Creamy Chicken Florentine (Kraft Foods and My Thoughts on Dinnertime)

Thank you to Kraft Foods for offering me the opportunity to recreate a recipe with PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme. Please click here to learn more about all the PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme flavors and recipes.

I was pleased to be selected to test out one of Kraft Foods' new products, a cooking creme. I accepted the challenge...I'm always looking for inexpensive ways to simplify our dinnertime routine!

Kraft supplied me with a recipe for Creamy Chicken Florentine; it was up to me to customize it and create a meal my family would enjoy. Here's what I came up with!

Creamy Chicken Florentine

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup fire roasted, diced tomatoes
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Savory Garlic Cooking Creme
1 pkg. (6 oz.) baby spinach leaves
2 cups hot, cooked penne pasta
2 Tbsp. slivered almonds, toasted

Instructions:

1. Cook chicken and tomatoes in a large, non-stick skillet on medium heat, 5 to 6 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

2. Add the cooking cream to the chicken and tomato mixture.

3. Cook and stir for 3 minutes.

4. Stir in spinach and pasta. Top with slivered almonds before serving.

Notes: If you use frozen chicken breasts (which are what I had on hand) be sure to defrost them well before you begin. You can even defrost in the microwave if you are in a rush! I used canned tomatoes to speed up the dinner prep, and I carefully toasted the slivered almonds in the microwave with a tablespoon of butter. I also chose to top the pasta with the chicken and cream topping, rather than mixing it all together.

Variations: Is your husband a fan of sea food like mine is? Substitute shrimp for the chicken! You could also try red pepper strips instead of the diced tomatoes. My husband and kids don't care for red peppers, so I opted for the tomatoes. Or try toasted Italian pine nuts in place of the slivered almonds.

The PHILADELPHIA cooking cream is as simple to use as opening the tub and adding it to the skillet! The cream blended easily and added a lot of flavor to the meal. It was easy to customize the recipe to fit my family's needs.

I served our meal with a side of warm, whole wheat French bread...delicious!

With dinner taken care of, all I had to do was enjoy the meal with my family! When we have the opportunity to sit down to dinner together, we make an effort to connect. No TV or cell phones around...just us. We do our best to include the kids in our conversation, even if it's as simple as asking them to share the very best thing to happen to them that day. Feeling relaxed at the table helps me to enjoy the meal more, to be present....rather than being cranky about extra trips to the store or feeling guilty about spending too much on ingredients we didn't really need.

We're all busy...homework, practices, work, family commitments. Dinner should be about nourishing our families: not just physically, but in spirit as well!  

Here's a little video testimony I put together (you'll have to click over if you're viewing this in a reader or email):




Thank you again to Kraft Foods for sponsoring this blog post. I was selected as one of 20 bloggers by Technorati Media and Clever Girls Collective to participate in the Kraft Foods PHILADELPHIA Cooking Creme signature recipes campaign. While I have been compensated for my time and received the product, my opinions and experiences are my own.

Linking to Positively Splendid, Today's Creative Blog, Home Stories A to Z