Yummy Spinach and Sun Dried Tomato Pasta

Whole Wheat Penne Pasta 13.25 oz box
8 oz package of Sun Dried Tomatoes
2- 6 oz. bags of Baby Spinach
Several Cloves of Garlic, minced (about 2 or 3 tablespoons)
7 Tablespoons of Real Butter (unsalted)
1- 14.5 oz can of Chicken Broth
About 3 or 4 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1/2 teaspoon Onion Powder
1/2 teaspoon to 1 1/2 teaspoons Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (depending on how much heat you want)
salt, pepper



Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook accordingly

In a large skillet, pour in chicken broth add tomatoes, turn on high heat and once tomatoes have become a little soft, remove from broth and chop and drizzle with olive oil. Pour hot broth into a bowl. Then add chopped tomatoes to broth.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in same skillet. Add garlic and crushed red peppers and saute. Once it is starting to brown and tomatoes and broth. Then add spinach and onion powder Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir until spinach is just wilted. Add 4 tablespoons of butter stir until melted.

Once the pasta is done cooking drain and put back in pot, add 3 tablespoons of butter and stir until melted. Dump in tomatoes and spinach mixture and toss. Top with parmesan cheese.

Lunch Time

Some days I just can't find anything that I want to eat, or I can't find anything to make so I end p throwing whatever I can find together and hope that it comes out good. Well, I've been a food shortage lately so I've been a little experimental. Yesterday I found some frozen spinach and a can of artichoke hearts, and thought "I'll make some sort of stuffed chicken" So I proceeded to find what else I cold throw in the mix. I thawed and squeezed the spinach and mixed in about 3 or for small cloves of minced garlic, about a cup of shredded Monterrey jack cheese and about 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. With the artichoke hearts I cut off the meaty part diced it and mixed it in with the spinach mix. With the leafy part of the hearts I chopped them and drained them on some paper towels. Then I mixed the chopped and dried artichokes with about a half cup of mayo and a half cup of sour cream 3 small cloves of minced garlic salt and pepper. So then I took my chicken breast cut a pocket into it and stuffed it with the spinach mixture. The I coated it with the artichoke mixture and then rolled it in Italian bread crumbs. Bake it in a 375 degree oven for about 35 minutes. It was delicious.


I ended up having some of both the spinach and artichoke mixtures left over so today I was at it agian. I thawed out some more chicken to start (cause I figured I can always throw chicken in whatever I make) Then put my creative cooking brain to work. I had some cheese raviolis in the freezer so I thought why not make some sort of sauce. I started with a basic white sauce(butter, flour and milk) Added about 3/4 cup of Monterrey jack cheese, some salt, pepper, little garlic powder and about a 1/4 cup of mild cheedar cheese. Then I thought what the heck am I going to do with the rest of the stuff from yesterday. DUH! I added the leftover mixtures from yesterday to the sauce and more milk. Turn out to be a creamy cheesy spinach artichoke sauce. Not Bad. I poured that over the ravioli and the sliced up the chicken seasoned it with salt pepper and lemon pepper. Browned it in a pan and threw that on top on the whole dish. It was surprisingly divine!