A Little Something New
Why is it that when I have plenty of material for blogging, I have no time or energy to do it? We're headed out of town again, which is the most exhausting process known to man. And when the trip is going to involve swimming and playing in the sun, that seems to double what we have to take. I'm not sure we'll be able to take a trip once baby Sam comes along, because I'm pretty sure we cannot fit one more thing into our super-cool minivan. It's busting at the seams with beach towels, juice boxes, diapers, floaties, and my myriad of toiletry items.
Since I don't have time to enrich your lives with pictures of our fun Fourth of July at the lake or enough brain cells to share what God's been teaching me (or actually reminding me of for the 173rd time) the last few days, I will share a recipe with you. I've never put a recipe on my blog before, mainly because I don't like to cook, when I do cook it's usually nothing worthy of sharing, and the few times I branch out and try something new, it's usually met with, "Um, yeah, it's okay."
However, I did try a new recipe Monday night, which was adapted based solely on the actual ingredients I had in my house. When baking, I stick exactly with the recipe (well, most of the time), but when cooking a meal, I have to compromise between my lack of culinary skills and my frugality, which insists I not spend lots of extra money on other ingredients when I have something on hand that will probably do the job. I whipped this up on a whim, and, miraculously, I liked it (I never like my own cooking), Chris claimed to like it, and the boys ate it without too much, "What IS this?" or "How many more bites do I HAVE to eat?" Maddie was out of town, so that accounts for the fact that at least one person did not refuse to eat it. There's always one. One last bonus is that it's pretty healthy, which I cannot say for the Tombstone Pizza we sometimes eat on a weekly basis.
So, here it is. Now, if you actually try it and hate it, please keep that information to yourself. My very fragile culinary ego cannot handle it. Just chalk it up to YOUR lack of culinary skills. :)
Bruschetta 'n Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
(How Amy did it)
What You Need
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, undrained
1-1/4 cups Mozzarella Cheese, divided (I actually just used however much looked good)
Dried basil
Italian bread crumbs
3 medium boneless skinless chicken breast halves (2 breasts fed 2 adults and 2 kids, but we eat small portions)
Whatever Italian Dressing you have at home (I used Ken’s Northern Italian)
Grated Parmesan
Whole wheat spaghetti
salt
Make It
HEAT oven to 350ºF.
Put raw chicken in Ziploc bag and pound as thinly as possible with rolling pin. Trim fat off chicken. (Mine actually turned into chicken mush, but I went with it anyway.)
In medium bowl, combine tomatoes (~ ½ can would work for 3 breasts), some mozzarella cheese, a good sprinkle of basil, and ¼ - ½ cup of bread crumbs.
In baking dish, put a spoonful of tomato mixture in the middle of each piece of chicken. Fold ends of chicken together (wrapping the tomato mixture) and insert a toothpick to seal. Pour some Italian dressing over the top of each chicken piece.
Bake for 45-50 minutes (could be less if you’re not paranoid about doneness, like I always am). Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on each piece of chicken and return to oven to melt cheese.
Meanwhile, cook spaghetti. Drain pasta and return to pot.
Stir in remaining ½ can of tomatoes, and sprinkle with parmesan and salt. Serve alongside chicken.
Of course, we also had Texas Toast, which totally threw all the healthiness of the meal out the window. But it was yummy!
Hopefully I'll be back soon with lots of exciting updates on what we've been up to and a post about how God keeps pointing out, "You know this life's not really about you, Amy." I'm pretty sure those two posts don't go together at all. And now, to go melt my hiney off on this 97 degree day. If only it would actually melt off!
Since I don't have time to enrich your lives with pictures of our fun Fourth of July at the lake or enough brain cells to share what God's been teaching me (or actually reminding me of for the 173rd time) the last few days, I will share a recipe with you. I've never put a recipe on my blog before, mainly because I don't like to cook, when I do cook it's usually nothing worthy of sharing, and the few times I branch out and try something new, it's usually met with, "Um, yeah, it's okay."
However, I did try a new recipe Monday night, which was adapted based solely on the actual ingredients I had in my house. When baking, I stick exactly with the recipe (well, most of the time), but when cooking a meal, I have to compromise between my lack of culinary skills and my frugality, which insists I not spend lots of extra money on other ingredients when I have something on hand that will probably do the job. I whipped this up on a whim, and, miraculously, I liked it (I never like my own cooking), Chris claimed to like it, and the boys ate it without too much, "What IS this?" or "How many more bites do I HAVE to eat?" Maddie was out of town, so that accounts for the fact that at least one person did not refuse to eat it. There's always one. One last bonus is that it's pretty healthy, which I cannot say for the Tombstone Pizza we sometimes eat on a weekly basis.
So, here it is. Now, if you actually try it and hate it, please keep that information to yourself. My very fragile culinary ego cannot handle it. Just chalk it up to YOUR lack of culinary skills. :)
Bruschetta 'n Cheese-Stuffed Chicken Breasts
(How Amy did it)
What You Need
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes with garlic and olive oil, undrained
1-1/4 cups Mozzarella Cheese, divided (I actually just used however much looked good)
Dried basil
Italian bread crumbs
3 medium boneless skinless chicken breast halves (2 breasts fed 2 adults and 2 kids, but we eat small portions)
Whatever Italian Dressing you have at home (I used Ken’s Northern Italian)
Grated Parmesan
Whole wheat spaghetti
salt
Make It
HEAT oven to 350ºF.
Put raw chicken in Ziploc bag and pound as thinly as possible with rolling pin. Trim fat off chicken. (Mine actually turned into chicken mush, but I went with it anyway.)
In medium bowl, combine tomatoes (~ ½ can would work for 3 breasts), some mozzarella cheese, a good sprinkle of basil, and ¼ - ½ cup of bread crumbs.
In baking dish, put a spoonful of tomato mixture in the middle of each piece of chicken. Fold ends of chicken together (wrapping the tomato mixture) and insert a toothpick to seal. Pour some Italian dressing over the top of each chicken piece.
Bake for 45-50 minutes (could be less if you’re not paranoid about doneness, like I always am). Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on each piece of chicken and return to oven to melt cheese.
Meanwhile, cook spaghetti. Drain pasta and return to pot.
Stir in remaining ½ can of tomatoes, and sprinkle with parmesan and salt. Serve alongside chicken.
Of course, we also had Texas Toast, which totally threw all the healthiness of the meal out the window. But it was yummy!
Hopefully I'll be back soon with lots of exciting updates on what we've been up to and a post about how God keeps pointing out, "You know this life's not really about you, Amy." I'm pretty sure those two posts don't go together at all. And now, to go melt my hiney off on this 97 degree day. If only it would actually melt off!
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