Use what you have...

I'm on a mission to clean up some of the food items in my pantry. Buy less things, use what we have. That's not always easy. What IS easy is buying a can of this or that when you know you need it instead of looking of you have something. Well... buck up, let's do this. Sure I didn't have shallots and I bought them... Sure I used standard white mushrooms instead of cremini, I had slightly less orzo than needed, I did try to buy more and couldn't find any in the stores. But I worked really hard to use what I did have. We have endless herbs in the garden still so it's nice to be able to step outside, clip some thyme and parsley and make a dish with fresh herbs. I made this with chicken breasts instead of thighs... since I recently discovered my dark meat eater has turned into a white meat eater... interesting. This was very good - we were all members of the clean plate club.

One Pot Chicken and Mushroom Orzo
1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, halved
2 large shallots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken stock
1 ½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 cup orzo pasta
3-4 cups baby spinach
⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan
¼ cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Season chicken with 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Working in batches, add chicken to the skillet in a single layer and cook until golden brown and cooked through, reaching an internal temperature of 165 degrees F, about 4-5 minutes per side; set aside.
Add mushrooms and shallot, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-5 minutes. Stir in garlic and thyme until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
Stir in chicken stock and Dijon, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Stir in orzo; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is cooked through, about 6 minutes. Stir in spinach, Parmesan and heavy cream until the spinach has wilted, about 3 minutes. Return chicken to the skillet.
Serve immediately, garnished with parsley.