Chicken Tacos

This is what I call a "one pot wonder." You use one pot, and then serve. Lovely. And...it has two ingredients. Well, unless you count the cheese, and then it's three. And if you count the tortillas, then 4. But really, I mean...One pot. It's great.

Ingredients:
Chicken breast (I use one and it's enough for the two of us. use more for more people)
A jar of your favorite salsa (I use Pace picante sauce, mild)
Shredded cheese (to top the taco)
Tortillas

Directions:
In a medium size pot, put the chicken breast(s) in a single layer on the bottom. Cover with the jar of salsa. Cook 5 minutes, then turn it over. When the chicken is cooked, shred it with two forks. Let it simmer over low heat for another few minutes to let it soak in the salsa to pick up the flavor. Spoon it into a flour tortilla, top with cheese, and roll it up. You can add other toppings if desired. I'm not a fan of veggies on my tacos. :) Some sour cream might be good though. Haha. This is a super easy meal, and I hope it's helpful for all you busy people out there.

Cream Cheese Chicken

This meal is really simple and quite tasty. It's one of those throw it in a pot and let it go type deals. Which, I think, is great for those days when you just DON'T feel like cooking, but you NEED to do it anyway. haha. Originally, this recipe was for a crock pot but I found it only takes about 20-30 minutes from start to finish on the stove, so I just do it that way. So let's get to it. :)

Ingredients:
-Chicken breasts (I usually use around 2, possibly 3 if they aren't huge)
-An Italian seasoning packet
-4 tablespoons melted butter
Onion and garlic (use real if you want to, powder if you don't. A small onion and a clove of garlic, or a teaspoon of onion powder and a teaspoon of garlic. adjust to taste)
-can of cream of chicken soup
-1/2 cup chicken broth
-8 oz block of cream cheese
-a starch to serve it with (I use egg noodles, but rice or something is fine too)

Directions:
In a large pot, over medium/medium high heat, melt two of the tablespoons of butter, then add the chicken, and sprinkle with the seasoning packet. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes, flipping chicken half way through. When chicken is close to being cooked through, you can take it out, cut it into small chunks, and put it back in to keep cooking. You can do that to begin with if you want to cut the raw chicken. I find cooking it mostly first helps keep it from drying out. When chicken is cooked through, add the soup, broth, and onion and garlic (if you use the real stuff, saute it in butter till tender first) to the pot. Stir to combine. Add the cream cheese in small-ish chunks. Stir it in and let it melt, stirring occasionally. When everything is combined and melted and hot, spoon it over your cooked noodles or rice and serve. Yum!

Lasagna anyone?

So my meal plan for tonight says white lasagna. I also included the suggestion of altering it slightly to make it lasagna florentine. I made both. :) And I must say, albeit humbly, that I impressed myself with this one. I hope you like it as much as I did, because...well...I ate too much of it and that means I think it's yummy. And that's a good thing. :) The eating too much of it thing isn't that great, but...we'll ignore that for now.

I am going to list two separate recipes, although they are very similar, because it'd be too confusing otherwise. So here we go.

White lasagna:

Ingredients:
-Lasagna noodles (I don't use the oven ready kind. I don't think they cook well enough)
-Alfredo sauce (I make it homemade) Use store bought if you'd rather.
-chicken breasts, cooked and shredded (Probably 2 or 3)
-spinach (about 1/2 cup of canned or frozen spinach, drained)
-mozzarella cheese, shredded


Directions:
Boil the noodles in a large pot of water until almost tender, but still slightly under done. They'll finish cooking in the oven later. In a baking dish, pour a little of the alfredo sauce to keep the noodles from sticking and drying out. Then put down a layer of noodles, a layer of spinach, a layer of chicken, and more alfredo sauce. Repeat layers-noodles, spinach, chicken, sauce. Add one last layer of noodles, then sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella over the top. Cover in foil and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Remove the foil, and bake another 10 minutes. Everything should be bubbly and hot and yummy. Let it cool a couple minutes, then cut it and serve it.
Yummm.


