Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

     I hadn't gone shopping so I didn't have many ingredients, I simply used what I had in my kitchen. I took my boneless skinless chicken breasts and cut a horizontal slit in each one being careful not to cut all the way thru.

     I opened my can of chopped spinach and added very little salt, some pepper, and some ranch dip I had made with sourcream and Hidden Valley ranch powder. Maybe just a tablespoon or so. I mixed it well and stuffed it inside the chicken breasts. I then took two toothpicks each and secured the breast closed. They were not completely sealed. Just enough so that I could carefully turn them over without too much spinach falling out. Very little if any did.

     I heated my frying pan after I sprayed some Pam into them and seared the breasts on both sides. Then I turned down the heat and added a little butter, olive oil, water, and worcestershire sauce and cooked them, turning them over a couple of times so they didn't burn. The liquid kept cooking down, so I had to add water a couple times, but only enough to keep the bottom of the pan wet and the chicken from burning.

     I served it with chopped cucumber pickles mixed with chopped tomatoes, and real mashed potatoes with salt, margarine, pepper, garlic, and milk.

     The end result was both my husband and my son loved it! I only made one piece for each of us but next time plan to make more. By the time I was serving myself they were already looking for seconds on the chicken. Hurray!

     Oh, I almost forgot that I had a packet of peppercorn seasoning to make sauce which I made and used as a gravy for the chicken and the potatoes. The flavors worked perfectly together.

Good Use For Spinach

     When I was a kid I hated spinach. My mother didn't make it often but when she did we had to eat it. I liked vegetables and the problem really didn't have anything to do with taste. It was because it was so long and stringy I would choke on it. It wasn't until I was an adult that I tried it again and loved it. I'll eat it cooked or raw.

     Now, understand that my husband and son like simple meals. In fact, my husband would be happy with just a bit of ground beef salted and cooked into a burger or with potatoes. He calls that hamburger stew. I on the other hand love to experiment and fancy things up.

     Anyway, I had this can of chopped spinach I didn't know what to do with so I took a chance that night and made spinach stuffed chicken breasts.

     I had two additional problems. The first is that my husband hates cheese so I can never make anything for him with cheese in it, for him anyway. The second problem is that my oven is broken at the moment, so whatever I make it has to be broiled or stovetop. I do have electric roasters, a microwave, and a couple of crock pots. See my next post to find out how things worked out.

Vegetables With Sesame

     If you've got leftover red cabbage or are just looking for a new way to make your vegetables, here's a recipe I found that will just hit the spot!

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 green bell peppers
• 2 medium zucchini
• 4 small carrots
• 1 tbls. olive oil
• 1/2 small head red cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 4 tsps. white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbls. sesame seeds

     1. Julienne cut the bell peppers, zucchini, and carrots. Add oil to a medium hot pan them stir fry the peppers, carrots, and zucchini for about 5 minutes.

     2. Add cabbage, salt, and pepper and stir fry for another minute.

     3. Mix together vinegar and water and add to pan, stir fry for about another 3 to 4 minutes.

    4. Put sesame seeds into the pan and stir fry for one more minute. Serves about 6.

Photo by Alykat

Dessert

     For dessert I've been having frozen plain bananas. They were on sale for 29 cents a pound so we bought a bunch. The problem with bananas in my house is they usually go uneaten and have to be thrown out. So when I do buy them I wait until they are firm and ripe and then I peel them, cut them in half and wrap them in plastic wrap. Put them in the freezer and they are wonderful.

     What I really like about these is that they take a long time to eat and they are very tasty without having any additional calories from the usual chocolate and nuts. They are good and good for you, try some.

Photo by Alibree

The Rest of The Red Cabbage

     I had bought a head of red cabbage for my vegetable soup but only used about a quarter of the head. What to do, what to do with the rest of the cabbage. I just made some pea and carrot salad, so I didn't want to make cole slaw too. I'm probably the only one in my family who's going to eat it anyway so I needed to use the cabbage for something else.

     My mother used to make cabbage & beans, which we all loved. So that's what I settled on. It's a simple but flavorful recipe. Chop your cabbage into short strips and boil till soft. In another pan you saute chopped onion in some oil or shortening till they're transparent and well carmelized.

     Drain your cabbage, add the onions, and a can or two of pork & beans. Mix well and heat through. You can use it as a side dish for some kind of sausage or hot dog, or even as a main dish. We love it. If you can't or don't want to use pork & beans, you can use baked beans of some kind.

Photo by Sanberdoo

The Set Aside Chicken

     As I said before I had a lot of leftover chicken so I made a to die for chicken salad. I combined the chicken, garlic, onions, celery, green pepper. I then used that new mayonaise made from olive oil with some pepper.

     It was great, I had it on crackers, rye bread, white bread, toast, and toasted onion bagels. Mmmmmmmmm!

     I like to add some kind of chopped nuts or seeds like pumpkin or sunflower along with some diced tart apple, but for this recipe I simple used what I already had in my kitchen.

Photo by Theogeo

Vegetable Soup

     I have some misgivings about calling this vegetable soup because I did use about four of the chicken leg quarters to further flavor my broth. I started with a pot of water and added the chicken pieces, some garlic, onions, celery, green pepper, red cabbage, tomatoes,and carrots.

     I of course had to refrigerate it and let the chicken fat rise to the top as a solid so that I could scrape it off, then I added some noodles and enjoyed some really great but simple vegetable soup.

Photo by Foodistoblog

Photo by Foodistablog

More About My Soups

      Here's more about my chicken soup. I used tongs to take out the bigger pieces of chicken and a large spoon with holes to take out the smaller pieces. You really are supposed to then run it through cheesecloth or a strainer, but I did not.

     What I did do was put the pot of broth in the frig so that the fat would rise to the top for removal and I stripped the chicken itself for acceptable pieces for eating. Then I took a sharp knife and cut the chicken into small pieces for the soup. I had so much chicken that I set some aside for another use.

     At no time did I add any salt. I'm retaining a lot of water lately and I know that for me it's the sodium and table salt, along with fast food and bags of snacks, but that's another blog.

     In my kitchen my base ingredients for most of my recipes are garlic, onions, celery, and green peppers. So of course I added these to the chicken broth while the chicken was cooking.

     The next morning I skimmed off the fat and added some chopped baby carrots and the egg noodles, along with some pepper. For the rest of my family they could add their own salt at the table. Of course there are a lot of options for flavor with different herbs and spices, but I decided to keep it simple this time. I froze a couple containers and refrigerated a couple for eating right away.

     It was delicious! Low cost, low fat, and low sodium. What more could you ask of soup?

Soups

     With the sudden change in the weather here in the great  midwest, I've been thinking a lot about soups and warm comfort food.

     A couple days ago I made two soups, one a chicken noodle soup and the other a vegetable soup.
I started with a ten pound bag of chicken leg quarters which I bought on sale for .39 cents a pound. I actually started out just wanting to make my own homemade chicken broth but the soup just seemed too good to pass up. So much for the broth!

     Anyway here's a tip when boiling your chicken. Cover the pieces with water. Bring to a boil and let it cook on a low boil, which I did. However nice it is to boil it till the meat falls off the bones be careful as I discovered boiling it too long some of the bones fall off also. I was unaware of this and have these small pieces of ribbed bone structures among my noodles and veggies. You are supposed to strain the broth but I did not do that carefully enough. Come back tomorrow for more about my soups!

Photo by Robert S. Donovan