Chicken Florentine Soup
This soup is warm and comforting. It was a nice choice for a chilly evening. It was one of those spur of the moment recipes that really exceeded expectations. I just had a few ingredients to start with- one of those times when you look through the fridge for inspiration and get lucky.
I knew I was making soup, and that I had chicken and chicken stock. Adding onions and carrots to soup- pretty standard for me. I’ve been on a spinach kick lately so that seemed like a natural addition as well. Found a few mushrooms I’d forgotten about, and put them in, too.
For some reason it was such a perfect combination. I love when it works that way. I am also happy when I remember to write down what I did so I can make it again someday- and share the recipe with all of you. Since the soup has spinach as a central ingredient, I decided to call it Chicken Florentine Soup. So here is the recipe.
Chicken Florentine Soup
2 T. oil
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced thin
6-8 cups chicken stock
1½ lbs. boneless, skinless chicken, cubed – I used thighs
1-2 c. sliced mushrooms – I used the baby Bellas
8 oz. fresh spinach, washed well
¼ c. chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Dash of hot sauce
Heat oil in soup pot and cook onion until tender. Add carrot and cook a few minutes more. Add stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cook 10 minutes. Add chicken and mushrooms and cook 10 minutes longer. Add spinach and cook 5 minutes more. Adjust seasonings and serve. Makes 6 servings
Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas
Quesadillas are a fun and easy appetizer for any party. They also are great for lunch, brunch or dinner. You can fill them with all sorts of fillings. I used frozen spinach, which had been thawed, but fresh spinach could also be used. I also used a combination of Portobello mushrooms and shitakes.
The spinach and mushrooms worked really nicely together. The ones in the picture have Swiss cheese in them. But you can use any number for different cheeses. I have made them with cheddar cheese and once with smoked Gouda. These were cooked in a skillet, but you could also bake them in the oven, or brush with oil and cook them on the grill. You can serve them as is- or maybe top with some salsa or sour cream.
Mushroom and Spinach Quesadillas
1 (10 ounce) package fresh or frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry.
2 cups shredded cheese, I like cheddar or Swiss, but use what you like
2-3 tablespoons butter- you can use oil instead
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 Portobello mushroom caps, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste
4 (10 inch) flour tortillas
1 tablespoon oil
Saute spinach in a little butter until wilted. Cool and chop. Set aside. Melt the remaining butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and mushrooms, and cook about 5 minutes. Mix in spinach, and continue cooking 5 minutes. Add seasonings to suit your taste. Place a quarter of the mixture on one side of each tortilla. Top with a quarter of cheese. Fold tortillas in half over the filling. Heat oil in a separate skillet over medium heat. Place quesadillas in the skillet, and cook 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges to serve.
Spinach Puffs
I love these little spinach puffs. They are tender balls of dough, filled with spinach and cheeses. They can be served on their own, or with honey mustard or a marinara sauce for dipping.
I love recipes that taste great, but don’t take too much time to make- or can be made ahead. These Spinach Puffs do both. The dough can be mixed ahead and then just bake a few when you want them. You can also bake up a batch, then freeze them. Take out as many as you need and reheat in no time.
These tend to brown on the bottom very quickly. Bake them in the upper half of the oven.
Spinach Puffs
1 (10oz.) package frozen spinach, cooked and drained well
2 T. dried minced onion
2 eggs
½ c. shredded cheddar cheese
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese
½ c. ranch dressing
2 T. oil
¼ t. garlic powder
2 c. biscuit mix (Bisquick or Jiffy Mix)
Mix all ingredients and chill several hours or overnight. Roll into 1-inch balls and place 2-inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 60.
Creamy Spinach Pasta Sauce
The sauce reminds me of creamed spinach, a favorite childhood dish of mine. The recipe makes enough to generously sauce a pound of pasta. It is very tasty and easy to make. Great when you need a home made meal, but don’t have a lot of time. You can also use this sauce on hot cooked rice or baked potatoes.
The recipe uses frozen spinach, but you can use fresh spinach , if you prefer. Just cook down 12-16 oz. of fresh spinach and use like the frozen spinach.
There is Parmesan cheese in the sauce. I like to serve extra on the side.
