Quick Chicken & Spinach Skillet

As much as I love Christmas, with all its trappings and inherent busyness I must confess I am pleased to be getting back to our routine.  The holidays were good, for the most part, although our family suffered an unexpected and terrible loss just before Christmas, which sent all of us reeling.  Christmas then was quite subdued, but still every tradition found its place once more.
Still the busyness, late nights, holiday parties and just being away from home meant cooking here was minimal and often catch as can.
This past Monday though Emily was back at school and I was back to work, and meal times again took on a more normal routine.  For her first day back in the kitchen Emily decided to make this easy chicken dish.  I invited my sister to join us, and Emily was doubly pleased to be cooking for someone outside our little household.
When I got home from work I had her start the rice, since brown rice takes 40 minutes to cook, and then helped her trim the stems from the bag of spinach.
Emily protested when I insisted I cut the chicken breasts in half horizontally, but I thought it was more knife skill than she has yet acquired.
Emily browned the chicken in hot oil.  While it was browning she mixed a can of diced tomatoes (we used the cracked black pepper & garlic flavoured ones) with three tablespoons of roasted red pepper with Parmesan salad dressing.  The original recipe called for tomato & oregano dressing, which I was unable to find in our local grocery store.
Once the chicken pieces were browned Emily put them on a plate, drizzling them with another tablespoon of the dressing.  To the pan she added the tomatoes and brought it to a boil.  Once it was boiling she added the spinach, cooking it for about 3 minutes.  Although the recipe says to put the spinach mixture on the chicken Emily, at my suggestion, added the chicken back to the pan.
We each spooned a piece of chicken with the sauce over the cooked rice.
Dinner was flavourful, and very good.  There was a great deal of the sauce leftover, once  Emily made a couple of lunch time containers for each of us, using up the remaining chicken & rice.
I told her to put it in the fridge.  The following day I browned a pound of ground bison with an onion and some garlic, add the leftover spinach and tomato mixture to this with  cooked noodles (I used the leftover few noodles from our last couple boxes of lasagna, broken up.  I always seem to have a few noodles left every time I make a lasagna.  Either I need a different pan, or there needs to be a re-think on the packaging)  It was also a great meal. topped with a little Parmesan cheese.

Quick Chicken & Spinach Skillet

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 can diced tomatoes (540 ml)

1/4 cup tomato & oregano salad dressing, or roasted red pepper with Parmesan 

2 teaspoons oil

8 cups packed spinach leaves (one bag of baby spinach)

2 2/3 cups cooked brown rice

Cut chicken breasts in half horizontally.  Combine tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of dressing (any non creamy would work,) 

Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the chicken and cook 2-3 minutes on each side.   Remove from the pan and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of dressing.  

Add the tomato mixture to the pan and heat to boiling.  Add the spinach leaves and cook 2-3 minutes.

Return the chicken to the pan and heat through.  Serve over rice.