Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, Artichoke Hearts and Dijon Pan Sauce

I'm posting this one because it's healthy and I didn't use anything weird that people may be afraid to try. And it's almost as easy as making a sandwich.

5-7 julienned sun dried tomatoes
can of quartered artichoke hearts
half a bag of fresh spinach
2 chicken breasts flattened and marinated in any garlic-herb seasoning (you can even buy a bottle of it)

Warm a bit of extra virgin olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add chicken breasts (really important you flatten them to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick) and saute a couple minutes on each side until a little browned and almost done.

Add sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, fresh spinach and the juice of half a lemon to the pan and cook until spinach begins to wilt.

Pan Sauce:
Move the chicken and veg to the sides of the pan and add about a tablespoon of Smart Balance (or butter, if you must) and about the same amount of dijon mustard right in the middle of the pan. If you are unfamiliar with pan sauces, PLEASE don't ever use yellow mustard in something like this because it will end up tasting like a hot dog. Break down the butter and dijon and add chicken stock. I don't know how much! I never measure! I'm guessing about 1/2 cup. Let reduce and thicken and add a splash more until you have amount of sauce you want.

Plate pretty and eat. Oh, the temp you want to use is in the middle of medium and medium high. Enjoy!

If Heaven is Real, it's Made of Quinoa Soup

I wish I could take credit for this soup, but it's not my recipe. I nabbed it from bread-and-honey.blogspot.com. I changed a few very small things, but of course, I didn't write them down. You can't go wrong with this soup. It is the ultimate "this will heal you whilst you're sick in bed" soup. I ate 6 bowls of it in one evening. Phenomenal. I added a shake of red pepper flakes and paprika, because I'm Greek and add paprika to everything.

About 8 cups of chicken stock
A heaping plateful of mushrooms, chopped into bite-sized hunks. (we used shiitake, portabella, and criminis)
1 yellow onion, cut in half then slivered
a few cloves of garlic, finely minced
Juice of half a lemon
Brown mustard (something fancy, if you've got it. Stone ground whatever.)
Large handful of fresh spinach
1 cup of quinoa
Fresh Thyme
Hunk of butter (Stacey used Smart Balance)

In a large stock pot, saute onions & garlic with chopped mushrooms. Squeeze in juice of half a lemon, a generous squirt of brown mustard, and throw in a chunk of butter. Stir frequently while sauteing, and when everything begins to cook down and soften, add 6 cups of chicken stock, and a few sprigs of fresh thyme.

In another pot cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups of chicken stock. Keep to the side until the end.

To the soup pot, add 2 whole chicken legs (thigh & drumstick, bone-in, skin removed.) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming the soup every so often. When meat is cooked, remove chicken legs, shred meat, and return to pot.

Add cooked quinoa, a handful of fresh spinach, and more mustard and lemon juice (and zest, if you'd like) to taste.

It's Not About the Salmon

...it's about the quinoa pilaf in this picture. The salmon is just a simple marinade of tamari, honey, shallots, five spice and rice wine vinegar. I may have added a few more ingredients, but I don't remember. You can't screw it up.

Anyway, the quinoa takes the cake! While I toasted a handful of organic pine nuts, I sauteed shallots, red onion, shiitake mushrooms and hit it with a bit of garlic and white wine. I removed it from the heat and threw in the nuts and flipped it a few times to combine. I added the wonderful mixture to quinoa that was cooking in organic free range chicken broth about 5-7 minutes before it was finished cooking. If my 20 month old son screamed for more quinoa pilaf and Jesse, Maximus and I ate about 6 servings of it, you know it's a winner. I'm sorry I never measure anything. I'm trying.

Open and DIVE IN!

Don't open it, I'm kidding. This is the most disgusting thing on the planet.

Limited Resources

I've had a difficult time finding certain kinds of sausage here in Lincoln. I don't know why most stores only sell breakfast sausages and brats. Ew. Anyway, I managed to locate some Smart Chicken sausage the other day. I removed it from it's casing and created spicy chicken sausage with fire roasted tomato, portobello and garlic sauce over whole wheat bucatini. It was divine. Spicy, sweet and balanced. And who knew Target sold whole wheat bucatini?! I found it on the end of an isle on clearance and grabbed it.

And finally...at last...I got my hands on some whole wheat panko. I don't know why whole wheat anything is hard to find.

Boo!

Relax, they're just organic banana bran skull muffins with dark chocolate features.

Tuna Casserole

Tuna casserole is a guilty pleasure of mine. It's one of the dumbest things to make, but I could eat the entire casserole in one sitting. It's one of my favorite things my mom would make me as a kid. I've taken her recipe and added my twists to make it a teeny bit healthier:

8oz whole wheat egg noodles (cooked)
2 cans of tuna
1 can organic cream of mushroom soup (use Amy's semi condensed-the flavor is richer)
Splash of organic milk
1 small package organic peas (cooked)
Potato chips

Spray a casserole dish. Dilute the mushroom soup with a bit of milk, but keep it thick. Put the noodles, tuna, peas, soup and crushed potato chips in single layers, ending with the chips on top. Dot with Smart Balance Light and bake for 45 minutes to an hour in a 350 degree oven.