Pesto Spaghetti (sorta kinda)

Isn't it funny how you still crave things even if you don't feel so hot after you eat it?  What is that about?  For me, it's pasta.  Whole wheat or not, it seems that whenever I eat pasta, I'm instantly zapped of any energy.  But yet sometimes, a bowl of yummy noodles just sounds so darn good.

Fortunately, I happen to love spaghetti squash, and have found that it more or less hits the spot when a craving crops up.  It may not be a steaming bowl of pappardelle, but then again, I'm not asleep within 20 minutes of eating it either.  So, I'll take the win.

I've made spaghetti squash a few ways, and this one is right up there at the top in terms of flavor, ease and satisfaction.  It hits all the right notes for me.  And I hope for you, too.

Cheers & Enjoy!

What You'll Need

• 2 small (2 lb. each) spaghetti squash
• 2 tsp olive oil, divided
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into ¾ –inch pieces
• ¼ tsp salt*
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• ½ onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 6 tbsp basil pesto
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese**
• 2 tbsp minced flat-leaf parsley

What You'll Do

• Using a large, sharp knife, pierce a spaghetti squash in several places. Place the spaghetti squash in a glass baking dish and cook in the microwave on HIGH for about 15 minutes, turning the squash halfway through cooking.
• Before handling let the squash stand for 10 minutes. Cut in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and fibers.
• Using a fork, twist out strand of the spaghetti squash flesh and place in a large bowl. Let stand at room temperature. Save the shells of the squash for stuffing later.
• Preheat the broiler.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, salt and pepper, and cook until the chicken is cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a bowl.
• Turn the heat to medium and heat the remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil in the skillet. Add the onion and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and cook until just tender, about 2 minutes.
• Stir in the spaghetti squash strands, chicken and pesto, and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.
• Scoop the spaghetti squash mixture into the spaghetti squash shells and top with the Parmesan cheese.
• Place the stuffed spaghetti squash onto a baking sheet and place under the broiler. Cook until the cheese is melted, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
  
  *We skip this
  **We added far less; merely a sprinkle of cheese

Chicken & Rice...Oh So Nice

Casserole.  Doesn’t the name evoke all kinds of creamy, comforting goodness?  To me, it does.  Cozy and warm and usually not all that good for you.  Which is where casseroles and I get into a fight.  I want the coziness, but not the badness.  Ahhh, the struggle.
One of our favorites is a dish that we make with green beans, rice, chicken, cheese, and those dreaded cream of whatever soups.  It was a once in a while thing because of those silly soups.  And the guilt and overall yuck I felt after I ate it totally defeated the cozy, comforting vibe it was supposed to deliver. 
I banished said casserole from our menu.  It was ripped, with gusto, from the make again pile.  It was a sad day.
But then, I found its cousin….and I got pretty excited.  You all know I just loooooooooooove to “PWH” (pin while hungry), so when I saw this mouthwatering picture, I couldn’t get to my kitchen fast enough to make it!  And then, I was super pumped to tell Mark what we were having.
The best part is that I didn’t tell him that I modified it.  I wanted to see if he could figure it out.  Such a sneak, right?  I know, I know.  I’m giggling as I replay the conversation.  Whatever---it’s the little things.

Alright, so here’s the deal…

 

What You’ll Need

1 Tbsp. olive oil

4-5 green onions, diced

1 (14-oz) pkg. sliced fresh mushrooms

2 cups cooked boneless, skinless chicken, cubed (we used chicken we had grilled the night before)

3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1½ cups milk

2½ cups cooked brown rice (I used instant)

1 (5.3-oz) fat free plain Greek yogurt

¼ cup light mayonnaise (I used far less than this; basically a heaping tablespoon of the Olive Oil mayo)

¼ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese
(*To make it more like the “old” version, I added a small jar of diced pimentos, a can of chopped water chestnuts and about 1 cup of green beans)

 

What You’ll Do:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with cooking spray.

