Spinach Apple Cranberry Salad for 2

I made myself a list of dinners to make to keep our meals less boring around here.  I get tired of the same old dinners all the time and thought why not do things a little different, break up the monotony.  This past year with the quarantine going on, social distancing, locked in and restaurants being closed, we eat all of our meals at home now and don't have the variety that restaurants have to offer.  I use to enjoy taking a night off of cooking dinner and going out to eat with the hubby on a Friday or Saturday night.  That doesn't happen now, but hopefully we can get back to that soon.

  Cooking all your meals at home takes a lot of creativity so it doesn't get boring.  I have never been the cook that has to have a pasta meal on Sunday, just because it's Sunday.  I like variety, it is the spice of life in my world.  I let my taste buds guide me to what I will make for dinner when I get up in the morning.  I go to my freezer pull out what I want and plan what sides, if any, I'll prepare to go with my meal. I'm lucky in the sense that my hubby will eat anything I put in front of him, he's good that way, hahahaha! Once, we had breakfast for dinner, he thought that was exotic.

Last night I made this Spinach Salad with Apples, Cranberries, Grilled Chicken and Bacon for dinner.  It was easy, and what I thought would be good in it I had in the fridge or pantry.  I put it together in just a few minutes and it was not only filling it was very tasty.

Recipe Below.

I started layering all my ingredients in a bowl.  I tossed in a little spring mix with my spinach, I'm crazy that way.

Cranberries, candied walnuts and a fresh Gala apple.

I used this Chicken as a shortcut, just heated it up in a frying pan.

One bag was good for two nice sized salads.

Add the chicken and feta cheese, because feta is always good.

And bacon, because that too always makes everything better.  I crisp this up in the microwave for added crunch.

Add the chicken.

And I used this gem of a dressing I found at Shady Maple an Amish grocery store.  You could probably make your own, although I don't have the amounts of the ingredients, you would have to use your taste as your judgement.  The ingredients are - apple cider vinegar, sugar, water, crushed red pepper, apple sauce, cinnamon, salt and apple juice.  Shake in a bottle or whisk it all together, season to your taste. Feel free to use any of your favorite dressings, a honey mustard or balsamic vinaigrette is good with it too.  

My salad topped with dressing and plain crispy wontons.  It was delicious!

Spinach Apple Cranberry Salad for 2 

Ingredients

1 9 oz. bag Perdue short cuts chicken strips

1 small bag fresh spinach

1 small box spring mix greens

1 large Gala apple

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup glazed walnuts - or nut of your choice

1 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup bacon crumbles- crisp up in the microwave

Salad Dressing of your choice

1 cup crispy tortilla strips

Instructions

In a frying pan over medium heat, warm up the chicken strips and break them into smaller pieces as they heat. Set aside.

Divide the spinach between two large bowls.  Toss some spring mix with the spinach in each bowl.  Cut the apple in half and core it, cut into chunks and toss with the lemon juice.  Divide the apple, cranberries, walnuts, chicken, feta cheese and bacon between the two bowls.  Pour on the dressing and top with the crispy tortillas. Enjoy!

 

Lovin' The Pasta with Beans

We have been doing a lot of vegan cooking in the kitchen so far this year, I'm liking it.  It's easy, trying different food combo's is fun, and it doesn't hurt the body to eat a little more healthy.  Now I must confess, I am not eating everything totally vegan, but the majority of  my meals and desserts are, since I have a full-on vegan living here, and he is very strict with his food.  I think his way of eating is a little over the top, but he's young, not old like me.  When you're older got to watch them bones!

 There is a lot of truth to the vegan way, he has lost a tremendous amount of weight, which I could stand to loose.  But, after all these years of eating a certain way, it's hard to give up things you like (real Pecorino-Romano cheese for one! love that stuff).  So I try everyday to cut the bad things out, and use vegan ingredients/substitutes instead, to make the dishes I like.

On the menu for Sunday night's dinner, pasta and beans, good healthy stuff.  Instead of meatballs, I used beans, and although I am not a fan of whole wheat pasta, my son had that, I made my favorite pasta,  linguine (it was protein linguine), and it was fabulous!

Recipe below.

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A few of my ingredients.

 Getting the sauce going in the pan.....

 I love using fresh herbs.....

 Everything is combined and simmering in the pan.

 Towards the end of cooking, add the spinach and the beans, easy!

 And what you have here is a delicious, heart healthy meal, enjoy!
 I HAD to have the cheese....what's pasta without cheese?

 Pasta and Beans

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

5 cloves garlic, minced

28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, more if you like heat

3/4 cup red wine

2 bay leaves

8 basil leaves, sliced chiffonade style

3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

15 oz can Cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

2 cups fresh spinach, stems removed

1 pound linguine or other pasta

Directions

In a large pan over medium high heat, heat the olive oil.  Saute the minced garlic until fragrant, but do not brown it.  Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, crushed red pepper, red wine, bay leaves, basil and parsley.  Reduce heat to medium, cover and let cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken, if it's too thick add a little bit water.

One half hour before serving, add the spinach and the beans and let cook until spinach is wilted. Start a pot of salted water for the pasta. Remove the bay leaves from the sauce before serving.  Top pasta and sauce with grated cheese, serve with crusty Italian bread. Makes 4 servings.

NOTE: If you do not like chunky tomatoes in your sauce, use an immersion blender, after adding them to the pan, to chop them up a little, or put the tomatoes in a blender before adding to the sauce. Using the immersion blender also makes the sauce smoother, creamier and gives it a silky texture.

