Family Business

This past weekend we had a little bit of family business that we had to take care of in Florida.  Seeing as the temperature was -4 the morning we left, we were thrilled to head to sunny Florida to take care of our family business.  Here is what the McGhee family business looks like....

 Hey...I didn't say it was tough family business!  

After three days of gorging ourselves on dole whips, candy, and even a kitchen sink (!!!!), we were ready to come home and eat some homemade, nutritious food.  And I knew that this two-bags-of-spinach-recipe was  exactly what we needed.

Spinach-Artichoke Pasta 

• 6 Tablespoons Butter
• 4 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
• 2 bags Baby Spinach
• 2 cans Artichoke Hearts, Drained And Halved
• 3 Tablespoons Flour
• 3 cups Whole Milk
• 1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1-1/2 cup Mozzarella Or Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated
• 1/2 cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth (less Or More)
• 12 ounces, weight Penne, Cooked Until Al Dente
• 1/2 cup Seasoned Panko Breadcrumbs
• Crushed Red Pepper, To Taste

1.  Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large pot or skillet. Add garlic and throw in the spinach. Stir it around until it's wilted, about 1 minute. Remove spinach from heat and set aside.

2.  Add 2 tablespoons butter to the same pot and raise the heat to high. Throw in the halved artichokes and stir it around until they get a little color, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the artichokes from the pot and set them aside.

3.  Reduce the heat to low. Add 2 tablespoons butter to the pot. When melted, sprinkle in flour and whisk until it's combined. Pour in milk and whisk to combine. Let it cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until starting to thicken. Add Parmesan, Mozzarella/Monterey Jack, salt and pepper, and cayenne pepper. Stir to melt, and if it's overly thick, splash in chicken broth.

4.  Add artichokes and pasta, tossing gently to combine. Gently fold in spinach, then pour the pasta into a serving bowl. Sprinkle the top with crushed red pepper flakes and plenty of Panko breadcrumbs for crunch.

Serve immediately!

*side-note:  I realize that this dish also contains over a stick of butter, 2 cups of cheese, and 3 cups of whole milk.  Not exactly low-carb, low-fat, or low-calorie.  You could definitely tweak it by using olive oil, less cheese, and lower-fat milk.*

That's a whole-lotta butter and garlic.  

Spinach before....

...spinach after....

..

Roasted artichokes.  The minis and I stood around the pan and ate them as they were cooking.  Next time I will add three cans.

The butter and flour....beginning of a roux.

Add your milk and whisk, whisk, whisk.

Add your cheese and let it melt.  Add your spices.  I took it easy on the cayenne pepper.

Add the artichoke and pasta back into the cheese sauce.

Fold in the wilted spinach.

Pour into a serving dish and sprinkle with panko crumbs.  In all my excitement to eat this, I forgot the panko crumbs.  Didn't miss them one bit either.

This dish was easy to prepare and it smelled absolutely heavenly.  In fact, my boy minis actually abandoned their legos and came down to investigate what their sniffers were sniffing.  And they were not disapointed....this dish was a huge hit with the minis.  I'm talking man-sized portions.  Mr. McGhee and I agreed, this recipe is a keeper!  I served it with kale chips, which means that the McGhee family consumed 2 bags of spinach and a bag of kale in one dinner.  I think we should be good on the green leafy veggies for a few days.  

Grilled cheeeeeese

One of my goals when I we decided to give up processed foods was to make all of our baked goods.  And I did come up with a delish bread recipe that takes about 2 minutes of prep work.  That being said, I haven't made a loaf of bread yet this summer.  


And it's all because of these guys.


Before I go on, I want to say that I am not paid to endorse Great Harvest Bread Company.  And even though I go there 2 times a week, they have no clue that I am a food blogger that occasionally obsesses over them.  But the reason that I continue to promote, gush, and rave about them is their bread is amazing.  And the fact that the lovely ladies at the counter remember to ask my minis how their new puppy is doing each week is an added bonus.  


I always buy honey wheat bread for my family.  (And I always let my minis have a free sample of the cinnamon roll bread).  But this week I decided to go crazy and try something new....the Dakota bread.


Oh My Goodness.  The Dakota bread is proof that God loves us and wants us to happily eat our whole grains.

I don't even know what all is in the Dakota bread, but I know that I trust my friends from Great Harvest and it is healthy.  And amazingly delish.


I decided to make grilled cheese with our Dakota bread.  In the past I have blogged about grilled cheese on the honey wheat bread, and I do believe I declared it the best school-lunch inspired meal ever.  Well, today I  am going to share yet another best-ever grilled cheese recipe.


Heids McGhee's Grilled Cheese

• bread 
• pesto
• spinach
• avocado
• cheese (I used muenster and goat)
• butter
• olive oil

When it comes to pesto, I am sort of a purist and make basil pesto.  (That being said, someone has suggested to me that I try kale pesto with my overabundance of garden kale.)  You can make (or buy, if you must) whatever pesto you prefer.