In a skillet, heat oil. Add green onions and mushrooms. Cook until tender.

Add chicken. Sprinkle with flour. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Stir in milk, bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes, or until thick and bubbly.

Add brown rice. Fold in Greek yogurt, mayo and salt and pepper. Pour into prepared casserole dish.

Top with cheese and bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese melts and it's bubbly around the edges.

 

I served this up in over-sized soup mugs…I was going all out on the cozy aspect.  I held mine in my hands as I inhaled it’s delicious scent and fed myself forkfuls of warmth and happiness.  Bonus, Mark didn’t detect that it was different, though I made two minor observations….(1) It needed a smidgen more mayo; I think the extras I tossed in made it a little drier and (2) I think next time I’ll mix the cheese in rather than put it on top.  It’s such a small amount, it didn’t really do much on the top.
This made amazing leftovers—hard to believe we practiced restraint and didn’t inhale it all when it came out of the oven—for lunch the next day, too.  I’m happy to say that this yummy dish, now cleaned up, is back in the Make Again pile and will be back in the rotation.  Every now and again, cozy and comforting dinners are the only thing that’ll do the trick.  You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

 

 

No Spenduary

I love making up words like that!  Anywhooooooooooooo.....

From about mid-October until late December, my stress level is inappropriate.  My friend Wendy would say, "wildly inappropriate."  We can go on and on about why and what I did to make it better, worse etc. but that's not the point, really, of this post.  That's just context.

One of the main contributors...you all know the drill; the holiday blitz starts earlier and earlier every year, and we're inundated (what's a stronger word than that?  Attacked?  Bombarded?  Repeatedly hit with no way out?) with commercial after commercial and email after email announcing sales and discounts and free shipping and urgent requests to "Shop Now!"  "Sale's Ending at Noon!"  I can almost hear them yelling at me.  And rather than calmly review all options so I can make an educated, informed decision and purchase, I shut down and totally retreat.  Super.
But see, you can't really retreat and "cancel" Christmas when you have two young kiddos who see only the magic and mystery of the season.  So, every now and again I'd peek at an email or watch the entire commercial for some store.  I'd just about get sucked in and follow their barked out commands, but I'd stop short.  It came down to making a list (praise be to the holy list!) and a budget and a plan....and sticking to it all.  Which we did.  More or less.  Mostly more than less.

Again, not the point.  More context.  Dear Lord I'm taking you to Florida by way of Utah here.  Hang in there with me.  I'm getting there.

When December wrapped up (pun intended because why not!?) I decided to put myself on a self-imposed (yeah, Amy...we got that when you said you put yourSELF on it!) spending freeze for the month of January.  Even though we stuck to our plan, I still felt like I was in non-stop spend mode.  Gifts for this one, tips for this one, extra goodies to this one, office obligations.  Even if it didn't add up to a ton, it sure felt like it did.  

So that was it.  No purchases other than normal bills, gas and groceries....and by groceries, I mean what's on our menu/meal plan and nothing outside of that.  Heaven knows I'm "that girl" at the store who winds up with $25 or more worth of "what's this, is it new?  Looks good, let's try it" stuff in her cart.  You know her, don't you?  You may be her, too, right? 

Told Mark.  He was in.  Told my Mom.  She was in.  She told my Sister.  And yes, she was in, too.  This did not, I repeat, did NOT come from a place of "we're broke and we need to reign it in, big time."  We didn't go totally overboard at Christmas and even went away for Thanksgiving which meant that we didn't host; right there was a decent savings.

This was more an exercise/challenge born out of a stubbornness to see if I really could do it (shocking, right?  Me, stubborn?) and a way to keep random spending at bay.  The $25 at the grocery store, the "sure I'll have a couple drinks after work with you" money.  The "wonder what's new in TJMaxx that I don't NEED but somehow must HAVE" money.  The $150 at Kohl's that "just sort of happened, but it was all on sale and would have really been more like $350, plus I earned Kohl's cash!" money.  That stuff. 

