Smothered Chicken

This is a very good meal that does take a bit of effort to put together, but is really worth it. It's a bit heavy on the dairy, but oh-so-good. There are 3 parts to the recipe, so I'll try my best to get everything in the right order. Make sure to read through the entire recipe and portion out everything before starting.

Ingredients:

Chicken:
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts
10 slices mozzarella cheese
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp seasoned salt
1 tsp pepper

Creamed Spinach:
1 large bag spinach leaves
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp onion, minced
2 tbsp olive oil

Sauteed Mushrooms:
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup white wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat Oven to 350
2. Mix the garlic powder, seasoned salt, and pepper together and coat the chicken.
3. Bake the chicken for 16 minutes

4. While the chicken is baking, heat the 2 tbsp of oil for the creamed spinach in a large pan over medium-high heat.
5. When the oil is hot, add the onions and saute for 2-3 minutes
6. When the onions are sauteed, add the spinach and garlic and cook until cooked through. The spinach will reduce to a small amount.
7. When cooked through, add the cream cheese and shredded Parmesan cheese and stir until melted.
8. Set aside the the creamed spinach.

9. In a fresh skillet, melt the butter and oil.
10. Add the mushrooms and cook until browned all over.
11. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan.
12. Add in the garlic, salt, and pepper.
13. Cook until most of the wine is cooked off.

14. At this time, the chicken should be done baking.
15. Remove the chicken from the oven and turn over in the pan.
16. Add the creamed spinach to the top of the chicken breasts.
17. Add the sauteed mushrooms on top of the creamed spinach.
18. Place 2 pieces of the mozzarella cheese on top of each breast.
19. Cook another 12-14 minutes or until the cheese is browned and the chicken is done.

That's it.  A lot of steps, but it was very yummy. We ended up using the broiler to get the cheese a bit browner at the end, but you may not need to.

This recipe was from a blog called: baconbuttercheesegarlic

Loaded Cauliflower Casserole

Here's a wonderful cauliflower casserole that will meet your baked potato desires. It is delicious.

Ingredients:
2 lb cauliflower florets
8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided 6 oz and 2 oz
8 oz shredded Monterrey jack cheese, divided 6 oz and 2 oz
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp heavy cream
1 cup green onions, chopped
2 clove garlic, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Steam cauliflower until tender.
2. Soften cream cheese and mix with the heavy cream.
3. Mix 6 oz of cheddar and 6 oz of jack cheese into the softened cream cheese.
4. Stir in onions, garlic, salt, and pepper.
5. Drain cauliflower, smash with potato masher, and then add in the cheese mixture and mix all together.
6. Pour into 2-3 qt dish and sprinkle on the last of the cheddar and jack cheese.
7. Cover with foil and bake 25 minute at 350.
8. Remove foil and bake until cheese is bubbly and brown on top.

This is best served like loaded mashed potatoes and topped with potato toppings like bacon, sour cream, butter, etc.  It is a wonderful side dish for just about any meal.

When we made ours, we put the bacon in the cheese mixture, but it made it kind of soggy, so we recommend adding to the top like bacon bits on mashed potatoes.

This recipe is based on one from Louanne's Kitchen.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

There's probably hundreds of variations on this dip, but this is one that we made recently and I really loved it, so I wanted to post it.

Ingredients:
1 whole rotisserie chicken or 2 (10 oz) cans of chunk chicken or whatever chicken you want to use.
2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
1 cup Ranch Dressing
3/4 cup hot sauce (Franks Red Hot works great)
1 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Shred and cut-up the chicken into small pieces so that is like shredded beef.
2. Heat the chicken and hot sauce in a skillet over medium heat.
3. Stir in the cream cheese and ranch dressing.
4. Cook and stir until it is well blended and warm.
5. Mix in half of the shredded cheese and move the mixture to a slow cooker or glass pan.
6. Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese over the and cook on low in a slow cooker or heat in the oven until hot and bubbly on top.

One thing I will try next time is Blue Cheese dressing instead of ranch and maybe even blue cheese sprinkled on top. It goes great with celery, crackers, chips, or pork rinds.

Pizza and Poppers

Pizza and Poppers??? Yep, Pizza and Poppers. It's the best Pizza I have ever made and some of the best I've had (outside of my moms and Teds, of course). My jalapeños were too big and I didn't get all the seeds out, but the poppers were good too.

Pizza Ingredients:
3 eggs
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tbsp tomato sauce
+ whatever you want for toppings (We used more mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, and Canadian bacon.)

Directions:
1. Combine mozzarella cheese, eggs, garlic powder, and basil in a bowl and mix very well.
2. Press evenly onto a non-stick (or Pam sprayed) pizza pan or cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 450 until golden brown (about 10 to 15 minutes).
4. Remove the crust from the oven.
5. Spread on the tomato sauce.
6. Add the rest of your toppings.
7. Put pizza under the broiler and broil until cheese is melted and toppings are cooked to your desired done-ness.

Jalapeño Popper Ingredients:
Jalapeño peppers
cream cheese
bacon

Directions:
1. Cut the peppers open and take out the seeds.
2. Fill the peppers with cream cheese (I found some Roka Blue Cream Cheese that was amazing).
3. Wrap the peppers with bacon.
4. Cook the poppers either on the grill or broil them until the bacon is done and the peppers are a bit soft.

The peppers I used were too big, but they didn't have any smaller ones when I was shopping for them.

Both of these recipes were ones I had found online posted by people who pulled them from other people. Not sure who originally came up with the recipe.