Kerry's Chicken With Pasta - Easy and a Good Way To Sneak in Some Green Veggies!

Now anyone who knows me will tell you, I am no fan of green vegetables. I do not like them, Sam I Am.  I will force myself to eat canned green beans, but after 40 plus years of doing it just to please my mother, it is still forced. I do not like them.  That is the only green veggie I will eat.  However.... I have found a way to "sneak" baby spinach into a few of my recipes. My kids didn't know at first, then they protested, but once they realized they'd been eating it and enjoying it, they really didn't have a leg to stand on.

Here's the thing with spinach, it's like a sponge. It will absorb the flavors of what you are cooking, so if you use it in a recipe with a lot of herbs/seasonings, it won't taste like 'spinach'.  The other thing I do is I pulverize it in my food processor until it's an unrecognizable green paste.  I add it to meatballs, meatloaf, and this, now favorite family recipe.  It's broken down so much, you don't even know you're eating it, which, in my book, is a good thing :)

Also, with the spinach so pulverized, there's no way to  "pick it out!"

With this recipe, I also add sun dried tomatoes in the food processor with the spinach. I like tomato sauce and ketchup, hate tomatoes. It's a texture thing. But again, pulverized to a paste.... you get a hint of the sharp tang of the sundried tomato, but never a big bite of it, or the texture of the tomato. So, another bonus for me and my fussy kids.

This is also a recipe that you can tailor to meet the tastes of your family. It is so easy, super quick, can be made ahead of time, frozen, varied depending on what's in your pantry and easily zap some "add on" items for people who want certain things that aren't like by everyone.

For instance, you could cook peas, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, etc., separately, and let only those who want those items to mix them in after they've dished out their portion.  That's how we have to do it here at Picky Eater Central.

One of the reasons this is so easy is you can make it with convenience items. I buy bags of frozen, pre-cooked chicken to use. I try to keep a bag on hand as it's great for a lot of things.  You could also use a rotisserie chicken from your market deli - an especially good buy on their $5 days that most markets have. You couldn't buy that amount of chicken for $5 and it's already cooked. All you have to do is strip the chicken, which is pretty easy. The other convenience item is Land O' Lakes Sauté Express - which is AWESOME! Unfortunately, only 1 market near me carries it. I've asked my regular market again and again and they won't carry it. Annoys the heck out of me, but as long as I can get it, I'm happy. This is a fabulous product and I highly recommend you try it.  If you can't find it, you can try making your own (see below *).  Or you can try using Italian salad dressing.

Oh - and I always make a huge batch so we can freeze the leftovers for another meal on another day.

So - here we go! 

Kerry's Chicken and Pasta

1 Box corkscrew pasta
1 cup shredded carrots (you can use diced or sliced if you prefer)
Land O' Lakes Sauté Express Italian Herb
2 bags frozen chicken strips or diced ( I usually buy Tyson Grilled Strips)
1 can chick peas (aka garbanzo beans)
Approx 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
5 - 6 sun dried tomatoes in oil (adjust as you feel to taste and depending on size of tomatoes)

1. Boil the pasta according to directions on box.
2. I add the shredded carrots to the boiling pasta because I like the carrots thoroughly cooked. If you want them crispy, you can leave them out of the pan and add them in at the end.
3. In an electric skillet on 300 or large pan on med, place 3 cubes of the LOL Sauté Express.
4. Add the 2 bags of chicken. Cut up and extra large pieces.
5. In food processor add spinach and sun dried tomatoes. Puree until a smooth paste. Add to the chicken.
6. Drain the chick peas and add to the chicken.
7. When the pasta and carrots are cooked, drain and return to pan. Place remaining 3 cubes of Sauté Express in with the pasta and mix until melted and thoroughly combined. Add to the chicken mixture and combine.
8. Cover and continue to cook until chicken is hot all the way through.

You can freeze this for future meals. Just thaw and reheat in a skillet or frying pan.

There are so many things you can add/change to this. Sometimes I add pine nuts or a can of corn (the only vegetable all 4 of us can agree on! lol). But you could add water chestnuts, any kind of vegetable, use a different meat, or perhaps fish/shellfish.  You could use a different flavor variety of Sauté Express (Garlic and Herb, Lemon Pepper, Teriyaki, Southwest).  You could put it in a casserole and cover it with cheese.

You can also put all the ingredients into a ziplock bag and freeze to put in crockpot (just cook the pasta first and I'd suggest a couple of frozen cubes of chicken stock).