Lasagna Florentine:

Ingredients (pretty much the same as for white lasagna, but add tomato sauce):
-Lasagna noodles
-alfredo sauce
-tomato sauce
-spinach
-chicken
-mozarella cheese, shredded


Directions:
Boil the noodles in a large pot of water until almost tender, but still slightly under done. They'll finish cooking in the oven later. In a baking dish, pour a little of the tomato sauce to keep the noodles from sticking and drying out. Then put down a layer of noodles, a layer of spinach, a layer of chicken, and a layer of alfredo sauce. Put down another layer of noodles, then tomato sauce, then spinach, then chicken, then alfredo sauce. Add one last layer of noodles, then tomato sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella over the top. Cover in foil and bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Remove the foil, and bake another 10 minutes.
Everything should be bubbly and hot and yummy. Let it cool a couple minutes, then cut it and serve it. This is pretty amazing, I'm not gonna lie.


I'm also gonna give my recipe for alfredo sauce in case you want to use it.

Ingredients:
-1/4 cup butter
-1/4 cup flour
-2 cups cream
-1 cup milk
-1.5 cups parmesan
-2 teaspoons garlic powder

Directions:
In a sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour to make a roux. When flour and butter are combined well, pour in cream and milk and let them heat up with roux, stirring frequently. When the cream and milk are well combined with the roux and heated up, add the parmesan and let it melt into the sauce, stirring frequently. When the cheese is melted and incorporated into the sauce, add the garlic, and stir it in well. Continue stirring frequently until the sauce is the correct consistency-liquid enough to pour but think enough to be yummy and wonderful.

I hope all of this is helpful. Let me know what you think!

Meal Plan and Shopping List

It's once again time for a meal plan and shopping list. I will probably start posting the plan on Wednesdays for the following Monday-Sunday. That way, there is enough time to get a list together and go to the store if you're going to follow relatively closely to my plan. So without further ado...the list!

Monday: Leftovers-clean out the fridge day!

Tuesday: Homemade macaroni and cheese; pasta (any kind will do, but preferably a shorter, curly or hollow noodle), heavy cream (at least a cup), cheese (I use cheddar and colby jack, probably almost a whole block of each), salt, pepper, flour, butter

Wednesday: Chicken Pesto Pasta; Pasta (I'm using rigatoni), spinach, basil, parmesan, olive oil, heavy cream, mozzarella, chicken breasts (1 or 2)

Thursday: Honey Mustard Chicken and rice; Chicken breasts (enough to feed everyone), rice, (I use white Minute rice), honey mustard, brown sugar

Friday: Homemade Chicken Florentine Pizza; Pizza crust (I use a refrigerator dough), chicken breasts (1 or 2), spinach, canned tomatoes, alfredo sauce (I make it homemade with flour, butter, cream, garlic, parmesan, and mozarella), mozzarella cheese, garlic

Saturday: Chicken Bacon Ranch Panini; Bread (use anything...I'll be using white bread), Chicken breasts (enough to feed everyone), ranch dressing, bacon, cheese (I'll use Swiss), butter

Sunday: Beef Stew and cornbread; Stew beef, flour, beef broth, salt, pepper, potatoes (I use red potatoes), carrots, onions (if you want them), bay leaves, and cornbread (I just use a mix, but feel free to make homemade if you have a good recipe)

Hope this helps you begin to prepare for the week!

Quesadillas!

This is a simple, easy meal, and it's great for busy nights. It doesn't take very long. And I think it's pretty tasty. :)

Ingredients:
Tortillas (two per quesadilla)
Shredded cheese (I use colby jack)
Ground beef
Taco seasoning (or cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and chili powder)
Water
Butter

Directions:
Cook the ground beef over medium/medium high heat until no longer pink. Drain. Put back in the pan, with about 1/2 cup water and taco seasoning. Cook until the water and seasonings have been absorbed by the meat.

