Two techniques that I'll come back to again and again

So, I just finished my first lunch on the HCG diet, and I have to say...it wasn't half bad! This was due to two things, both of which I love:

1) Wilted spinach
2) Pan sauce

I started out with:

1 small steak (31/2 oz.) - or use chicken, fish, whatever meat you prefer!
A handful of fresh baby spinach (3 oz.)
Half of a very small onion, chopped (1/2 oz.)

Place the steak in the center of a nonstick skillet. Arrange the chopped onions around the steak, and the spinach on top of that.  Next, add in:

1/2 can chicken broth
1 tsp. seasoning blend of choice (Mrs. Dash or whatever you like...use more or less to taste)

Turn heat to medium high and bring the broth to a boil. Cook until onions are translucent, spinach is wilted, steak is cooked to your desired doneness, and liquid is almost but not quite all gone.  It took MAYBE 10 minutes, start to finish, but then I like my steak on the pink side.

Easy, right?  Yeah, but the really great thing about this recipe is it uses two core cooking techniques that I know I'll use, if not every day, then pretty darn close to it.

Oil is off limits, so if you're going to cook something on the stove without burning it, you need some kind of moisture in the bottom of the pan.  There's nothing wrong with water, but broth does double duty by moistening the pan while it adds flavor...and TRIPLE duty if you're quick-cooking a vegetable!

When the broth boils, it releases steam, and if you have a delicate vegetable on top of it, it steams to perfection quickly.  So, the spinach cooks really fast and wilts...the wilted spinach continues to cook in the pan and soaks up the rich chicken-brothy flavor, which improves the taste of the spinach...and as the water in the broth boils away, the flavors in the broth become more concentrated, the broth thickens to a nice consistency, and you have a nice pan sauce to serve over your steak and spinach!

I'm looking forward to using these same techniques to experiment with different flavors.