Creamy Spinach Sauce
1/4 c. butter
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 t. salt
1 c. ricotta cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. milk
Heat spinach in butter for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and heat gently until warmed through. Do not boil sauce. Toss sauce over hot, cooked pasta. Makes 2 1/2 cups, enough for about a pound of pasta.
Creamy Spinach Sauce
The sauce reminds me of creamed spinach, a favorite childhood dish of mine. The recipe makes enough to generously sauce a pound of pasta. It is very tasty and easy to make. Great when you need a home made meal, but don’t have a lot of time. You can also use this sauce on hot cooked rice or baked potatoes.
The recipe uses frozen spinach, but you can use fresh spinach , if you prefer. Just cook down 12-16 oz. of fresh spinach and use like the frozen spinach.
There is Parmesan cheese in the sauce, but I like to serve extra on the side.
Creamy Spinach Sauce
1/4 c. butter
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 t. salt
1 c. ricotta cheese
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 c. milk
Heat spinach in butter for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and heat gently until warmed through. Do not boil sauce. Toss sauce over hot, cooked pasta. Makes 2 1/2 cups, enough for about a pound of pasta.
Spinach Puffs
I love these little spinach puffs. They are tender balls of dough, filled with spinach and cheeses. They can be served on their own, or with honey mustard or a marinara sauce for dipping. We made a batch in cooking class the other night.
The holidays are a time to celebrate and spend time with friends and family. There are going to be parties. And food, lots of food. Time is often not on our side, though. I love recipes that taste great, but don’t take too much time to make- or can be made ahead. These Spinach Puffs do both. The dough can be mixed ahead and then just bake a few when you want them. You can also bake up a batch, then freeze them. Take out as many as you need and reheat in no time.
These tend to brown on the bottom very quickly. Bake them in the upper half of the oven.
Spinach Puffs
1 (10oz.) package frozen spinach, cooked and drained well
2 T. dried minced onion
2 eggs
½ c. shredded cheddar cheese
½ c. grated Parmesan cheese
½ c. ranch dressing
2 T. oil
¼ t. garlic powder
2 c. biscuit mix (Bisquick or Jiffy Mix)
Mix all ingredients and chill several hours or overnight. Roll into 1-inch balls and place 2-inches apart on a greased baking sheet. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 60.
Spinach and Feta Bread
Spinach and Feta Bread
My family always gets together the night before Thanksgiving for a pre-Thanksgiving meal. Since we live in different cities, it is the first night we get to catch up before the big day. We try to keep it simple. My niece makes my Busha’s Polish Mushroom Soup and I make an assortment of filled breads.
I have made these breads with plenty of different fillings, and I have posted many of those recipes. This year I made the Reuben, which was requested by my nephew. I also made one filled with spinach, mozzarella and feta cheese, which I knew my niece would like. Several people have requested the recipe for this spinach bread, so here it is.
Spinach and Feta Bread
3¼ c. all purpose or bread flour
1 T. sugar
1 t. salt
1 package quick-rising yeast
1 c. hot water
1 T. oil
Filling:
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1 c. crumbled feta cheese
2 T. chopped parsley
1 T. lemon juice
2 t. hot sauce, or to suit your taste
1 t. dill weed
Grease a large jelly roll pan and set aside. Place a shallow roasting pan on the stove and fill halfway with water. Start heating the water up. You’ll need it later.
Prepare filling: Take spinach and place in a medium bowl. Combine it with cheeses and remaining filling ingredients. Use your hands and squeeze the ingredients together, partly to mix them up well, but also to get them to stick together a little. Set aside and prepare the dough.
Set aside 1 cup of the flour. Combine remaining flour with the other dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir in water and oil and gradually stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Roll dough into a rectangle about 16 x 8 inches in size. Spread spinach mixture down center of dough. Squeeze it a little, sort of in a tube shape. You need to fold the dough over this mixture, so pressing it together helps with the next step. Cut one-inch wide strips of dough from filling to edge on both sides. It will sort of look like fringe. Alternating sides, fold strips up and over the filling at an angle. Pinch the ends. Carefully lift loaf onto greased jelly roll pan and place at an angle, so it will fit. Cover with a towel, and place the jelly roll pan on top of a roasting pan, half-filled with simmering water for 15 minutes. Because quick-rising yeast is more heat tolerant, the simmering water helps the dough to rise faster. After 15 minutes, remove towel and place jelly roll pan in oven. Bake in a preheated 375-degree for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool slightly before slicing. Serve warm and refrigerate leftovers.
