I had wanted to make blueberry muffins for quite awhile. About a month ago, my grocery store advertised what seemed to be an excellent sale on fresh blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. I was thrilled about the prospect of making luscious blueberry muffins, but disappointed when I laid eyes upon the tiniest carton of fresh berries I had ever seen! Since the quantity didn’t seem worth the price, I walked away. After finishing up at the grocery store, I hit the Target next door to complete my grocery shopping. While wandering the frozen food section, I saw that frozen berries were on sale. On a whim, I picked up a bag of blueberries… and promptly forgot about it.

I finally used the frozen berries when my mother joined me for tea on a recent afternoon. I wanted a something freshly-baked to serve with our Lady Grey tea, so I scoured my Google Reader for a fun recipe. I initially saw these muffins on Dinner & Dessert, but found the actual recipe text here. This recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. I’m looking forward to checking out other recipes from this cookbook.

I made the recipes during my lunch break (on of the benefits of working from home!) and was pleased at how quickly they came together. Since the butter had to cool after being heated, I melted it before I started working on juicing and zesting the orange. The juice and zest add a lovely citrus punch. It’s a fun change from your typical blueberry muffin. The muffins themselves are soft, buttery and moist.

Apparently, my husband really liked these muffins! First thing Saturday morning, Mike I had a conversation that went like this:

Mike: So, what’s for breakfast today?

Beth: Toast…eggs…something like that. The usual.

Mike: We’re not having those orange blueberry muffins? I thought you said you were making them.

Beth: <puzzled look>

Mike: Oh, I must have dreamed that.

Here’s the muffin that’s good enough to dream about:

Orange Blueberry Muffins

Yields 12 muffins

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
About 3/4 cup buttermilk*
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries – fresh, preferably, or frozen (not thawed)

Decorating sugar, for topping (optional)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which needs neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Pour the orange juice into a large glass measuring cup or a bowl and pour in enough buttermilk to make 1 cup. Whisk in the eggs, honey and melted butter.

In a large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don?t worry about being thorough – the batter will be lumpy and bubbly, and that?s just the way it should be. Stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. If you want to top the muffins with decorating sugar, sprinkle on the sugar after the muffins have baked for 10 minutes. When fully baked, the tops of the muffins will be golden and springy to the touch and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins will come out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

*I did 1 tbsp vinegar then fill up to the 1 cup line with milk. Then I used this mixture for the required buttermilk.

This was my first foray into slow-cooker meal preparation. Just about everyone I know received one or more when they got married. I didn’t register for one because I couldn’t see the need. I still don’t think that it falls in the “can’t live without it category”, but I can tell that I’m really going to enjoy this “set and forget” form of meal preparation.

While I was chopping vegetables, defrosting chicken and measuring ingredients this morning I thought to myself “What’s the point? I have to do all this prep work when I make dinner on the stove top.” But then I loaded everything in the slow cooker, set the temperature and walked away. It was at that moment that I realized I was really going to like not having to babysit the stove.

I consider myself very fortunate, in that I work from home most days. Since I save time by not commuting, I often have ample time to prepare dinner. Just because I have time to hang out in the kitchen in front of the stove, doesn’t mean that I need to!

I picked up a 5.5 quart Rival Crock Pot at Target using a gift card from Christmas. This is the gift that will keep on giving. My model is very basic, but manual controls make sense because I am home all day. This is only my first recipe, but I think the size is just about right. Even though I only cook dinner for two people, I like to have leftovers.

My friend Carolyn sent me this recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup after she tried it and loved it. I followed her recommendations of adding a can of drained and rinsed black beans, and adding 2 raw chicken breasts to the pot and allowing them to cook in the soup. I shredded the chicken shortly before serving. Since I didn’t have a can of whole peeled tomatoes or enchilada sauce in the house, I made my own substitution. I mixed a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes with some honey, garlic powder, cumin, cilantro and poultry seasoning and use this blend in place of the tomatoes and enchilada sauce. I also used half chicken broth and half vegetable broth so I could try some of my home made stock.

This soup was SO good! I served it with crushed tortilla chips and a sprinkling of Mexican blend cheese. My husband said that it reminded him of Panera’s Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was warm and hearty with a nice kick. The original recipe states that it yields 8 servings, and I think that’s pretty accurate. We’ll probably have this again for dinner and lunch and then freeze the remaining portions.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Yields 8 servings

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed *
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce *
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups frozen corn
1 tbsp chopped cilantro

* can substitute 28 oz. crushed tomatoes (seasoned with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder etc.) for tomatoes and enchilada sauce

1. Place raw chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker.
2. Pour in chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.
3. Stir in corn and cilantro.
4. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
5. Before serving, remove chicken breasts and shred. Return shredded chicken to pot and allow to heat through before serving.

I usually don’t use vegetable stock. Chicken broth is an excellent substitute, and it usually costs much less. For some reason, our grocery stores don’t carry generic or reduced-sodium vegetable stock. Now that it’s Lent, I have needed vegetable stock for several recipes. It seemed foolish to pay $1 or more for vegetable-flavored water, when I could just make it myself. Really, how hard could it be?

I did a little searching online and found that it’s just as easy as I thought it would be. Over the course of about two weeks, I stashed bits of vegetables in a zip-top bag in my freezer. Once it looked like I had enough vegetable scraps, I followed the instructions on this website. Most vegetables can be used in stock, but cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus and tomato can be overwhelming.

Among other things, I accumulated bits of onion and zucchini, scraps and ribs of peppers and green leek tops. For good measure, I added a little bit of frozen corn, 2 bay leaves, whole peppercorn, a chopped up garlic clove and a several shakes of dried spices. Some cilantro was starting to look wilted, so I threw a small amount of that in too.

While the site listed above recommends a 1:1 ratio of solids to liquid, I found other sites that went with a 2:1 solid to liquid ratio. Wanting to get more bang for my buck, I tried the latter. The vegetable scraps filled about 6 cups, so I added 12 cups of water. After simmering for nearly and hour and straining out the solids, I was left with 8 cups of dark, flavorful vegetable stock. Not only did I save a few dollars, but I think my homemade stock tastes better than the store-bought variety and is sodium-free.

So may flavors, so little time.

I had heard that David Lebovitz’s book The Perfect Scoop was a good ice cream resource, so I checked it out of the library. I now have a list of nearly two dozen homemade ice creams, sorbets and sherbets that I want to try. I was pleased to find that Lebovitz goes into great detail explaining how to make the perfect ice cream custard and offering suggestions for ingredients and mix-ins. I’m definitely adding this book to my kitchen wish-list.

After perusing the grocery store circulars and seeing that strawberries, oranges and Oreos were on sale, I narrowed my potential recipes down to the following: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt, Strawberry Sorbet, Orange Popsicle and Cookies & Cream. With the start of spring, something fruity and light sounded really good. My husband was particularly intrigued by Orange Popsicle, so I set out to buy a bag of oranges (on sale!). Check back in the future, as I plan to try the other recipes over the next few months.

Zesting the oranges gave me the opportunity to use one of my new favorite kitchen tools: my rasp-style Microplane Grater. I used to zest citrus with a box grater, but that was rather difficult and messy. I always ended up with irregular size chunks of zest, and so much of it would stick to the grater. Lebovitz actually addresses these two tools stating that rasp-style graters (like the Microplane) will extract almost twice as much zest as a box grater! Good to know. Squeezing the oranges was interesting, as the only citrus squeezer I have is sized for a lemon. After three oranges, I gave up and augmented with some orange juice from a carton of Tropicana. I think a manual juicer like this may be in my future.

Since this recipe does not use egg yolks, it doesn’t need to be heated. Once I finished the arduous task of squeezing oranges without the proper tools, the rest of the prep work was completed by my blender.

I only modified the recipe slightly. As mentioned above I used some carton orange juice. I also ignored Lebovitz’s warning and used fat free half and half. Finally, I added an additional tablespoon of sugar and an extra teaspoon of triple sec to the ice cream base. Once the base was mixed, it had a yellow-y cream color. For aesthetic purposes, I added a few drops of food coloring and colored the base a light orange.

