Day 7 - Artichokes, Spinach, and Chicken, OH MY!

Allison Coffman
Jan 10, 2022
4 min read

Day 7 was the first day I made major changes to the recipe I originally intended on making. When I first found the recipe, Cheesy Spinach & Artichoke Stuffed Spaghetti Squash from Eating Well, I knew I needed to get some additional protein into the recipe so I had always planned on adding seared chicken breasts. It wasn't until my trip to the grocery store this weekend that I realized I was going to have to make some additional changes.

I enjoy going to the grocery store early Sunday mornings. It's quiet and peaceful. I can easily peruse the aisles looking for new ingredients or things to try. But it does come with a few drawbacks. Mainly, they are a bit light-staffed. Which means, if there are a few people checking out at the same time, you might have to wait in the one open register. And more importantly, they are just starting to restock their shelves from the busyness of Saturday.

When you couple that with food shortages of certain products, you may not always be able to find what you need for a given recipe/meal. So on this Sunday morning, I was unable to find spaghetti squash, which meant substitution. Since I already had brown rice at home and the kids had been positive about the previous chicken and rice casserole, I decided I would swap out the spaghetti squash for brown rice, as you will see in my explanation below. I also added a few more ingredients than originally listed in the recipe to improve taste, but more on that later.

My first step, since I'd already decided to add protein to this dish was to sear off some chicken chunks. Just like I'd done earlier in the week, I cut the chicken into 1-inch chunks, melted a tablespoon of butter in the pan and then tossed in the chicken. Without thinking, I literally tossed in the chicken in the pan and ended up splashing melted butter all over the front of a favorite sweatshirt. Needless to say, it is currently being treated for the stains. Rookie move. A little salt and pepper was used to season the chicken, and then it came off of the stove while I put the other components together.

After the chicken was browned, I wiped out my pan and steamed the spinach for the dish. In all honesty, the recipe calls for fresh spinach but you end up wilting it so you could just save this step and go with frozen spinach that you thaw and drain. But if you grabbed the ingredients as listed, this step took about three minutes and was easy. Side note - I LOVE my Green Pan that is pictured in this photo. If you are looking for a safe, non-stick pan, I cannot say enough good things about my Green Pans. Totally love them!

Once my spinach was slightly wilted, I turned off the heat and used the warm pan to bring the rest of the ingredients together. I swear, I always mean to pull cream cheese out of the fridge at lunch so it softens and is easier to use, but it never seems to happen. Luckily, the warm pan took care of softening up the cheese very quickly. Along with the cream cheese, I mixed together the chopped artichokes, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese. Once those ingredients were brought together, I added the seared chicken and the cooked brown rice (in place of the spaghetti squash).

Once I got everything combined, I took a sample of the dish and actually thought it tasted pretty bland. So, I put in some more salt & pepper and then decided to add just a little bit of mozzarella cheese. The parmesan and cream cheese made the sauce creamy but the dish didn't taste all that cheesy and I grabbed the shredded cheese I had in the fridge, hence the mozzarella.

After giving everything a quick stir, I gave the dish another taste. MUCH BETTER. I then spooned the mixture into my Pam-sprayed dish, sprinkled it with some extra parmesan cheese, and then put it in the oven for just 15 minutes. Everything was already cooked, so the dish didn't have to stay in the oven long. I just wanted the rice to be warmed through and the top parmesan be browned.

The final result was pretty good, at least according to half of our house. Joel, Lucas, and I really enjoyed the dish. Given that Joel had looked at our meal calendar earlier in the day and reported "the next three days are going to be rough" because he disliked elements of each meal, I was pleasantly surprised he gave the meal the highest review of everyone.

I would say Parker and Ashlynn tolerated the dish. Parker ate the chicken, rice, and artichokes but wanted to pick out the spinach. He had to be reminded more than once that this month was about trying everything to get him to take a few bites of the veggie. He gave the dish a diagonal thumbs up, whatever that means (haha).

Bennett, per the usual, refused to eat anything that resembled a vegetable. I took out the spinach pieces from his dish before I set it in front of him. I figured he could barely see the artichokes, so he would certainly eat it with the rice. I was wrong. He melted down when I tried to have him take a bite of the "yellow things in the rice."

Highs:

Joel loved artichokes which he had said he "hated" and would suffer to get past.
Lucas happily at all his spinach and artichokes!

Lows:

Bennett again refused to eat the healthiest portion of the meal.
After having some of the homemade applesauce that I had as a side dish, Ashlynn refused to eat any more chicken.