Monday, April 19, 2010

Quick Dinner

I made a pretty good, very healthy, quick dinner tonight- chicken with summer squash, spinach, and cheese! I wasn't sure how much seasoning it needed, but in the future I will probably jazz up the basic recipe. All things considered though, it is definitely on the make again list.

1.5 Chicken Breasts (I never really have room for an entire chicken breast so I make 1 for my darling fiance and half of one for me so I don't waste food)
1 yellow squash, thinly sliced (aka summer squash)
2 cups spinach (more or less, I used half a bag of the pre-washed stuff)
3 slices of swiss cheese (any cheese will work)

Basically, I cut the chicken into strips then sauteed it over medium heat in a little olive oil until it was browned and almost cooked through. I added the squash slices and cooked them until they were soft. Then I added as much spinach as would fit into my sautee pan, and stirred it around until it wilted. I seasoned everything with some freshly ground pepper and garlic powder, then put it in a 8x8 glass pan that I had coated with cooking spray. I topped the chicken and veggie mixture with sliced cheese, then baked it for 5 minutes at 375. I ended up adding some salt to my portion at the table. I'd say this took about 30 minutes from start to finish.
In the future, I will definitely saute some onion and garlic before adding the chicken to the pan next time. I think you could really play with the flavor profile of this dish by adding different spices (I think oregano would work well) and ingredients (I'd normally add tomato sauce, but I wanted to have something non-tomato-y for a change). And of course you could use different cheeses in this recipe- I think mozzarella, goat cheese, and feta would all work really well.
All in all I'd say that I'm a fan of this dish. The squash and spinach tasted really fresh, and the cheese made it seem really decadent. The squash and spinach paired really well together, and I never would have thought to combine them on my own. Of course, now I'm envisioning a homemade pizza with tomato sauce, spinach, squash, oregano and goat cheese.... Or an omelet with squash, spinach, and mozzarella....Yum!

In other news, I kicked butt at the gym tonight. I did my regular weights, abs, and pushups workout; then followed it with an 800 yard (that's 1/2 a mile!) swim. I'm really tired now!

Does anyone know a good way to work out your back muscles? I would like my back (and arms, but I think they are progressing nicely) to look really good in my wedding dress, so I'm trying to incorporate more weight lifting into my routine.

1 comment:

  1. Back exercises--pull downs for sure. I'll ask Hubby to find out some more--he love weight routines.

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