We made this and are having it tonight and the 2nd helping is going to a friend who is recovering from surgery. (Hope you and Bill and the kids like it Carol! :) )

So! Get creative! Think outside the box, use what you have on hand and think of ways to make it easy.


* Make your own herbed butter:

1 stick  butter (1/2 cup), softened

4 Tbsp olive oil

Herbs and spices of your choosing (approx. 2 Tbsp)

 

Mix together and place into plastic wrap. Roll into a log and then wrap up and refrigerate. Cut off slices as needed.

6 Easy Recipes for Packaged Pork Loin

You see them all the time in your supermarket sales flyers - packaged pork loin.

But what do you do with them? Do you roast them in the oven like a pork roast? Sure, you can put it in a 375 degree oven for about an hour. If you're lucky, you can even get ones that have already been marinated in garlic or teriyaki or some other flavor. If not, just add your own seasonings. You could even grill it.  If needs be, you can even cook it on your stove top, as long as you cook it to 160 degrees internal temperature.  A great convenience food and better than hitting the drive through!


But my favorite thing to do with them - the crock pot! Yup! That's right. The crock pot. Put those babies in a crock pot with just a few ingredients and you have a great meal. And the really great thing - if your local store has a great sale, buy a few of them and put the pork loins and the ingredients into a ziplock freezer bag and freeze them! Then when you want a fast and easy dinner, you just dump it all in the crock pot.

Here are 6 recipes that are super simple and delicious. I cook them all on high for 4 - 6 hours.

*See Notes at the end

1. Basic pork with gravy. Doesn't get any simpler than this. Just put the pork loin in the crock pot, pour in some pork gravy. 1 extra large jar or 2 regular jars.  When it's cooked it will be more like a thick broth than a gravy, but it will be tasty! And your pork will be flavorful and tender. Make life super simple - add a bag of frozen veggies and some canned potatoes and your whole meal will be ready for you.

2. Cran-Apple Pork. Awesome and the kids love it! Put in your pork. Add one 8 oz can of cranberry sauce and 1 cup of apple sauce. (I use the snack cups of apple sauce I always have for the kids and just dump 1 in there).  That's it. Yummy!  Depending on the likes or dislikes of your family, you can use the chunky kind of cranberry sauce and you can dice apples up in this as well.

3. Figgy Piggy. Now, I don't normally like figs. Don't even like Fig Newtons.  But this is good stuff.  Put the pork in the crock pot, add one large jar fig preserves about 14 oz (or 2 jars if you can only find small ones).  Add 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard.  If you have it, add 1/2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar. I don't always have the balsamic in the house and it's not a deal breaker. I like it better with it, but it's still good without it. I know it can be pricey, so don't go out and buy some just for this. If you don't have it, the preserves and mustard are good alone.

4. Garlic and Rosemary Pork. Super tasty! You put all the dry ingredients (listed below) into a bowl and mix them. Then you rub your pork loin with a little olive oil.  Rub the seasoning mix onto your pork and pop it into the crock pot!  Seasonings: 1 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 3/4 tsp ground rosemary, 3/4 tsp ground thyme.  If your pork loin doesn't have much fat on it and it seems like it is a bit dry while it's cooking, you can add a splash of chicken or beef stock, but you really shouldn't need to.

5. Honey Mustard Pork Loin. Easy peasy! 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup Dijon mustard poured over the pork in your crock pot.  You want to add a little pizazz? Dice up 2 apples and add to it.

6. Maple and Brown Sugar Pork. Not for dieters! 1/4 cup plain old pancake syrup. 1/4 cup brown sugar (light or dark). 3 tsp ground mustard powder. 1 tbsp. balsamic or apple cider vinegar.  Mix all of these ingredients and place in crock pot. Put in the pork and turn the pork to coat. (if you want to use real maple syrup, only use 2 tbsp.)


*Notes - those recipes that have liquid/sauce, if you desire, you can remove the pork from the crockpot when cooked and cover with foil to keep warm. Transfer the liquid to a sauce pan on your stove top and use corn starch to thicken

Make your meal time even easier by adding vegetables along with the pork and other ingredients as long as you don't mind them having the same flavor as what the pork is cooked in.

You can make life even easier by buying crockpot liners to cook in and clean up will be a breeze!

And again, you can put all of these recipes into freezer bags and freeze them for when you need them.

Enjoy!