foodtvandme.com is the unofficial food network fansite with news, reviews, and my attempts at those great recipes you see on tv.

In an omage to your pick for the hottest female chef, I thought it would be very fitting to pick a recipe from among the lovely Giada De Laurentiis’ repertoire of recipes.  That is where I started for my selection and to narrow it down, I had to face something.  An addiction that I have.  My name is Jessica and I’m a grocery-store-a-holic.  I vowed this week to break my frequent grocery store going habit and select a recipe that only used items that I currently have in my fridge or freezer.  So, ladies and gentelmen, I found the perfect recipe.

Weekly recipe attempt: Chicken Florentine Style

Off the bat, I knew that I would have to go with a chicken dish.  My freezer is littered with frozen chicken pieces of every shape and kind.  I also knew that buried somewhere in there was some frozen spinach.  I always have that on hand because one day someone on the Food Network told me to always have it on hand.  These are the two main components in this dish.  You probably picked that up already from the title – Chicken (has chicken) Florentine (has spinach). Ta dah!

Miraculously I had some shallots and a smidge of white wine in my fridge.  I think the wine had been in there for a while, but since I cooked it with other stuff, it seemed fine.  I had some half and half from my morning coffee, which I used instead of whipping cream.  It worked just fine, too.

I did not, however, have any parsley.  But the way I see it is that herbs enhance a dish and while they may be delicious, they do not make or break something.  If I were to run to the store to grab some parsley, I would come back with potato chips, frozen corn dogs and tater tots, all the while forgetting the herbs.  So you see, they never would have made it into the pan in the first place even if I took the effort to go out and buy them.

I really liked this recipe.  Not only was it a new way to eat chicken, but it made me eat spinach as well.  I don’t usually use spinach as my main side dish, I mostly put it in stuff like eggs to sneak it into my diet.  But when you put sauce over anything, you have an instant hit.

I give this recipe a 9.  It was simple, pretty, healthy (try using fat free cream and cooking spray in lieu of some of the butter), and delicious.  Once again the beautiful Giada proves why she is number one in our hearts and on our tables.