Home From Vacation

...& Nothing in the Fridge

Last night I opened the fridge to find... a red pepper. 

Really? I have nothing else? I really need to go grocery shopping...

But, it's dinner time and I don't feel like running out to the grocery store or ordering take-out. In the freezer I found two small chicken breasts and a package of frozen (obviously) spinach and in the cupboard a box of spiral pasta & chicken broth. Looks like I found dinner. :) Whole Wheat Spiral Pasta tossed in a Light Demi Glaze Sauce with Chicken & Chopped Spinach & Topped with Diced Roasted Red Peppers. Pretty fancy for a dinner created via scavenger hunt, huh?

While I was walking into the kitchen to prepare the meal, Josh asked me if I would make him another Gin & Tonic. But first, I grabbed the spinach to thaw it out. At that moment, Josh walked into the kitchen and said, "Unless you're putting spinach in my drink, I'm not quite sure what it's doing in your hand." I could not stop laughing! He seems to get a little goofy when I'm cooking. I like to think it is because he is so excited about what I'm cooking, that he gets a little giddy.

He kept me company while I cooked & when I mentioned that I was only using half of the box of pasta {there are only two of us, making the whole box is not necessary}, he couldn't understand why. So, he decided to count the noodles. {Pause for reaction.} I'm still not sure why... Maybe to make sure that I used exactly half and not a noodle less? He gave up on his project in the end. But it was entertaining while it lasted.

I roasted & chopped the red pepper ~ thawed & chopped the spinach ~ thawed & cut the chicken into bite size pieces. After I had everything prepped, I cooked the chicken and boiled the pasta. Then I reduced chicken broth with lemon juice. Then tossed in the spinach, pasta & chicken... and why not a pad of butter! To finish it off I topped the pasta with the roasted red pepper.

While I was plating the pasta 

and taking a couple pictures, 

I turned around and... 

he's eating out of the pan.

Apparently, I was taking too long.

Josh's Review, "This is really good. I would eat this again."

Success!

{taking a bow}

There was enough left over for Josh to take to work for lunch, so he put it in a container and popped it in the fridge. ... However, a few hours later, he took it out of the fridge and ate it before going to bed.

M: "Don't you want to save that for your lunch tomorrow?" 


J: "Nope."