Spinach, Chicken & Rice Soup

We all love this soup, especially topped with sour cream & crackers.

2T olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1-10 oz pkg. frozen, chopped spinach

1 cup cooked chicken- chopped or shredded

1 1/2 cup cooked rice (white, basmati or brown)

1/2 t. crushed red pepper

1/2 t. oregano

1/2 t. salt

1/4 t. black pepper

6 cups chicken broth

Saute onion in oil for 5 min in large soup pan.  Thaw spinach.

Add spinach, chicken, rice & spices to soup pan & cook for 1 minute, stirring.  Add broth & heat to low boil- simmer for 10 minutes.

Mac & Cheese

My little pasta piggie eats a lot of this every week.  Lately I've been steaming cauliflower while I cook the mac & cheese, puree it in the food processor with a little bit of water & just mix it in.  Normally it's about 1/4 cup of cauliflower.  He doesn't notice & I think it actually tastes better.  Since broccoli is the only fruit or veggie he'll eat, I take any opportunity I can to get him a little more nutrition!

Pizza Quesadillas

Last night I made Pizza Quesadillas for dinner. Yummy, quick & easy. I topped whole wheat tortillas with a cheese mix, sauteed mushrooms & pepperoni. Then we dipped them in warm pizza sauce. It was a hit all around & I didn't have to make a trip to the grocery store!

Soup time!

It's really freakin' cold outside. What's your favorite soup to make?

Deceptively Delicious!

I got the Jessica Seinfeld cookbook Deceptively Delicious for Christmas & have been cooking with it for the past week. I spent 4 hours in the kitchen the other day steaming, pureeing & freezing vegetables to sneak into my dinners. It's made me really excited about cooking because I feel like I'm doing something good for Jack, who doesn't eat any fruit at all & will only eat a little broccoli. And, once I started cooking her recipes it's been easy to see how I can adapt the purees for other foods I normally cook.

Here's what I've tried so far:
Pancakes w/ sweet potato puree- I make some pretty good pancakes & the sweet potatoes made them 10 times better. Yum.
Grilled cheese w/ sweet potato puree- Yum again. I add goat cheese crumbles to my grilled cheese. You couldn't even tell something was different about these.
Spaghetti Pie- The sauce had pureed carrots & the meatballs pureed broccoli. This was so tasty. Even better the 2nd day after I baked it again like all pasta.
Mac & Cheese w/ cauliflower puree- This was okay- a little creamy, but not terrible. It was reminiscent of cafeteria mac & cheese.
Sloppy Joes w/ sweet potato & butternut squash purees- John & I both liked this a lot. Yum, yum.

Pork Chop and Potato Bake

Nate and I both liked this. See my notes below.

10 3/4 oz. can cream of chicken soup
24 oz. pkg frozen shredded hashbrowns, thawed (I could only find 20 oz. package near the eggs and sour cream at Schnucks)
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp. pepper
2.8oz. can French fried onions, divided (I think this was in the canned vegetable aisle; i had to ask a worker)
4-6 pork chops, browned (I used boneless)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided

Combine soup, hasbrowns, milk, sour cream, pepper, half of cheese, and half of french fried onions; spread into a buttered 13X9" baking pan. Arrange pork chops on top; sprinkle with seasoned salt. Cover with aluminum foil; bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Top with cheese and remaining onions; bake, uncovered, 5 additional minutes. Serves 4-6

Other notes: Cook hashbrowns in a skillet (in a little olive oil) before putting in casserole since they take longer to cook than the recipe allows. Also, I browned the pork chops for about 30 seconds on each side before putting them in casserole, but I wonder if this made them a little tough (anyone have more pork chop baking experience than me?) They were still very good, but not tender.
I served with Sister Shubert yeast rolls (in frozen foods near waffles at Schnucks) and apricot jelly.

Penne with Chicken, Spinach, Tomatoes, and Feta

This is really fast, and Susanna (7) actually liked it more than me. Svgs- 4

Preheat to 475 degrees.
24 oz. cherry or grape tomatoes
2 T olive oil
5 cloves garlic (chopped)
3 tsp crushed red pepper
2 cups roasted chicken breastmeat (from a pre-cooked Rotisserie), shredded
8 oz. penne pasta- cooked
6 cups fresh spinach
1/2 cup feta cheese

Mix tomatoes, oil, garlic, and crushed red pepper in a baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake until tomatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook and drain pasta. Reserve about 1/4 cup pasta cooking water.
Add chicken to last few minutes of cooking tomato mix. Toss pasta, 1/4 cup pasta cooking water, tomatoes, juices, chicken, and spinach. Stir until spinach wilts.
Season with salt and pepper.
Top each serving with feta.

This was a REALLY quick recipe. I got home from the store and I think it was on the table in 30-35 minutes.