Chicken Spinach Gnocchi

I had all these ingredients I wanted to use up tonight, and no recipe.  So I searched the interwebs and couldn't find exactly what I wanted.  So I just made one myself!  Basically here's what I did:

1 Chicken Breast
2-3 shallots
2 cloves garlic
1-2 tbs olive oil
1/2-3/4 cup frozen chopped spinach (from a bag)
1/2 a 25 oz (1lb 9 oz) bag of frozen gnocchi
7 strips of turkey bacon
3 tbsp cream cheese
1/3 cup fat free greek yogurt
splash of milk...maybe....1/8 cup?
1/4 cup shredded parm cheese

boil water for gnocchi and preheat oven to 350
microwave turkey bacon until crispy, about 5 minutes
sautee shallot in pan with olive oil
slice chicken breast in half lenghtwise, then slice each side into thin strips
once shallots start to soften, add chicken and garlic
put gnocchi in to boil once water is up, cook until they all float to the top, then drain and set aside
sprinkle frozen chopped spinach into pan.  Crumble bacon.
once spinach is thawed and incorporated, add bacon.  add cream cheese and yogurt
add splash of milk and stir until everything is creamy and incorporated
add gnocchi and stir until well combined.  add to square baking dish (glass), sprinkle with parm cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes

I didn't add any salt of pepper (the bacon is salty all on its own), and I think next time I'll make the sauce a little thinner by adding some more milk, because the gnocchi sucks it all up pretty fast!  I might even add some chicken stock.  Ooh!  Yeah I like that idea.  Oh, and maybe some sundried tomatoes, or diced grape tomatoes....mmm possibilities of deliciousness.....mmmmm..... :)

Lemon Chicken with Rice

This was our dinner tonight, and it was really good!  Started by putting rice in the rice cooker and getting that going.  Cut two chicken breasts into smaller pieces, coated in a bit of flour, salt, pepper, and paprika.  Sauteed in a nonstick pan with a pad of margarine until brown on both sides.  Put about a cup of chicken stock in the pan (or enough to cover chicken) with the juice of one lemon and half a tsp-1tsp minced garlic and a tbsp or 2 of parsley flakes.  Simmered for about 10 minutes.  To thicken the sauce up a bit I took about a tsp of corn starch and a couple little spoonfuls of the sauce in the pan and mixed them together until smooth.  stir it in the bubbling sauce in the pan until it thickens.  Return the chicken to the pan and heat through.  In the meantime I microwaved some corn and plated the rice.  Put everything else on the plates and mmmm...dinner!

Pulla Bread

Pronounced "boo-la", this is a Finnish bread that my mother's friend makes every year around the holidays.  It's SO amazing.  Braided, with cinnamon, cherries, and big granules of sugar on the top.  Slice a piece, pop it in the toaster and butter it....wow.  It goes without saying, I look forward to this EVERY year. Yum!

Chicken with Lemon-Leek Fettuccine

I'm always taking pictures of the food I eat, but I keep falling behind editing them.  So I might just make a bunch of retroactive posts, to make up for lost time.  This was our dinner last night.  I've been trying to incorporate more veggies, and things I haven't tried before into our cooking.  Lately I've fallen in love with Leeks.  Like a giant green onion with a light mild flavor. I think they're fabulous!  I used this recipe from Cooking Light.  It's supposed to be linguine, but since I didn't have that I used fettuccine.  I used a little olive oil when I cooked my chicken, and didn't add more butter when I sauteed the leeks and garlic.  It brings all the brown bits up off the bottom and makes a wonderful light sauce.

  

This was really really good!  I indulged and just had pasta, but in the future I can make less pasta and add a veggie.  It's not as much as it looks like, because we usually eat dinner on luncheon plates.  It makes you feel like your plate is full so you can get away with smaller portions without feeling skimped.  I think I'm going to make this a part of my regular meal rotation