Yesterday

I just need to pause for a moment to rave about dinner last night. Since I'm currently residing with the Julie-bean, we have been making dinner after I get out of Student Teaching Camp/back from studying for the Praxis on Saturday. The recipes come out of a Rachel Ray 30-minute cookbook and they're fantastic, even if Jules and I have to improvise because of the poor supplies at IGA or DG. Monday's dinner was Leek-y Chicken, but we lacked both leeks (which according to the title are essential) and the couscous bedding for the chicken. We made due with some saffron rice instead. 
Last night though! Oh my goodness! Spinach-Artichoke Pasta. If the Spinach-Artichoke dip at Applebee's (or anywhere else) is your main thing for appetizers, this recipe is for you. 
Combine about 1/2 a tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tbs of butter in a deep frying pan (or saucepan if you're me and Jules) and heat until butter is melted and hot
Add 3 chopped garlic cloves and one small grated onion to the pan and sautee for 5 minutes or so. (Julie and I used 2 small scoops of minced garlic from a jar that was hard to open) *If you don't like garlic and onion, I promise you can't taste it in the finished product
Add 2 tbs of flour and stir for a minute
Add 1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup cream (or half-and-half) 
Bring to a bubble
Then reduce heat to low
Add chopped artichoke hearts (we used a 7 oz can, the recipe called for 14 oz, couldn't tell the difference)
Add chopped spinach leaves (ours were also from a can, and tasty)
Add generous amount of cheese (recipe calls for grated Parmeasan, we used several handfuls of mozzerella and a bunch of Parmeasan)
Stir
Add cooked pasta of choice- We used Spinach Nests, which were awesome. The original calls for Tortellini, which sounds even more awesome just cause I'm a Tortellini fan. 


This was seriously one of the most awesome things I've made/eaten in a long time. 
Hope you enjoy.