Chicken Pasta in a Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Sauce

Chicken Pasta in a Creamy Spinach and Mushroom Sauce

The best inventions in the kitchen are the ones that are thrown together without thinking or measuring!  I came up with this yesterday and I've replicated it today so I could blog it.  If I didn't, I would end up forgetting it, and I love to share good food with you all! The creamy spinach and mushroom sauce calls for 2 cups of heavy whipping cream along with one cup of cheese, so it might not be the best diet-friendly meal, but you could always make a healthier Greek yogurt sauce and use the rest as the basis for the recipe! 

The Ingredients - Forgot to picture the garlic, olive oil, and pasta.  Just imagine that they're there!

After cooking the onions until translucent, add the spinach and stir to coat

Pop the stems from the mushrooms and then slice them across and then longways. 

Add mushrooms to the spinach and onions and stir on medium heat until mushrooms become juicy and are soft

Add cream 

Add water with bouillon

Add cheddar cheese

Add Parmesan cheese 

Shake chicken in bag with parsley, onion powder, and garlic powder

After cutting chicken into bit-sized pieces, heat a splash of olive oil in a skillet and begin to cook chicken

After chicken is done, add sauce to skillet and continue to simmer on low

For the pasta, use the same saucepan you used to make the sauce.  It will add flavor to the pasta, and honestly, our dishwasher is broken, so the less dishes the better!

Once pasta is cooked and drained, combine pasta and sauce in a large bowl

Just look at that creamy goodness!

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan  

Place onion in a medium sized saucepan with 1Tbs of extra virgin olive oil on medium heat. Sauté until onions are translucent. Add clove of garlic and cook for an additional  30 seconds. Throw in the spinach and stir into the onions and garlic. Once spinach is cooked, add sliced mushrooms. Continue to cook, while stirring, until mushrooms are juicy and soft. Add cream and water with bouillon. Bring to a slight boil and then turn the heat down to low. Stir in cheddar and parmesan cheeses.  Let simmer and stir occasionally.

While the sauce is simmering and remembering to stir occasionally, put 2Tbs of extra virgin olive oil in a medium size skillet on medium heat.  Shake chicken breasts in bag with parsley, onion powder, and garlic powder until well coated then cut into bite-size pieces.  Add the chicken breasts to the skillet and stir until browned.  Put lid on skillet and continue to cook until done, stirring occasionally.  Once chicken is cooked all the way through, add the sauce to the chicken, turn heat to low, and let simmer to thicken.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, stir into sauce, and serve with freshly grated parmesan sprinkled on top!

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced

1 minced clove of garlic

1Tbs + 2Tbs extra virgin coconut oil

5oz organic spinach
8oz portobello mushrooms 

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup water with 1 chicken bouillon 
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 large chicken breasts
2Tbs parsley
1tsp onion powder
1tsp garlic powder

14.5 oz whole wheat spiral pasta