One Pot Meals - Alfredo and Florentine

Only one pan to clean after dinner

I bookmarked a few one-pot meals a while back and tried them out.  Two of them passed the initial test.  I made them again last week.  They're fast, easy and really quite tasty for a slap-together meal.

The first was a cheater Alfredo (which I don't have pictured - sorry if that's misleading).  I cooked up a half-batch both times I made it (because how often do I have over 6 cups of milk on hand?).  This dish will never be confused with real Alfredo - it's missing so much fat.  Still, not bad.  And easy.  And one pan.  I recommend giving it a try.  It's a good base - you could probably add anything to it.

The second dish is a chicken mushroom Florentine.  The first time I made it, it had too much pasta and not enough stuff.  So this time around I tripled the mushrooms (because you can't have too many), added another cup of the spinach and eyeballed the amount of sundried tomatoes (so that was probably over, too).  I forgot to put in the salt, which it needs.  And next time, maybe add a pinch of red pepper flakes.  Some zing wouldn't go amiss. 

This was very tasty.  It's my favorite of the two. 

One Pot Chicken Florentine
(Adapted from The Recipe Critic)

1 lb boneless chicken breasts, cut into one inch pieces
1 Tbls butter
1 tsp olive oil (skip this if the sun dried tomatoes are packed in oil)
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes
10-12 oz small mushrooms, sliced
1 Tbls flour
2 cups chicken broth
1½ cups whole milk
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
8 oz penne
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
3 cups (6 oz) fresh baby spinach

In a large skillet over medium high heat add butter then cook the chicken until golden brown.  Add oil and cook the garlic, sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms until tender.  Stir in the flour and cook for another minute.

Slowly whisk in the chicken broth, whole milk, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Add the penne and bring to a simmer.  Then cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is tender.  (We use whole wheat pasta - it sometimes takes a bit longer.)

Remove from the heat and add the parmesan cheese and spinach; stir until the spinach begins to wilt.  Serve immediately.