1.  Butter one side of each slice of bread.

2.  On the other side of each slice, slather on some pesto.

3.  Layer spinach leaves, avocado, and cheese on a slice of bread.

4.  Top with the remaining slice, butter side up.

5.  If you want to be really bad (and I was bad, but justified it by telling myself I did run 6 miles that morning), heat up a little olive oil in a pan.

6.  Grill your sandwich in the pan until each side is browned.

Slather with pesto.  Lick the knife.

Layer on spinach.  Lots of spinach.  It's good for you.  

(Next time I will also add artichoke).

Cheese.  Muenster for the McGhees.

Slices of avocado.  Save leftovers for guacamole.

Sprinkle some goat cheese.

Grill to perfection.

We ate our grilled cheese with zucchini chips and fresh pineapple.  And it was one of those meals where the food was so good that there was silence.  Well, mostly silent, except for my occasional outburst of "BAM! Mama makes some grilled cheese!"

Salad for Sadness

Mr. McGhee was out of town last week, which meant that I got to catch up on my shows.  That means I finally got around to watching the last few episodes of Glee.  I think I should be ashamed to ask this, but I have to know....am I the only grown woman who cried like a baby during the season finale of Glee?  The whole Finn-Rachel break-up scene was all too much for me, I had the ugly cry going on.  And the next morning, as I was making breakfast  for the minis, I found myself actually worrying about Finn and how he was holding up knowing that Rachel was in NYC chasing his dreams and he was headed to Georgia to join the Army.  

Perhaps I get emotionally invested too easily.

Anyway, I knew that I needed to do something to cheer myself up, so I decided I would make myself my all-time favorite meal, a warm spinach with red onion and nectarine salad.  I first had this salad on a trip to Seattle last summer, so every time I eat it, I reminisce about that trip.  

Warm Spinach with Red Onion and Nectarine salad.

• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 10 ounce baby spinach
• 2 nectarines, halved, pitted, each cut into 8 wedges 
• 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar 
• Salt and pepper 
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 medium red onions, peeled and thinly sliced
• 6 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 cup diced smoked ham, optional (I have never tried with the smoked ham)

1. 1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spread almonds on a baking sheet. Toast in oven, stirring once or twice, until light golden, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
2. 2. Place spinach and nectarines in a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together vinegar and sugar until sugar dissolves. Season with pepper and a pinch of salt.
3. 3. Warm olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until well browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Stir in vinegar mixture and remove from heat.
4. 4. Scrape hot dressing over spinach mixture and toss to coat. Divide among 4 dinner plates. Sprinkle each salad with goat cheese, almonds and ham, if using. Serve immediately.

Cooking onions, for the dressing.

Spinach, nectarines and goat cheese.  I added extra nectarines.

Tossed with the dressing.  The warm dressing melts the goat cheese to perfection.  It's delish and totally got me over my Finn and Rachel saddness.

Trying to Inspire You All!!!!

Last night the McGhee family went to see our local minor league hockey team play.  Mr. McGhee and the boy minis love going to these games.  Myself and my tiny mini are notsomuch the fans, but occasionally we like to tag along.  On the way to the game last night, my oldest mini (the one that donates stuffed animals to hospitalized kids and writes me poems every night) says to me, "Mom, tonight I am hoping for either a bench brawl or a goalie fight.  Because that would be something special."

My mini got what he wished for.  Something special.  And as the crowd was throwing aside their hotdogs, nachos, and beers to struggle up out of their seats and scream, "fight, kill, fight" I realized hockey is a very primitive sport.

And then I went home and I set my alarm to get up early so I could participate in this event to raise awareness for organ donation.  And at the finish line, there were people dropping their bananas, oranges, and water bottles to jump up and cheer for runners as they crossed the finish line.  I realized that running is a very encouraging and inspirational sport.

Someone after the race said to me, that today is a reminder to cherish every day because you never know in life what will happen.  And I agree with that, whole-heartedly.  But, after today's race, I walked away with a different message.  I have got to take care of what I have in order to honor all these people that are so sick and would do anything to be living life in a healthy body.  And I have to keep working hard to inspire other people to do take care of themselves.  It's the least we can do, right?  Take care of yourself....do it for YOURSELF and for pete's sake, do it for all the people that love you!

I'm bringing back one of the first recipes I posted here, mainly b/c it is an absolute favorite in our house!  We are very busy today, Mr. McGhee and our oldest mini are working on making my raised garden beds and I am busy spring cleaning inside.  Since I am cleaning, that means our minis are stuck outside for the day and I am just randomly bringing them bowls of food to keep them satisfied.  So far, they have seemed the most excited about kale chips.

