two words for you: So. Good.

I have to start by giving credit for this to Jenny Winjum for a couple of things. First, this recipe is awesome and she shared it with me. I'm not exaggerating when I say that it's definitely comparable to the Tuscan Garlic Chicken at the Olive Garden, as she said it would be. Amazing! Second, if you've been following, you'll understand why I think it's super cool that I got this recipe in the regular mail vs. getting it via e-mail. So, Jenny - thanks for great food and for sending me mail!

Jenny and I have said that we should start a cooking club, and I had been thinking about creating a facebook group where people could post their favorite recipes, tips, etc... and ask for advice. I do this because I think it's fun, but am by no means an expert and often need to ask for help and ideas. If people are interested in giving it a try, I'll put together a group - so let me know.

As I'm writing, I'm eating some leftovers of this so I can tell you it's good leftover, as well. :) And finally, I'll get to the point - here's the exact recipe, I didn't change a thing:

Tuscan Garlic Chicken
4 chicken breasts

1 1/2 c. flour and 1 Tblsp. flour

2 tsp. pepper

3 tsp. italian seasoning

1 lb. fettucini, cooked

5 Tblsp. olive oil

1 Tblsp. garlic, chopped

1 red pepper, julianned

1/2 c. white wine

1/2 lb. fresh spinach

2 c. heavy cream

1 c. parmesaen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix 1 1/2 cup flour, salt, pepper, italian seasoning in a large dish; dredge chicken in the mixture. Heat 3 Tblsp. olive oil in a skillet and cook chicken for 3 minutes. Then, place the chicken onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Heat 2 Tblsp. olive oil in a pot. Add garlic, red pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Stir in flour, wine, spinach, and cream. Boil. Sauce is done when the spinach wilts. Stir in parmesaen.

Coat cooked, drained pasta with sauce. Then top with chicken and remaining sauce. Garnish with extra cheese.

And there you have it! I have no notes, comments, etc... it was delish!

I'm ruined...

I don't think I'll eat store-bought shortcake again. We've been buying strawberries quite a bit lately when they have been on sale, and a couple of times have gotten the Hostess shortcake pieces. Not anymore. I wanted to try to make it, and found a recipe at allrecipes.com, and made some adjustments based on the reviews I read. Here's what I ended up with:

Shortcake
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 c. white sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 c. butter
2/3 c. heavy cream
1 egg, beaten
1.5 tsp. lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, and baking powder into a large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives. Stir in cream, egg, and lemon zest. On a lightly floured surface, knead for 2 minutes. Roll into balls (a bit smaller than a golf ball) and dip one side in sugar. Flatten balls to about 1/2 inch thick. Place onto a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with strawberries, whipped cream, milk, ice cream... or name your pleasure.


My notes: the lemon zest is optional, but added a nice flavor in my opinion. The cakes didn't get very golden, so even though they are very light in color, it does not mean they aren't done.

For the topping, I like to have the strawberries be juicy, but the berries I get at the store don't make the juice like the homegrown ones my mom makes at home. So, I made sauce out of them by putting the berries, 1/4 c. water, and some sugar in a small pan on the stove. Once they were soft, I used a masher to make the sauce. Because I had the lemon from the lemon zest, I put a little bit of lemon juice in the strawberry sauce, too. When I put them over the shortcake, I also cut some uncooked, fresh strawberries on top, so we still got the fresh strawberry texture. We also topped with some fresh whipped cream (since I had leftover heavy cream, anyway).

Whipped Cream:
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3 Tblsp. powdered sugar
1 Tsp. vanilla extract

Whip the heavy cream until it starts to be able to form peaks; add powdered sugar and vanilla, and continue to whip until firm peaks form. Serve immediately.

Enjoy! :)

five buck cluck

On Thursday, I went to the store to get some things for the house -- and had a craving for chicken salad sandwiches sometime this weekend, so I bought some pre-made chicken salad -- or so I thought. I got home from work on Friday to find that a) I bought ham salad that must have been in the wrong slot at the store and b) someone had already eaten some of that, anyway. Fortunately, the store has $5 rotisserie chicken on Friday nights (get it? 5 buck cluck) and I had the rest of the stuff laying around to make it myself. Win! Back to the store...


I didn't really measure, but here's approximately what I did. I took the meat off of the rostisserie chicken and put it in the freezer to cool because it was still pretty warm. While it cooled, I diced 1.5 stalks of celery and 1 very small onion. Then I cut the cooled chicken into small pieces, and put it in a large bowl with the celery and onion. I mixed it with Hellman's light mayo until I had the consistency I like for chicken salad, and then added a couple of tablespoons of ranch dressing. I also added some pepper and paprika - and you can put in as much or as little as you like, depending on taste. After mixing well, I put this in the fridge until I finished prepping the sandwich - toasting the bun halves in the oven, and adding a little cheese to melt. Once the bun halves were toasted and the cheese was melted, I topped with chicken salad and some fire-roasted red peppers.

My only disappointment was that I expected the red peppers to be spicier, but they were not at all. Next time, I think I'll use banana peppers or add some relish to the chicken salad and see how that works. And for those of you who have easy access to the Caledonia Bakery, I'm sure it would be better on their buns. I'm jealous of you. But all-in-all, it was good, and the toasted buns made for a nice sandwich. I just served the sandwich with some cut fresh strawberries. yum. :)

If you have suggestions for chicken salad to make it interesting, I would love to hear them!