It adds up, ya know?  It may not seem like a lot in the moment, and you may think you really need that picture frame/throw/insulated cup with a straw (hellllllo, I think I have 23. I need to stop!) or whatever "it" is, but do you?

I don't think of myself as a frivolous spender.  Give me a gift card and I'll likely sit on it for months because I can't figure out what to do with it; I talk myself out of lots of purchases because even though the gift card is like "free" money, if I think I can get the item less expensively elsewhere, I can't see using the gift card on it.  Don't try to get the logic; I confuse myself sometimes.  For real.

What I learned was that while I'm not frivolous, I do shop unnecessarily at times.  I buy things that we use, so I justify it.  But really, using things and needing things are not the same.  And we all survived for a month without new anythings*.  Imagine that!  We all got by with the clothes we have.  We ate out of the pantry more/better rather than loading up on more food at the store.  We were a little more thoughtful about driving around so we could conserve gas.  Mark and I made sure we both packed lunches for work.  We made it work, and it really wasn't all that bad.

We didn't eat out or get take out.  We didn't have any fancy date nights (we used a free Redbox rental to have a family movie night where all 4 of us snuggled in the Big Bed with popcorn and drinks!) and we didn't stroll mindlessly through Target (sorry, but it's true!) to fill a Saturday morning.  We helped Abby learn how important saving is and that we don't always need to spend money to have fun.  Ironically, spending less seemed to help us have more fun.  I'm 26 days in and I sure plan on making it all 31.  Kinda nice when a stubborn streak works to my advantage, huh?

 

*The new garage door springs not included; that was a necessary, emergency repair....but you know what, I'm kind of glad we hadn't spent any money all month, because that surprise bill wasn't such a big deal!

 

Spinach & Artichoke Chicken

One little picture posted from my kitchen the other night and bam!....all kinds of requests for the recipe.  Credit to busybuthealthy.com (don't you love that domain!?) for sharing this easy and yummy (oh, and healthy!) recipe.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did.  I will say, my anti-coconut husband said he could taste the coconut.  I didn't.  There was certainly a somewhat sweet undertone, but I really didn't get coconut.  I think it was a mental thing, personally.  But hey, he ate it and went back for more...
 
What You'll Need:

• 4 6 oz chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
• 1 14 oz can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and chopped
• 1 cup frozen spinach
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 14 oz can light coconut milk
• 3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp gluten-free all purpose flour (or regular all purpose if not gluten-free)
• Optional: salt & pepper (as needed)

What You'll Do:

• In a large skillet, heat to medium high heat. Spray with oil if needed for non stick. Season chicken breasts lightly with salt and pepper (if using).
• Brown each chicken breast on both sides (about 5-6 minutes per side if thick).
• Remove from pan and set aside on a plate (they won't be cooked through at this point).
• In the same skillet, turn down to medium heat, melt the butter, and add in the chopped garlic and let cook for 30 seconds to let the garlic get a bit golden. Then add the flour and whisk until it makes a rue. Let it cook for 30 seconds, then slowly add the can of coconut milk. Keep whisking until the milk mixture is smooth (aside from the chunks of garlic).
• Let the milk mixture thicken a bit, then add in the Parmesan cheese and whisk until its melted in. Sauce will start to thicken. Add in the chopped artichokes, and frozen spinach. I added in my spinach frozen (they were spinach nuggets) and separated it as it melted. If its frozen spinach in a box, you might want to thaw it in the microwave beforehand and squeeze out a bit of the excess liquid and measure out 1 cup.
• Place the chicken breasts back in the spinach/artichoke mixture and simmer all together with the lid off until the chicken is cooked through. The sauce will thicken a bit more as it simmers...just make sure you keep the lid off or it might get watery. 

We skipped the salt; there was enough salt in the cheese to season things well enough.