Chicken Florentine

I had a bunch of bacon and spinach left over from this recipe so I was happy to find this recipe from You Got Served. After reading the ingredients it sounded pretty tasty! Something that I learned that I love are things that come pre-prepared, like minced garlic, bacon bits, shredded cheese. All were things used in this recipe which saved tons of time. I'm not a fan of mincing garlic, it seems like it takes me forever. And I really don't like cooking bacon, the smell is way too overpowering. It's pretty much the best when it's grilled outside, at Bear Lake. This would be a great recipe to use if you have left over grilled chicken, saving you about 20-30 minutes. Anyway, here is my take on this recipe.

2 large chicken breasts, cut into 3rds or 4ths

1 big bag of fresh spinach

4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/4 c butter

1 T Italian Seasoning

1/2 c half-and-half

3 t minced garlic

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

1 T lemon juice

1 can cream of mushroom soup (can also use cream of chicken or cream of roasted garlic)

1 c shredded mozzarella cheese

2/3 c bacon, crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken breast halves on a baking sheet; bake 20 to 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear.

While chicken is baking, sautee spinach and mushrooms in 1 1/2 T olive oil, until it becomes fragrant and spinach withers. Set aside. Then, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, mix the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, half-and-half, and Parmesan cheese in with the melted butter. Be careful not to let mixture bubble or it will thicken, just heat long enough to melt cheese.

When chicken is through baking, increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees.

Arrange the sauteed spinach and mushrooms over the bottom of a 9x13 inch (or 2- 8x8, baking 1 now, freezing the other for later) baking dish. Pour half the mixture from the saucepan over the spinach and mushrooms. Arrange chicken breasts in the dish, and cover with the remaining sauce mixture. Sprinkle with bacon bits, and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the 400 degree oven, until bubbly and lightly browned. Serve over pasta.

Serves 4.

Crunch Almond Chicken

I love when I find ridiculously easy dishes like this one that are a hit. Makes me happy :) I found the original over at You Got Served, but here is my adaptation.

1 c fresh bread crumbs (I used seasoned stuffing mix)

1 c blanched slivered (sliced works too) almonds, toasted and finely chopped

2 T chopped parsley

1/2 t ground ginger

1/4 t salt

1/8 t pepper

2 large chicken breasts, cut in to thirds.

1 c italian dressing

Instructions

Marinate chicken in italian dressing over night or for at least 4 hours. (I only did the 4 hours, I bet it would be even better if it was marinated longer)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, combine bread crumbs, almonds, parsly, ginger, salt and pepper. Dip chicken in bread crumb mixture, coating well.

Arrange chicken in a large shallow baking dish. Bake uncovered 30 minutes or until done.

Serve with rice pilaf and steamed broccoli. Serves 4.

Ravioli Bake

I was in the mood for something easy tonight since I knew I would be working and it also served as a pretty good Super Bowl dinner (with the breadsticks). I adapted it a little from this recipe with the stuff I had on hand. I liked the sausage as opposed to the ground beef I normally use in recipes like this because it gave it a little more flavor.

1/2 lb turkey sausage

1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh basil

1/8 c heavy cream

salt and ground black pepper

1 (9 ounce) package fresh cheese ravioli

1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 475 degrees. Bring 2 quarts water to boil in large pot.

Cook sausage in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, breaking meat up with wooden spoon until lightly browned and no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain meat and set aside.

Add oil and garlic to skillet and return to medium heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and reserved sausage and cook until slightly thickened, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in basil and cream and continue to simmer until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat, cover, and set aside.

Add 1 T salt and ravioli to boiling water and cook, stirring often, until tender. Drain ravioli and return to pot.

Stir sauce into ravioli and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spread mixture into 8 x 8-inch baking dish and sprinkle evenly with mozzarella. Bake until cheese is melted and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Serve warm with breadsticks.