As everyone knows, yesterday was the Super Bowl. I, personally, loved the half-time show and thought Lady Gaga did a fabulous job. It brought me back to when I saw her in concert six years ago. She was quite the entertainer and still is.

Yesterday’s menu consisted of many things … chicken sausages cooked in white wine, brats cooked in beer, guacamole, pan fried onion dip, veggies, the list goes on and on.

I did make a slow cooker spinach artichoke dip that was a great appetizer for Super Bowl, and then played a visit in tonight’s dinner when I used it as a pasta sauce. I will talk about how I made the dip and then I will talk about what I did with it for the pasta for tonight.

It was so simple to make the spinach artichoke dip in the slow cooker. I put everything together, set the timer to high for two hours and I forgot about it. I started with 2 cans of artichoke hearts that I had cut into quarters. I then added two 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, 2-1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 1-1/4 cups of grated parmesan. To that, I added four cloves of minced garlic, a bag of chopped spinach – that I had thawed and drained, 1/2 cup of non-fat milk, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I stirred everything together, placed the lid on and let it cook.

I served this with a French baguette, cut into thin slices.

It was so good that I saved the leftovers and decided to make it the sauce for pasta for tonight’s dinner.

I wanted to add low-fat protein to my pasta, so I roasted a few boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I put together a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, course ground dijon mustard, zest and juice of one lemon, kosher salt, pepper and minced garlic. I brushed this over both sides of my chicken and roasted it in a preheated 425 degree oven for 35 minutes.

I used Pappardelle pasta in tonight’s dish. They are thick, long egg noodles.

I put about two cups of the leftover spinach artichoke dip into a large pan and added a few tablespoons of olive oil to loosen it up. I squeezed the juice of a lemon into the sauce as well. Once the noodles were done, I added them to the sauce and added about a cup and a half of reserved pasta water. I coated the noodles with the sauce and added the chicken breasts, which I had cut into cubes.

I did add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes to my pasta. Dennis really enjoyed this dish. I hope you will too!

If anyone is interested in my guacamole recipe, let me know and I will blog that as well. I didn’t want to overwhelm everyone with too many recipes in one blog post, so I’ve only included the recipe for the dip and then the recipe for the chicken/pasta.

Ingredients for Slow Cooker Artichoke Spinach Dip

• 2 14-ounce cans artichoke hearts, drained and cut into quarters

• 1 16-18 ounce bag chopped spinach, thawed and drained

• 16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature, cut into cubes

• 2-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

• 1-1/4 cups grated parmesan

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions

In slow cooker, place artichoke hearts, spinach, cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, minced garlic, milk, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Mix together, put lid on slow cooker. Set to high and cook for two hours. Enjoy!

Ingredients for Chicken

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

• 1 tablespoon course ground dijon mustard

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 lemon, zest and juice

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix together oil, vinegar, mustard, garlic, zest and juice of lemon, salt and pepper in a glass measuring cup. Place chicken on baking sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Brush chicken with oil and vinegar mixture you’ve prepared and bake for 35 minutes. Set aside to use with pasta.

Chicken Pappardelle Spinach Artichoke Pasta Ingredients

• 1 bag Pappardelle pasta

• 2 cups of artichoke spinach dip

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 lemon, juice

 

• 1-1/2 cups reserved pasta water

• chicken

Directions

Cook according to package directions, reserving 1 to 1-1/2 cups pasta water. Place 2 cups of spinach artichoke dip into large pan. Add olive oil and juice of lemon, stir. Add cooked noodles to heated sauce, along with desired amount of pasta water. Mix together. Add chicken and toss again. Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris