Tag: cheese

Spinach & Bacon Smothered Chicken

The fall has been good to us this year. Beautiful, vibrant colors and the most delightful sunny days have been our normal. Such amazing weather can temporarily transport you back to the summer heat, but then you are reminded when the leaves continue to fall, that autumn is more than already upon us.

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We have spent a large amount of our time outside this year and I have loved the fresh breeze on our faces, and the pure happiness being outside brings.

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I hope you have been able to enjoy all that autumn’s beauty gives us and if not, it is not too late! Go outside and play in the leaves!

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If the weather is a little dreary in your neighborhood, then pour yourself a steamy hot cup of coffee or a nice smooth glass of wine, either works just fine. Then break out all the ingredients for this delicious dish and get cooking! While it is easy to make (always a winner in my book), it has so much flavor and feels like quite the fancy dinner! It’s definitely a hit with guests!

Spinach & Bacon Smothered Chicken

Makes 4 servings

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Ingredients

  • 1 lb chicken breast, cut into 4 pieces
  • Salt, pepper and garlic powder {to season chicken}
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 tsp minced garlic
  • 9 oz fresh spinach
  • 2/3 cup light cream
  • 2/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup of shredded cheese of choice {more mozzarella, pepper jack, cheddar, etc}
  • 1/2 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Season chicken breasts on both sides with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Spray a 9X13 baking dish with nonstick spray and place chicken in baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Heat tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat in medium/large skillet.

In the skillet, add your spinach and sauté allowing spinach to wilt down.  Add in minced garlic, sauté until fragrant. Then add in light cream. Bring to a light boil and remove from heat. Stir in your shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan cheese. Place back onto heat, turn down to simmer and keep stirring until you have a smooth creamy spinach. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon creamed spinach over chicken breasts evenly, then top with crumbled bacon and shredded cheese of choice.

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Place into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until chicken cooked through. Then, turn the oven to broil on high and allow cheese to become slightly browned and bubbly. Remove from oven and enjoy!

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This recipe is delicious and easy to make! The best creamed spinach I’ve tasted! So you can try that as a regular side dish!

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Pair it with any side that you fancy. Or just eat it alone, you could do that. You can do anything you want.

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Happy Eating!

Do you have a favorite creamed spinach recipe?

Sausage, Spinach & Ricotta Frittata

Whenever I hear or say frittata, I immediately want to break out into dance, is anyone else with me?

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Whether or not the word invites you to move those hips, the aroma of this easy and delicious dish, will definitely have you running to the kitchen!

It’s light, fluffy and packed with some awesome ingredients, that will surely leave you asking for an extra serving!

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I originally saw this recipe on Racheal Ray Show, and adapted it with one tasty ingredient to make it just a little heartier for my dear husband.

It was a complete success and I am looking forward to the leftovers feeding me some breakfast and lunch over the upcoming days!

One of my favorite meals is brinner (breakfast for dinner) and to be absolutely the corniest person you will encounter today, this brinner was a winner!!

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Sausage, Spinach & Ricotta Frittata

Ingredients

  • 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  • 4-5 Italian sausage links, casings removed
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 tsp minced garlic
  • 1 tsp dried thyme leaves
  • salt and pepper
  • 6 oz of fresh spinach, chopped
  • 8 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups ricotta
  • 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large ovenproof skillet over medium high heat, add the italian sausage. Break sausage up with a spoon and allow to cook. When mostly browned, add diced onion and sauté for 2-3 minutes. If there isn’t enough cooking fat/oil in the pan from the sausage, this is when you would want to add a little olive oil.

Next add the minced garlic and thyme, allowing the ingredients to merry together and become fragrant. When the onion is translucent, add the spinach and allow to wilt and cook down.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, the ricotta and parmesan cheese together.  Season with salt, pepper and ground nutmeg.

When the sausage spinach mixture is cooked, pour the egg mixture over the top and evenly spread out the sausage and spinach with a spoon or fork.

Place into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until the center is just set. Take out of oven, allow to cool or serve right away.

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Serve it along side a salad, or with some toast.

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You won’t feel guilty eating this, which as you already know is my favorite kind of meal!

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Do you have a favorite brinner recipe?

Cajun Chicken & Cheddar Zucchini Skillet

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There are so many resources out there to inspire delicious, homemade meals. Between the internet, social media, magazines and cookbooks, I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to make all the things I want to. But man, I am going to try 🙂

I can spend hours just looking at recipes and often get sucked in when I should be doing something that really needs my attention, like laundry. Life is short though, and laundry happens every day. So what if we don’t have socks, isn’t that why they made sandals? I believe so!

While cruising along Pinterest one night, I stumbled across this recipe for White Cheddar Chicken and Zucchini, and immediately I knew I had to make it. Like all other recipes I find, I needed to make it and in doing so, make it my own. Hands down, I give all recognition for the inspiration of this dish to the original blogger, but I made some changes to better suit our tastes and current eating habits.

Which means, I added some spice, garlic and the almighty food that makes every recipe better- BACON! I also omitted the panko bread crumbs due to our low carb lifestyle.

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This dish has so much flavor, and is easy to make! I hope you try it!

Cajun Chicken & Cheddar Zucchini Skillet

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Ingredients

  • 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into large chunks
  • 1-2 tbsp of Cajun seasoning {depending on taste}
  • 1 tsp salt, divided
  • 1  tsp black pepper, divided
  • 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder, divided
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 tsp minced garlic
  • 2 medium zucchini, sliced into rounds
  • 1 medium yellow squash, sliced into rounds
  • 4 oz of shredded cheddar cheese
  • 6 slices of cooked bacon, diced

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare zucchini and onions but cutting them first.

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In a bowl, season chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1 teaspoon garlic powder. Add Cajun seasoning to your liking, between 1-2 tablespoons.

In a large skillet, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat.

Saute chicken on each side for 4-5 minutes until browned. Remove from skillet and place in a separate dish.

To the same skillet, add diced onions and sauté for 2 minutes until starting to soften. Add minced garlic, and sauté until fragrant, 1-2 minutes.

Then add zucchini and yellow squash to skillet, season with remaining salt, pepper and garlic powder. Combine zucchini and onions well. Place chicken on top of the zucchini and squash and place into the oven.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until chicken is cooked through and zucchini is tender. Then top with shredded cheddar and bacon. Place back into the oven and broil on high until cheese is melted and bubbling.

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This is a meal full of amazing flavors and I highly recommend you try it!

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There is something spectacular to be said about dinners made entirely in one pan because who likes to wash dishes after dinner?! Nobody.

Happy Eating!!