning them into neat platters as the end result.

Happy Superbowling, everybody! And heads up to my fellow Chicagoland neighbors: Monday night at 10 p.m. on the Travel Channel is Anthony Bourdain No Reservations: Chicago.

"Anthony Bourdain loves the edge and energy of big cities. So how is it that he has avoided Chicago for so long? In this episode of "No Reservations," Tony sets off to rectify this situation and to finish some unfinished business of his own – to discover new culinary treats, and the secret of the ever-popular deep-dish pizza."

***Contests alert***

Biz, I'm thinking that Easy-as-Pie-Pizza one has your name on it! Personally, the healthy whole grains one is calling to me!