After refrigerating the base, running it through my ice cream maker and freezing for several hours, the ice cream was as delicious and refreshing as it looked! It has a smooth, creamy orange-y flavor – a more decadent, grown-up version of the classic creamsicle. This homemade ice cream has the consistency of a sherbet, and the addition of triple sec makes it easy to scoop right out of the freezer. It tastes fantastic on it’s own, or sprinkled with miniature chocolate chips. I’m also looking forward to serving it as a summer dessert, garnished with fresh fruit.

Orange Creamsicle Ice Cream

Yields about 1 Quart

2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest of 3 oranges
1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed orange juice (from 4 or 5 large oranges)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup half and half
2 tsp orange liqueur

1. Pulverize sugar and orange zest in blender.
2. Add orange juice, sour cream, half and half and liqueur. Blend until the sugar is completely dissolved.
3. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for several house and then process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions.

My husband LOVES chicken parm. I always used to like the taste too – but the fat content usually discouraged me from making it at home and ordering it when we’re out. A few months ago I came across this recipe, from Ellie Krieger (who is a dietitian and shares my passion for tasty healthy food) and I made it one night for dinner – it was a huge success. The technique of using cooking spray and then baking the chicken keeps the outside crispy while minimizing fat by avoiding frying. I know it sounds complicated to make your own bread crumbs, but it really is VERY easy and I think it adds a lot to this recipe – the crumbs just tasted so crispy and fresh when cooked.

We served this with whole wheat pasta and a tasty ceasar salad – a wonderful way to enjoy some great Italian food without all the guilt.

Ingredients

• 4 slices whole-wheat bread (1-ounce each)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 (6 ounce) skinless boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 1 jar good-quality marinara sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons (1/2-ounce) shredded Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the bread in the bowl of a food processor and process until fine crumbs are formed, about 25 to 30 seconds. Put the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, until golden. (You will wind up with about 1 1/3 cups toasted crumbs.)

In a medium bowl, toss the crumbs with oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and milk together. In a third bowl stir together the flour, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken, 1 piece at a time, in flour, shaking off excess, then egg, then bread crumbs, shaking off excess.

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Place breaded breasts in a glass baking dish and spray on each side with cooking spray, about 5 seconds total per side. Bake breasts until cooked though and crumbs are browned, about 15 minutes. Top with marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is bubbling.

Another delicious recipe from Cooking Light! This recipe for Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce, Asparagus and Peas is a quick and easy weeknight meal.

My husband and I often eat meat-free meals, but most are heavier in flavor and rely on a tomato base. This is quite different from our usual fare. I actually selected the recipe several weeks ago when I was looking to use up heavy cream left over from my ice cream making adventure, and some excess asparagus.

I was amazed at how quickly the dish came together. While the instructions list the pasta and sauce preparation serially, I prepared them concurrently. I started making the sauce at the same time I threw the pasta in the boiling water. I think it took about 20 minutes from the time I put the water on to boil to when I tossed the pasta and sauce together.

I followed there recipe pretty closely, altering the ingredients and procedure only slightly based upon what I had in the house at the time. Since I didn’t have cornstarch, I thickened the lemon cream sauce with about a tablespoon of flour. I also added a handful of Parmesan cheese at the same time I added the cream.

The lemon cream sauce is smooth, light and fresh. The bright tang of lemon and the tasty crunch of asparagus hint at the coming of spring. Served with a Caesar side salad, it was a refreshing and fun weeknight meal.

Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce, Asparagus and Peas

Yields 4 Servings

8 ounces uncooked long fusilli, or pasta of your choice
1 3/4 cups (1 1/2-inch) slices asparagus (about 1/2 pound)
1 cup frozen green peas, thawed
1 tablespoon butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup vegetable broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/3 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash of ground red pepper
Coarsely ground black pepper (optional)

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. During the last minute of cooking time, add asparagus and peas. 3. Drain pasta mixture and set aside.
4. Melt butter in a saute pan over medium-high heat.
5. Saute garlic for 1 minute.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together cornstarch and broth.
7. Add broth mixture to saute pan and bring to a boil.
8. Cook 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly.
9. Remove pan from heat and stire in cream, lemon juice, salt, black pepper and red pepper.
10. Pour sauce over pasta and toss to coat.

