Saturday, February 23, 2013

Saturday's Simple Chicken, Spinach & Cheese Melt

This evening, neither hubby or I were very hungry for some reason. I had a package of boneless chicken breasts that I planned to use for dinner...I just didn't have a plan as to what to do with them! I sometimes find it hard to figure out what to make when I'm not hungry or in the mood for anything in particular. So, I pulled the chicken breasts out and put them between saran wrap and pounded them until they were thin and then spun my spice rack around...sort of like playing "Wheel of Fortune"...only in this case it was more like "what spice will strike my fancy tonight"...LOL.  I have most of my spices in alphabetical order -- kind of dorky, I know....but I have accumulated so many spices that all of them can no longer be alphabetized...because they are everywhere!!! Anyway...these are the spices that I finally landed on...roasted cumin, smoked paprika, ground chipotle pepper, onion powder, kosher salt and black pepper. Whew...that's a lot of spices! I lightly sprinkled all the seasonings on one side of my chicken breasts and then sauteed them spice side down in olive oil in a nonstick skillet until they were lightly golden, then sprinkled the 2nd side with the spices before flipping them over. I can't tell you how fragrant the chicken smelled with that spice combination while it was cooking -- it smelled awesome. While the chicken cooked, I quickly sauteed a bag of baby spinach in another skillet and added a splash of cream, salt and pepper. Once the chicken was done...I topped each chicken breast with a mound of cooked spinach and then placed a slice of pepper jack cheese on top and ran it under the broiler to melt for a couple minutes. I sauteed some fresh sliced mushrooms (for me) and "voila"....dinner was ready in about 20 minutes! I served it with a side of bibb lettuce topped with diced avocado and tomatoes. It was so quick and simple...and pretty too. I snapped a couple photos for you to see.  Enjoy!

Voila!
BOOM!

4 comments:

Darlene said...

Looks good! I know nothing about chipotle seasoning. Can you enlighten me a little?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Darlene -- they are smoked jalapenos or chiles. You can buy them canned in adobe sauce OR as a ground spice. I use the ground spice version -- this is the one I have and use by McCormick: http://www.mccormickgourmet.com/Products/Spices/Chile-Pepper-Chipotle.aspx

Anonymous said...

Hi, made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic! I had all the spices except for the smoked paprika which I went out to buy. I can't believe how much better it is than regular paprika, it has a wonderful depth of flavor. The meal came together so quickly and the whole family raved about it. I now plan all my weekly menus around your recipes, it's a no brainer, girl, you can cook! Thanks for all you do, going wheat free is so much easier because of you! Thanks. Maria

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Wow...thanks so much Maria! It is funny how different paprika can taste, isn't it? I actually have 4 different kinds of paprika -- I have "smoked", "regular", "sweet Hungarian"...and "hot Hungarian". All of them are quite different tasting. I am so happy to hear that my recipes have helped make things a little easier for your menu planning -- thanks so much for your kind comments! :-)