Bread can be baked ahead of time and reheated, too. Wrap in foil and place in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Loosen the foil after 10 minutes so the bread does not get soggy.
Note: The variations for this bread are almost endless. Some favorite combinations are ham and Swiss with mustard, roast beef and cheddar, chicken, broccoli and cheese,, pizza, assorted fillings. You get the idea. Use your imagination and have fun. Just be careful not to overfill, or the bread will be hard to move, use fillings that aren’t too runny and always use cold fillings.
If you want to use regular yeast, in place of quick rising yeast, use warm, rather than hot water. Also, don’t let dough rise over boiling water. After kneading cover dough and let rise 45 minutes. Punch down and assemble as in original recipe. Cover with a towel and let rise until dough looks puffy, about 40 minutes. Bake as directed above. These breads can also be frozen.
Nest Egg
Nest Egg
One of the things I resolved to do this year is eat more vegetables. I love most veggies so that isn’t the problem. I am just not eating enough of them. I know I could do better. So I have been looking for any new place I might add some vegetables to a meal. Adding veggies to breakfast is the most challenging, at least for me. For breakfast this morning I decided to have an egg and some toast. When I went to get out the egg and butter I saw a bag of fresh spinach. Why not?
I heated up a little butter in the pan and then added the spinach- probably a good 3 or 4 cups of fresh leaves. They cook down a lot. I also sprinkled the leaves with a little salt and pepper. I stirred them around until they had wilted then made a sort of nest out of them by pushing them away from the center. I poured my egg in the middle so it looked a little like a nest. I put the lid on the skillet and in a few minutes my egg was cooked and the yolk still runny. A little salt and pepper to finish off and the dish was complete. I slid it gently out of the pan onto a serving plate. I really liked it. Plan on making this again soon.
Spinach and Mushrooms Quesadillas
Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas
We made these in class last night and I thought I’d share the recipe with you. These quesadillas are really good- made with a combination of Portobello mushrooms, spinach and cheese they are rich and packed with flavor. I just cooked them in a skillet for class but you could also bake them in the oven or brush with oil and cook them on the grill. We didn’t serve them with anything, but I could see having a fresh salsa on the side.
Spinach and Mushroom Quesadillas
1 (10 ounce) package chopped spinach
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 portobello mushroom caps, sliced salt and pepper to taste
4 (10 inch) flour tortillas
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Prepare spinach according to package directions. Drain and pat dry. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and mushrooms, and cook about 5 minutes. Mix in spinach, and continue cooking 5 minutes. Place an equal amount of the mixture on one side of each tortilla. Top with equal amounts of cheese. Fold tortillas in half over the filling. Heat oil in a separate skillet over medium heat. Place quesadillas in the skillet, and cook 3 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Cut each quesadilla into 4 wedges to serve.
Spinach and Mushroom Quiche
Spinach and Mushroom Quiche
The cold winter this year has really got me craving comfort foods. Also have a real taste for some childhood favorites. My mother used to make some really good quiches. Always a home made crust. I used what I had on hand the other day to whip up this quiche. Thought of her when I made it.
Spinach and Mushroom Quiche
1 unbaked pie crust
1 T. oil
1 small onion, chopped
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
salt and pepper to taste
1 (10 oz.) package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 oz. diced Swiss Cheese
2 T. flour
1 c. milk or half and half
3 eggs, beaten
In skillet saute onion in oil until tender. Add mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the spinach and set aside. In 9-inch pie pan place the crust. Toss cheese with the flour and place in crust. Add the spinach mixture. Combine milk with the eggs and pour over the spinach mixture. Place pan on a baking sheet to collect any drips and place in a preheated 400 degree oven. Bake for 30 minutes then turn down over to 325 and continue baking until quiche is firm near the middle, about 25-30 minutes more. To test for “doneness” insert a butter knife about an inch from the center of the quiche. If it comes out clean the quiche is done. Serves 4-6.
Spinach and Mushroom Quiche