As a tribute to my Irish heritage, I decided to post some St. Patrick’s day recipes – well, they may not be Irish per se, but at least they have Guinness in them! My husband and I have been on a big Irish food kick for the past couple weeks in preparation for a big trip to Ireland we’re planning for May, so I’ve been on the prowl for Ireland-inspired Guinness recipes for several weeks now.

First, I made a traditionally Belgian dish, Beef Carbonnade, Irish by using Guinness instead of a belgian ale – this recipe was modified from How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittmann (which was actually a book Beth gave me for my engagement! ) Anyway, I highly recommend the book – it really does teach you how to cook everything.

Irish Beef Carbonnade

1-2 tablespoons of canola or vegetable oil

2lbs beef stew meat

1 clove garlic, peeled & crushed

2 large or 3 medium onions, cut into eighths

1 1/2 cups of Guinness

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 Bay Leaf

Instructions:

Heat a large casserole dish (or deep skillet) over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the oil and the crushed garlic. Cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. Remove the garlic from the pan.

Add the beef to the skillet, browning on all sides. Season with salt and pepper lightly while it sautes.

When the meat is browned, remove it from the pan. Add the onions. Cook, stirring for about 10 minutes. Then add the Guinness and add back the beef. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook undisturbed for about 60 minutes, or until you’re happy with the consistency of the stew.

Serve over warm buttered egg noodles, or boiled potatoes.

Guinness Chocolate Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My second dish is a chocolate cake (yum!), also made with Guinness. I found this recipe a while back and thought it looked fabulous, and I’ve been saving it for St. Patrick’s day – I made it for a family celebration last weekend, and it went over very well! It’s not too sweet, very moist, and the Guinness adds a complexity to the chocolate flavor I really appreciated. I think the cream cheese frosting complimented the flavor well – although I did have to add much more confectioner’s sugar than it called for – my measurements are what I included below. In the end, though, the consistency was lovely. I decorated the cake with a shamrock, in the spirit of a finely poured pint in Ireland.

Ingredients
Cake
1 cup Guinness
1 stick unsalted butter, sliced
? cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups granulated sugar
? cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 ? teaspoons baking soda

Icing
8 ounce cream cheese
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp heavy cream

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Pour Guinness into a large saucepan, add butter and heat until melted. Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar. In a small bowl, beat sour cream with eggs and vanilla and then pour into brown, buttery, beery mixture and finally whisk in flour and baking soda.

Pour cake batter into greased and line pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour (Check at 45 minutes for doneness, poking a skewer in center.). Leave to cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack, as it is quite a damp cake.

When cake is cold, gently peel off parchment paper and transfer to a platter or cake stand.

Place cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a mixing bowl, and whip with an electric beater, until smooth (You may also do this with a food processor.).

Add cream and beat again until you have a spreadable consistency. Frost the cake, beginning in the middle and fanning outward (like foam might, on a real pint!).

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Despite my Irish heritage, I have not done anything to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in recent years. Now that cooking has become a hobby, I thought it would be fun to create an Irish-inspired meal.

On Sunday, my mother and I made Potato Leek Soup and Brown Irish Soda Bread for our early Saint Patrick’s Day celebration.

I tried Potato Leek Soup for the first time at Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival last fall. For some reason, I always shied away from leeks. I used to be a very picky eater, and I sometimes still avoid foods for no good reason. I’m glad I finally tried the soup! Since I love potatoes in just about any form and have quite a weakness for cream soups, this is a perfect soup. At the same time, I also sampled some Brown Soda Bread and Dubliner cheese.

I found this recipe for Potato Leek Soup in the Boston Globe. It appeared to be straightforward and was very similar to other Potato Leek Soup recipes I had found online. Since soup is always better when served with bread, I also made Brown Irish Soda bread.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but omitted the parsley and added some dried rosemary. I started with 1/4 tsp, but added more as I altered the seasoning to fit my tastes. To speed up the cooking process, I cooked the potatoes at a low boil before mashing with a potato masher. Once the soup was done, I added an extra 1/4 cup of broth and 1/4 cup of cream. It’s worth noting that I think milk or half and half would work quite well in this soup in place of the heavy cream.

According to the Globe, this recipe produces 6 servings, but I got 8 1+ cup servings. The soup was delicious! I just finished the last of the leftovers, and were sad to see them go!

