Chicken Florentine Pasta

Chicken Florentine Pasta
via: The Pioneer Woman

Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 20 Minutes | Difficulty: Easy | Servings: 10

1 pound Penne
4 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
Salt And Pepper, to taste
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
3/4 cups Dry White Wine
3/4 cups Low-sodium Broth, More If Needed
1 bag Baby Spinach
2 cups Grape Tomatoes, Halved Lengthwise
4 ounces, weight Parmesan Cheese, Shaved With Vegetable Peeler

Cook pasta according to package directions in lightly salted water. Drain and set aside.

Cut chicken breasts into chunks and sprinkle on salt and pepper.

Heat butter and olive oil over high heat in a large skillet. Add chicken chunks in a single layer and do not stir for a minute or two in order to allow the chicken to brown on the first side. Turn the chicken and brown on the other side. Cook until done, then remove chicken from the skillet.

Turn heat to medium. Add garlic and quickly stir to avoid burning. After about 30 seconds, pour in wine and broth, stirring to deglaze the pan. Allow the liquid to bubble up, then continue cooking until it's reduced by at least half (most of the surface of the liquid should be bubbling at this point.)

Turn off the heat. Add spinach, tomatoes, chicken, and cooked pasta to the skillet. Toss to combine; the spinach will wilt as you toss everything. Add plenty of Parmesan shavings and toss to combine.
Serve with extra Parmesan shavings.

Dodie's Sweet Potato Casserole & Honey Beans and Spinach Slow Cooker Dinner

Dodie's Sweet Potato Casserole

6-7 large sweet potatoes, peeled, sliced thin (It is best to get two different kinds yams and/or sweet potatoes and alternate layers for a fancy look)
1/2 - one stick of melted butter
1/2-3/4 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese, grated

1. Peel and slice the jams/sweet potatoes.

2. Pour some of the melted butter into the bottom of a 9" x 13" pan and spread so that it is greased with the melted butter.

3. Cover the bottom with a layer of overlapping potato slices.

4. Brush the layer with melted salted butter, sprinkle cheese across the layer (about 1/4 cup per layer)and sprinkle with just the tiniest bit of nutmeg, along with a few twists of black pepper. Repeat, til you use up all your potatoes! Covered tightly with foil.

5. Put it in a preheated 375 oven for an hour. After an hour (and judge by eye and touch if potatoes have cooked enough), take off the foil and put back in the oven for about another 15 minutes, until the top layer looks melty and a bit browned.

6. Let sit for 10 minutes or so to tighten up and make it easier to cut - and there you have it!

* You can do the same thing with white potatoes, and can fool around with the kind of cheese you have, but I've found that the harder cheeses work best with this - Asiago, Parmeson, Romano - and that cooking this in a heavy baking pan works best too.

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Honey Beans and Spinach Slow Cooker Dinner
serves 4-6

Dodie's Notes:
I wanted to make a vegetarian dinner that we would all enjoy, and thought about making Honey Lentils, since it's always such a hit, but desperately needed to use up the sweet potatoes and spinach from the produce drawer. The end result was PHENOMENAL (shouting warranted, this time).

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 onion, diced finely
2 medium (or 4 tiny) sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground corriander
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup honey
1 (12-ounce) bag baby spinach, washed (even if the bag says washed, rinse it off again)
2 tablespoons cream cheese (optional)


Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Drain and rinse both cans of beans, and dump them into your crockpot. Add the onion, garlic, and sweet potato. Add dry spices, and stir in honey and lemon juice-- you want the beans and veggies in the pot to be coated with them. Rinse off your spinach, and add it to the pot. You'll need to squish it all in, but I promise it'll fit. Plop a dollop of cream cheese on top. Cover, and cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for about 3. Stir well before serving over a bed of white or brown basmati rice.

The spinach on top may stick to the edges of the pot and get a bit crispy. This is okay-- just peel them off and stir them in. The bit of cream cheese mixes with the lemon and honey to create a fabulous sauce. If you'd like to keep the dish dairy free, just omit the cream cheese; it's not necessary and won't be missed unless you do a side-by-side comparison, which would be kind of a weird thing to do if you're avoiding dairy.

The Verdict.

I get it that I can't rave about every dish each time I write and have it be believable. BUT I LOVED THIS. Dishes like this make me happy that I've learned how to cook with the slow cooker. I never ever ever would have attempted such a dinner 4 years ago; the ingredient list would have sounded funky.

Paleo Recipes - Tiki Marsala, Curry "Fried Rice" & Asian Salad

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