Creamy Chicken with Artichokes & Spinach

Back to school shopping. The annual ritual of spending money I've carefully saved all summer in approximately ninety minutes at Target and Walmart. Marcus needs new everything because he's grown three inches since May and nothing from last year fits. Jasmine needs new shoes, new backpack (the old one has a broken zipper and she's been holding it together with a binder clip, which is resourceful but not sustainable), and notebooks. So many notebooks. This child goes through notebooks the way other children go through snacks.

The total was $347. I know this because I stood at the checkout and watched the number climb and felt each dollar like a small needle. This is the math that nobody teaches in school — the math of being a single mother on a counselor's salary in August. The child support from Terrell covers some, but child support arrives on its own timeline, and Terrell's timeline has never aligned with the school year.

Marcus picked out his own clothes for the first time. He wanted specific brands, specific styles, specific sneakers. He is becoming a person with preferences, which is developmentally appropriate and financially devastating. I let him choose within parameters — you can have the Jordans OR the Polo shirt, not both. He chose the Jordans. He wore them around the living room for an hour like he was breaking in luxury goods, which I suppose he was.

Jasmine asked for a new lunchbox with cats on it. It was $8.99. She said, "Is that too much?" and I said, "No, baby, it's fine," and I bought it and she carried it to the car like it was made of gold. The fact that my nine-year-old asks me if eight dollars is too much tells me two things: she's paying attention to more than I realize, and I need to do a better job of not letting my financial stress leak into her world.

Cooking this week was practical — freezer meals for the first weeks of school. I spent Sunday making a double batch of chili, a pan of lasagna, and enough pulled chicken for a week of sandwiches and wraps. The freezer is full. The pantry is stocked. I am prepared for the onslaught of homework, back-to-school nights, and the daily scramble of feeding my children something that isn't cereal for dinner. Although cereal for dinner is always an option. Sometimes the best option. I am not above it.

Mama was doing well enough this week that she came to my house for dinner — the first time she's been to the townhouse since before the diagnosis. She walked through the door and went straight to the kitchen, as she does in every house she enters, and opened my cabinets and rearranged my spices "because they were wrong." They were not wrong. They were organized alphabetically, which Mama considers an affront to cooking because "you should be able to reach without looking, not read labels like a pharmacist." I let her rearrange them. She was standing in my kitchen, touching my things, being Mama. I would let her burn the house down.

The pulled chicken I made that Sunday was the heart of our freezer stash — the one I knew we’d reach for on the nights when homework ran long and patience ran short. I make it rich and saucy, with artichokes and spinach stirred in, because it feels like something you actually cooked even when you assembled it in twenty minutes on a Sunday afternoon with Mama rearranging your spice cabinet in the background and a child wearing brand-new Jordans around the living room. It reheats beautifully, it’s filling enough that Marcus doesn’t ask for a second dinner at 9 p.m., and it tastes like the kind of thing someone who had it together made — which, that Sunday, I almost did.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 45 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 can (14 oz) artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
3 cups fresh baby spinach (or one 10 oz package frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
4 oz cream cheese, softened and cubed
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions

Season the chicken. Pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels. Season all over with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.
Sear the chicken. Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, for 4–5 minutes until golden. Flip and cook another 3–4 minutes until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Soften the aromatics. In the same pan over medium heat, add the diced onion and cook for 3–4 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more, stirring frequently, until fragrant.
Build the sauce. Pour in the chicken broth and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir in the heavy cream and cream cheese, whisking gently until the cream cheese is fully melted and the sauce is smooth, about 3–4 minutes.
Add the vegetables. Stir in the artichoke hearts and spinach. Cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring, until the spinach is wilted and the artichokes are warmed through.
Finish the dish. Return the cooked chicken to the pan. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, onion powder, and red pepper flakes if using. Simmer on low for 5 minutes until everything is heated through and the sauce has thickened slightly. Taste and adjust seasoning.
To freeze. Let the dish cool completely, then transfer to freezer-safe containers or zip-top bags in meal-sized portions. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat gently on the stovetop over medium-low heat, adding a splash of broth or cream to loosen the sauce as needed.

Nutrition (per serving)

Creamy Chicken with Artichokes & Spinach — The Freezer Meal That Kept Us Going When August Got Heavy