May your troubles be less,
And your blessing be more.
And nothing but happiness,
Come through your door.

Potato Leek Soup

Yields 6-8 1-cup servings
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 leeks, thinly sliced and rinsed well
3 cloves garlic, smashed
5 medium russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4-5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp dried rosemary

1. In a large heavy-based stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, leeks, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until softened.

2. Add the potatoes, 4 cups of the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

3. Either mash the potatoes with a potato masher or, puree soup in batches in a blender. Return it to pot. Bring to a simmer. Add the cream and parsley, and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper, if you like. If the soup is too thick, add remaining stock in 1/4-cup increments until it is the consistency you prefer.

Since soup is always better when accompanied by bread, I made Irish Brown Soda Bread using a recipe from the Boston Globe. I was amazed at how easy it was to throw together this yeast-free bread. The resulting bread was moist and flavorful – perfect with a pat of butter or a slice of tart Dubliner cheese.

As written, the recipe produces two moderately-sized loaves of bread. We had enough bread for a Sunday family dinner and two nights of leftovers. If I was cooking for on me and my husband, I would probably halve the recipe and make a single loaf.

Irish Brown Soda Bread

Yields 2 loaves

2 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup canola oil
2 cups buttermilk
Extra whole-wheat flour (for sprinkling)
1. Set the oven at 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, combine the whole-wheat and all-purpose flours, baking soda, sugar, and salt. With a wooden spoon, mix the dry ingredients until they are blended.

3. In another bowl, combine the oil and buttermilk. Use the spoon to stir the liquids into the flour mixture until they comes together to form a dough.

4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and knead it gently several times until smooth. Divide the dough in half and shape each into a ball. Pinch the edges into the center and turn the balls over so the tops are smooth. Set them, smooth sides up, on the baking sheet, leaving at least 4 inches between them.

5. With a paring knife, mark a 3/4-inch-deep cross on the top of each round. Bake the breads for 25 to 30 minutes or until they are puffed and browned and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

6. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into thick slices for serving.

I just love spinach and artichoke dip, so when I saw this recipe for Spinach and Artichoke Topped Chicken on Joelen’s Culinary Adventures I knew I just had to try it! I had some heavy cream on hand after my ice cream making adventure, so I whipped up this dish.

Preparing the topping was quite easy, but it took a little longer than my usual routine of quickly seasoning chicken breasts with random herbs or salad dressings and tossing it in the oven. I had never thought to top the chicken breasts with something other than a simple sauce while they baked. I’m certainly glad I found this recipe.

The chicken was delicious! The creamy topping was rich and flavorful, and the chicken turned out very tender. This recipe will be going into my regular rotation, and I plan to experiment with other topping combinations.

Spinach and Artichoke Topped Chicken

For Chicken:
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt & pepper to taste or seasoning salt
garlic & onion powder to taste

For Sauce:
1/2 10-oz box frozen spinach
1 tablespoon EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil), twice around the pan
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 small onion, peeled and halved
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (eyeball it)
1/2 14 ounce can artichoke hearts in water, drained and chopped
1-2 handfuls grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese
Salt and black pepper

For Topping:
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs for topping
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Prepare your chicken by seasoning it to taste with salt, pepper, seasoning salt, garlic and/or onion powder (however you’d like) Place chicken on baking sheet.

For the sauce, begin by microwaving the spinach on high for 6 minutes to defrost.

Heat a deep skillet over medium heat with the EVOO and butter. When the butter melts and is hot, add the garlic. Using a box grater, grate the onion directly into the skillet.

Saute the onions and garlic for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour into the skillet and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the stock, then the cream, and bring the sauce to a boil. Season the sauce with nutmeg and reduce the heat to low.

Place the defrosted spinach in a clean kitchen towel and wring it dry. Separate it as you add it to the sauce. Stir in the chopped artichokes and a couple handfuls of cheese, then season the spinach-artichoke sauce with salt and pepper. Topped the raw chicken breast with spinach artichoke sauce.

Combine the panko breadcrumbs and cheese for the topping and sprinkle on top of the spinach artichoke sauce.

Bake chicken in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes until juices run clear and chicken is thoroughly cooked.