Spinach and Chicken Casserole

 

With fall upon us, I've begun to crave more soups, comfort foods, and casseroles.  While Kyle was on his last business trip, it was a rainy, chilly week, so I decided to throw together a pretty easy casserole with chicken, multi-grain macaroni noodles, peas and spinach.  It turned out great!  This is definitely one of those dishes that tastes better and more flavorful with each passing day.

 

 

Spinach and Chicken Casserole

 

You'll need:

• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tb butter
• 2 Tb flour
• 1 Tb onion powder
• 1Tb garlic powder
• 2 cups peas
• 2 cooked chicken breasts, chopped
• 2 sprigs thyme
• 1 spig rosemary, chopped
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 350-degrees.
• Cook macaroni noodles as instructed on box.  (I prefer whole grain or whole wheat noodles.)
• Heat a medium saucepan to high heat.
• Whisk 1 Tb butter and flour into a paste in the heated pan.
• Whisk milk into butter and flour paste.
• Whisk in the rosemary, thyme, onion and garlic powder.
• When the mixture becomes creamy, whisk in the spinach.
• Salt and pepper the sauce to taste.
• When the noodles are done cooking, drain them.  Then, pour them into a 2 1/2 quart corningware or baking pan.
• Add the peas and chicken to the pan.
• Pour the sauce over the noodles, peas, and chicken. 
• Stir to combine ingredients.
• Place pan in the preheated oven.
• Cook for 15 minutes.
• In a small bowl, mix 1 Tb butter with breadcrumbs (I stir them together with a fork.)
• Sprinkle the bread crumb mix over the casserole.
• Cook for 10 minutes, or until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and the casserole bubbles.
• Enjoy!

 

In Case You Were Wondering...

I've been a very busy lady!  Here are some of the yummy things I"ve made lately.

Homemade honey wheat bread:

I have a newfound respect for people that make bread from scratch for a living.  Kneading for ten minutes!  For two loaves of bread!  My arms felt like jelly afterwards!  But you know what?  It's the best wheat bread I've ever had, and I think I'm going to make bread every week now.  Buff arms here I come!  (Oh wait, I carry around a 30-pound toddler...already have those...well, a little extra never hurt!)

Last Friday, my best friend Juice needed 24 creme brulees for his dance instructor's birthday party.  I topped them with homemade whipped cream and served them with a side of sugar-crusted mango tossed in lemon juice.  I forgot to get a photo of the mango salad...but here are some photos of the creme brulees:

I made some steamed sweet potato slices as a side for dinner the other night.  I melted some butter, brown sugar and cinnamon in a ramekin and drizzled it over the sweet potatoes.  Yum!



Last Saturday I whipped up some killer breakfast sandwiches.  I toasted my homemade honey wheat bread and filled them with simple cheesy scrambled eggs and crispy bacon.

Lastly, here's a cake I made for my Daddy.  He's officially a pilot!

The cake was 2 layers of chocolate and one layer of vanilla, filled and iced with vanilla buttercream, and topped with my favorite candy from Canada, Coffee Crisp!

I'll be sharing more of my baking and cooking adventures next week!  Have a great weekend!!

Mama's Meatloaf for the Fearful Eater

No matter how long you know someone, or how well you think you might know them, it always seems that there's always something new out there to surprise you.  For me, it's just how little my husband ate growing up.

The other day, I wanted meatloaf, and he responded with "I don't eat meatloaf.  It's disgusting."  I looked at him like he had three heads!  "What?  Didn't you eat it as a kid?  It's all the things you like..meat, ketchup.  Meat.  Ketchup?"

Needless to say, he conceded that he also didn't like spaghetti growing up, and now that he's an adult, he absolutely loves spaghetti and meatballs, so he agreed to give the meatloaf a try.  His reaction?  Yummo!  He liked it so much, he brought the leftovers to work for lunch!

This is a ridiculously easy way to make a meatloaf.

Ingredients:

1 lb lean beef (we usually get 90/10, but if that's too lean for you 80/20 is okay too.)

3/4 cup bread crumbs

(4) sprigs thyme (only use the leaves)

(1) egg

1/4 cup chopped, carmelized onions (I prefer Vidalia)

Dash of salt and pepper (optional)

Ketchup

This is what all of the ingredients in the bowl should look like:

Directions:

• Chop onions and put in a lightly oiled cast iron skillet on medium heat (I use a sprinkle of olive oil).  Cook the onions until they are a light golden brown.
• Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl.  Mush them together with your hands or a fork.  You don't want to make it too dense though, otherwise the meatloaf won't be as light as it should be.
• Mold the meatloaf into an evenly wide and tall log.
• Put the mold in a lightly oiled/greased pan.
• Cover the top of the meatloaft with Ketchup
• Turn the heat in the oven to 350 degrees.  After the oven is preheated, place the meatloaf in the oven for 30 minutes.

Shazam! You have an easy peasy dinner!  This also reheats great for lunch!

Variations:

• You can add cheese to the mixture.  Parmesan for a more Italian flavoring!
• You can use spaghetti sauce, or plain tomato sauce.  I used ketchup because it's one of Kyle's favorite dippings sauces, and I don't add any salt to my meatloaf, so this gives it that extra kick it needs.
• Meatloaf mix makes the best meatloaf.  I used lean meat in this recipe because it's cheaper and easier to find.  Plus it's one of those things that's almost always on hand.
• You can add dried cranberries (I saw this on Dr. Oz the other day).
• You can also add the ketchup to the mixture if you want a tomato taste throughout.
• To make it totally different, if you have extra brown gravy, you can pour that overtop while it cooks for some yummy meaty goodness!
• If your kids hate onions, just use onion powder, or use a cheese shredder for the onions.  I've used a cheese shredder for onions with a lot of people who like the flavor but hate the texture.  It works every time.
• My friend Laraine suggested using barbeque sauce in place of the ketchup if you don't have a ketchup loving household.  I used to do this when I nannied and the little boy I nannied for hated ketchup, but would eat barbeque sauce on everything. (which really, can you blame him?  the stuff is kind of awesome!)

This is what the meatloaf will look like before you put some ketchup on it and pop it in the oven:

I'd have completed pictures of the meatloaf if Kyle hadn't dove into the sucker when I'd left the room for a minute!  I'm making this again this week, so I'll post more pics soon!