Kale Chips

• 1 bunch of kale
• olive oil
• seasoned salt (or sea salt)

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F
2. Line a cookie sheet with foil.
3. Using a knife or kitchen shears carefully remove the leaves from the thick stems and tear into bite size pieces. Wash and thoroughly dry kale with a salad spinner.   (or buy the bag of pre-cut kale....who says all convience food is processed?)
4. Drizzle kale with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning salt.
5. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes.               

And because I am obsessed I made another batch of sweet potato, kale, and cranberry quinoa.  We have been randomly snacking on that throughout the day.  I made a late breakfast of spinach, goat cheese, and peppadew omelets with toast.  So, I have done lots of cooking today...but sorry, no new recipes!  Tonight, Mr. McGhee and the boy minis are heading back to another hockey game.  I have a girls night out with my favorite girl in the world and plans to set my alarm for a run early tomorrow morning.

RV show!

Today is the mini's last day of school before spring break!  I am so excited, we seriously need some McGhee family time.  Mr. McGhee took the week off, and we resisted all urges to book the vacation we've been dreaming about.  Instead we are going to stay home and work around the house.  Remember when I told you Mr. McGhee and I were taking a farm class.  I was totally thinking I would come home from that class with funny stories of Mr. McGhee declaring that I am officially nuts.  But, nope.  Guess what?!?!  Mr. McGhee wants to be a farmer now too!  Unfortunately, we currently live in a small subdivision, so we will have to focus on gardening and composting for now.  But we are on the lookout for any farm-suitable land, so if you've got any you're looking to get rid of, let me know!

Before we jump into our week of work, we are going out of town to visit our best friends for a few days.  Our friends have 4 minis, so along with our minis, that is a total of 7 minis under the age of 9.  We're practically the Duggars.  Well, except we drink, swear, and yell at our kids.  We were supposed to leave today as soon as school is over, but then I looked at my calendar and realized that there is an event today that we have been looking forward to for a year.  The RV show!!!!!  The McGhee family is obsessed with RVs and so we're going to have to hit up the RV show before we head out of town.

I love camping.  Now, I friends that are campers that claim I am not a camper.  Whatever.  I love going to campgrounds and staying in cabins.  Preferably the cabin with the jacuzzi, wine cooler, deluxe kitchen, 1000 thread count sheets, and a beautiful view.

This is from our camping trip last summer.  See, look at how happy I am.

Look at us here.  We are totally campers braving that rushing water behind us.

So, Mr. McGhee and I have a dream of renting an RV someday and taking a month during the summer to drive the US.  As a family, we've been planning this vacation for about a year now, so we all agree....we must go to the RV show and scope out what options we will need for our rental.

I don't want to leave you all for a few days without a recipe to try.  For dinner last night we had mustard chicken and sauteed spinach.  I've got to be honest with you, I think I did something wrong with the chicken because I did not taste the mustard at all.  But, I think the idea is good, so I am going to rework this recipe with more mustard and regular breadcrumbs.  Perhaps a drizzle of honey too.  We thought the spinach was really good.  If you like cooked spinach, you should definitely try it.  If you don't like cooked spinach, you should try my shamrock smoothie.

Sauteed Spinach and Pine Nuts (from Rodale Whole Foods Cookbook)

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/4 cup pine nuts (I didn't have pine nuts, I used slivered almonds)
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds 
• 1 pound baby spinach leaves
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• lemon wedges

1.  In a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat.

2.  Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook until garlic is golden.

3.  Discard the garlic.

4.  Add the nuts and sesame seeds to the oil and cook until lightly toasted, about 1-2 minutes.

5.  Add the spinach, water, and salt.  

6.  Cover and cook over high heat until wilted and tender, 4-5 minutes.  Toss with a fork once or twice.

7.  Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Oven Baked Crispy Mustard Chicken (from Rodale Whole Foods Cookbook)
NOTE:  To cut a whole chicken into 8 serving pieces, separate it into drumsticks, thighs, and breasts.  Cut each breast in half.  Save the wings and backs for making stock.  

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/4 cup coarse-grained mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 chicken (4 pounds), cut into 8 pieces with skin removed (I used chicken breasts)
• 2 cups italian flavored panko bread crumbs

1.  Preheat oven to 425F.  

2.  Using olive oil, coat a rimmed baking sheet.

3.  In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy.  Whisk in mustard, salt and pepper.

4.  Add the chicken and coat with egg mixture.  

5.  Lift the chicken from the mustard mixture and roll in the crumbs, pressing them so they adhere.  

6.  Place chicken on baking sheet.  Drizzle chicken with remaining oil.

7. Bake for 30 minutes or until crispy, browned, and cooked through.

I used these breadcrumbs and seasoned them with italian seasoning.  Next time I will use regular non-panko breadcrumbs.

Have a fabulous weekend!  The McGhee family is sure to enjoy ours!