I make this dish fairly often because it's so good but also because it's so easy - and easy to use what's on hand to substitute. Originally a year or two ago I made it with cream cheese and salsa. One day I decided to leave those out and discovered a whole new dish. I've been making it this way ever since.
Sometimes I have yellow and red peppers on hand. Other times I have one or the other. I often use yellow squash zucchini in this dish. Another option is when I don't have fresh peppers on hand, I always have freeze dried peppers in the pantry so I simply reconstitute about 1/4 cup in warm water for 5 minutes and add them.
One of other reasons I love this dish is that it's a great idea to use up chicken sausage if you've grown tired of your 'regular' way of eating it. Back when I used to buy it about 10 years ago (I make all ours from scratch now), I remember wondering what in the heck I could use it in. Many times store bought chicken sausage has little or not real flavor; this is the recipe for that!
Chicken and Spinach
4 links of chicken sausage (I use homemade chicken, feta & spinach sausage)
10 oz. pk. frozen spinach, thawed
1 c red and/or bell pepper, chopped
1/2 c celery (optional) diced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 T minced, fresh garlic (cut back if you aren't a fan of garlic, we love it)
1 T butter
1/2 c jalapeno slices (canned) or 2 small jalapeno's fresh (increase, decrease, leave out; to your own taste)
14 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 - 1 T dried red pepper flakes (more/less on how spicy you want it)
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t chili powder
If you need to cook your chicken, do it first or just use leftover chicken from another meal or frozen/cooked chicken of choice. Saute' the onion, celery and peppers in butter until tender either remove the chicken or do it while it's in the pan. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer. Cook until it's warmed throughout and all vegetables are tender.
