Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach & Bacon Chicken

With all the wedding planning I’d been slacking on making us home-cooked meals (Lance actually did more of the cooking this past year than I did since I was always so busy…) Well, this week I’ve tried making up for it – I’ll post a couple really great recipes we tried out the last few days!

Chicken can sometimes be a boring dinner but this was far from that – loaded with all sorts of exciting toppings.  Plus, I made Caesar salad from scratch which was easier than I thought.  Adding these to my go-to recipes.

Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach & Bacon Chicken: (adapted from Julia’s Album)

Ingredients:

• 6 small chicken breasts
• 1 T butter
• Italian Dressing powdered mix packet
• 1 T olive oil
• 10 oz fresh baby spinach
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3 cup half and half
• 2/3 cup pepperjack cheese, shredded, plus 6 slices
• 1/8 t salt
• ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, drained of oil & chopped into pieces
• 6 slices bacon, cooked

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2. Butter the bottom of a baking dish.  Season the chicken breasts on both sides with the Italian seasoning mix.  Place chicken into the baking dish and cook for 15 – 20 minutes.

3. In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.  Add spinach and cook for about 2 minutes until it begins to wilt. 

4. Remove from heat and add the garlic & half and half.  Return to the heat, bring to a boil, then add the shredded cheese.  Keep stirring on high heat until the cheese starts to melt.  Reduce heat and continue to simmer & stir until you have thick creamed spinach.  Season with salt and remove from the heat.   

5. Remove the chicken from the oven after baking 15-20 minutes.  Top with creamed spinach, then sun-dried tomatoes, chopped cooked bacon, and broken slices of pepperjack cheese.

6. Bake in the oven uncovered for 15-20 more minutes until the chicken is completely cooked through.

Homemade Caesar Salad:

Dressing Ingredients:

• ½ cup Greek yogurt (the original recipe used mayonnaise and sour cream but this is healthier and I think tastes better)
• 1-1/2 t anchovy paste
• 1-1/2 T olive oil
• 3 T lemon juice
• 1-1/2 t whole grain mustard
• 1 T Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 t black pepper
• Salt to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Croutons:

• Old loaf of bread
• 3 T olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ t salt
• ¼ t pepper

Salad:

• 1 large head Romaine lettuce, chopped
• ½ cup fresh parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients (you can also add whole anchovies if you want)

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Slice bread into cubes and bake 5 minutes.  While they are baking, mix together olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper.  Take the bread out of the oven, toss in the olive oil mixture, then bake 5 more minutes.  Toss again and continue baking until golden brown and crisp. 

3. Toss the Romaine, croutons, cheese, and drizzle with dressing. 

15+ Foodie Gift Ideas

With Turkey Day falling so late this year, there’s only 4 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas – which means less time to figure out gifts!  We just decorated our place and put up the tree last night, so now it really feels like the holidays. 

I’m all for consumable gifts or experiences rather than just getting more stuff that just takes up space.  With small closets and limited cabinets in our home, I really just don’t have the room for too much else.   

Last year I baked different types of cookies in tins (more of a standard Christmas food gift…) I made Oreo White Chocolate Peppermint, Pretzel Chocolate Peanut Butter, and Graham Cracker Cookie Bars (see links for the recipes).

 

Here are some other ideas I’ve done in the past:

DIY Hot Chocolate Mix – I attached mini bottles of Kahlua or Bailey’s (from Buzzfeed):

 

You can also do DIY cookie, brownie, or bread mixes (from Cul De Sac Cool):

 

I gave my brother “Reinbeer” a few years back (from Life of a Modern Mom):

DIY mulling spice packages to add to cider or wine (from Reading My Tea Leaves):

I gifted homemade vanilla extract to some relatives last year (from Tasty Yummies):

 

And here are a few that I haven’t tried out yet but would love to!

Rosemary Garlic Olive Oil (from The Clean Dish):

 

Herb Infused Butter (from The Dabblist):

 

Homemade Nutella (from So Let’s Hang Out): 

 

Salty olive oil granola (from Buzzfeed):

 

Chai Tea mix (from Buzzfeed):

Hot Chocolate Truffles (from Your Cup of Cake):

 

Cinnamon Honey Butter (from Tidy Mom):

 

Cranberry Lime Vodka (from Fancy Napkin Blog):

 

Gifts for your furry friends – homemade dog treats! (From Go Grow Go):