I Did It My Way - Chicken Florentine

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, it's my favorite place to be.  I write The Bee Skep blogs from my desk in my kitchen, while I drink my morning coffee or tea.  I think of ideas of what to make for dinner to keep the dinner plates interesting.  I get tired of eating the same old things all the time, gets boring or I'm not satisfied and then eat junk after dinner because my belly is not full, BAD MOVE!  More food makes more of me, and I don't need any more of me, the good Lord has been too kind.

Some of the things I get done in the morning are: I  rise around 5:30 AM, shower, get dressed and feed the kitties.  Then I take something out for dinner, write my blog, read emails and think about what I have taken out for dinner and what I am going to do with it.  Creative juices flow until about 12:00 noon. By then I have a meal plan, sometimes including dessert.  I get all things ready as much as I can, never know when the hubby is walking through the door, he has a long commute.  He sends me a text about 20 minutes before his ETA and I start cooking, he is always curious as to what he is getting fed, so I let him know.

I took chicken cutlet out for dinner and my plan was a Chicken Florentine, my way of course.  This was a new dish for me, never made it before.  I'm exploring as you can probably tell from these last few weeks of blogs.  It's fun, and so far so good on all the recipes.

Recipe below.

To print recipe, click on it, highlight and print.

To view photos in a larger format, click on them.

I started with fresh spinach, chopped garlic and extra virgin olive oil.  Chop and seed two plum tomatoes.  Love the plums, meaty and tasty all rolled into one!

Oil and garlic in the pan, cook until fragrant and add 3 cups of fresh spinach.

Add salt an pepper and saute until wilted, it won't look like much but it will be.  Good way to get your greens (as my grandmother use to call them).

Add tomatoes and saute them for about 2 minutes.  In the pan divide the mixture into 4 equal parts for each chicken cutlet.

Now for the chicken.  I had four chicken cutlets so that is what I made the recipe for.  If you are cooking a larger amount add ingredients accordingly.  I used four slices of provolone, cut in half so you have 8 slices and four slices of prosciutto.

Pound the cutlets flat, add two slices of provolone.  Ahhh, everything is better with provolone.

Add one slice of prosciutto on top of the cheese and 1/4 of the spinach mixture.  Look how pretty those colors are!

Roll them up seam side down and onto a plate.  

Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to a frying pan and heat over medium-high heat. Place the chicken seam side down.

 Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cover the pan.  

 Cook for 8 minutes, turn and cook for another 8 minutes on the other side.  Cover and reduce heat to simmer.  Let them rest, they have been working hard in that pan!

 On to the Creamy Basil Alfredo Sauce - These are my ingredients.

Melt butter, add the heavy cream and cheese, whisk.

 Add the basil, I love basil!  OK, back to the sauce.  It's done when the thickened sauce covers your wooden spoon.

 Plate your Chicken Florentine and pour some of the sauce over it and serve.  Now what you have here is an awesome restaurant quality meal good enough for company too.  This meal was pretty easy to cook even though it looks hard.  Now go and prove you can do it!

 I served my chicken on a bed of orecchiette, it's a round disk shaped pasta.  I tossed the pasta with the remaining Creamy Basil Alfredo Sauce.  And my side dish, roasted whole baby carrots in balsamic.  This meal was amazing, the hubby liked it so much he took the leftovers for lunch!

Oh, I almost forgot, this is the orecchietti I used, it absorbs a good amount of  sauce.

 Chicken Florentine

Ingredients

For the chicken

2 tablesooons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

3 cups fresh spinach

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 chicken cutlets, pounded flat

4 slices provolone or sharp provolone, cut in half

4 slices prosciutto

salt and pepper

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, for cooking the chicken

Directions

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, but do not brown it.  Add the spinach and saute until wilted.  Add the chopped tomatoes and cook for 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat. In the pan, divide the mixture into 4 equal parts.

Pound the four cutlets until they are flattened.  Add two slices of provolone cheese and then 1 slice of prosciutto to each cutlet.  Top with the spinach mixture, roll each one up and place seam side down on a plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Add the last 2 tablespoons of oil to the same pan and heat over medium-high heat.  Place each chicken cutlet roll in the pan seam side down.  Cover and cook for 8 minutes, turn them over and cook for another 8 minutes. They should have a nice brown color to them. Keep them covered, reduce heat to simmer, let them rest and stay warm.  Make the Creamy Basil Alfredo Sauce.

Ingredients

For Creamy Basil Alfredo Sauce

1 stick of butter

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup grated Parmigiano cheese, divided

8 basil leaves sliced (chiffonade style)

salt and pepper

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium size sauce pan over medium - high heat. Reduce heat to medium and slowly add the cream with a whisk, continue stirring as it cooks. Add 1/2 cup of the cheese and stir it in. The sauce will thicken as it cooks, but do not let it boil it will burn. Add the basil.  The sauce is done when it heavily coats the back of a wooden spoon, about 15-20 minutes. Turn the heat off, add the other 1/2 cup of cheese and stir it in until it melts. Serve over the chicken and/or pasta.

Delicious Sauces (Gravies)

We made three sauces, or gravies if you will, for the Italian Feast Dinner.  I had an Irish mother who learned to cook Italian food from her Italian/Sicilian mother-in-law, but my mother still called "the gravy" the sauce.  So that's how I grew up calling it "the sauce" instead of "the gravy".  Three big pots of sauce for 25 big appetites to feed.  So here they are and they were fabulous.

Red sauce with homemade meatballs and braciole.

 Fresh clam sauce (recipe in an earlier blog)

 Fresh spinach and portobella mushrooms in a garlic olive oil sauce.

 And hey, you can't eat pasta without Italian bread, right?  You need something to sop up all those sauces. So, I made this ciabatta bread with garlic cheese butter (Wegman's) and fresh Pesto (Costco). Cut the bread in half, spread with garlic cheese butter then spread the pesto on top of that.  Broil until melted, browned and crispy, slice and serve hot.  Yummy!