Heat a large skillet, or flat griddle, to medium heat. Butter one side of a tortilla, and place butter side down in heated skillet/griddle. Put a layer of cheese on the tortilla, then a layer of meat, then another layer of cheese. Butter one side of another tortilla, and then place the non-buttered side on the cheese. When the cheese has melted slightly, and the bottom tortilla is starting to brown, flip the whole thing so the top tortilla is down on the bottom. When the second tortilla is browned and the cheese is melted all the way through, remove the quesadilla. Cut it in fourths and serve with salsa, sour cream, quacamole, or anything else in which you'd like to dip it. Enjoy!

Baked Potato with Broccoli and Cheese

I like baked potatoes. I also like broccoli and cheese together. So...what could be better than a baked potato, topped with steamed broccoli, and smothered in cheese sauce? Mmm.

Ingredients:
Baking potatoes (I use russet), as many as you need to feed everyone
Broccoli florets (I would say 1/2 to 1 cup per person)
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I use cheddar)
a pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:
Bake the potatoes. To bake, poke holes in the potato with a fork to allow steam to escape. Exploding potatoes are a bad thing. ;) To bake in an oven, wrap in foil and cook about an hour at 350. In the microwave, wrap it in saran wrap and microwave it for 8-ish minutes, and let it sit in the microwave for a couple minutes to continue cooking. Potatoes should be tender all the way through.

Next, steam the broccoli florets. You can use a steamer bag in the microwave, or do it the old fashioned way. In a pot, place a little water, then a steamer basket. The water should not go over the steamer basket. If you don't have a steamer basket, you can use a metal mesh strainer, or a pile of silverware in the bottom of the pan. Just make sure that the water doesn't reach over whatever you use. You want the steam to rise and cook the broccoli, not boil the broccoli IN the water.

To make the sauce, start out with the butter. Melt it over medium heat, then whisk in the flour to make a roux. Add the milk, stirring frequently. Let it heat up, and make sure the roux and the milk are mixed well. When the milk is warmed up, add the cheese, stirring frequently. When the cheese is melted and mixed well into the milk mixture, reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.

Cut a line in the top of the potato, and push the sides to open up the potato. Put the broccoli on top/inside the potato. Pour a generous amount of the cheese sauce over the potato and broccoli. Serve immediately, and enjoy. :) Yum.

Chicken Fried Rice

My husband and I love to go to those Japanese Steakhouse places. You know, the ones where they cook the food in front of you on a huge flat top grill. My favorite part is the fried rice. I'm not gonna lie. It's probably the least healthy part, but...I don't care. It is amazing.

Since we can't go to one of those places all the time, I get my fried rice fix at home. This is also a lots-of-food-for-cheap meal, so it'd be good for a big family, or for a dinner party, or what have you. I mean...who DOESN'T like fried rice? :)

Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil (to thinly coat the bottom of the wok or skillet)
3 cups cooked, cold rice (I use Minute rice)
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 eggs
1/2 cup veggies to put in the rice (I use canned peas and carrots)
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed

Directions:
In a cooking wok, or a really large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the rice and stir fry it for a couple minutes. Add the spices and soy sauce, and stir to combine, the stir fry it a couple more minutes. Push the rice to one side of the wok or skillet. Scramble the eggs on the other side. When the eggs are cooked, combine with the rice until evenly distributed. Add the veggies and stir fry until heated through. Add the chicken and stir fry until heated through and everything is combined well. Serve immediately

If you want to have a more "balanced" meal, don't add the chicken to the rice. Make a little more of it. Cook it in some butter until it's almost cooked through, then add a little soy sauce toward the end to make something similar to hibachi chicken. Or use teriyaki sauce for teriyaki chicken. You can also cook up some carrots and zucchini (cut into thick strips) with some soy sauce for a similar take on hibachi vegetables. Just heat some butter in a pan, cook the veggies a couple minutes, stirring frequently, and add some soy sauce toward the end. You don't want to burn the soy sauce. That tastes nasty. That's why you only add it at the end, whether for meat or veggies.

No matter what you do...I hope you enjoy the fried rice. I mean, really, it's the best part anyway. ;)

Manicotti

I love Italian food. We have it at least once a week, and I'm very happy that I married a man that doesn't mind that. Haha. This week's pasta is manicotti. We made this when I was growing up, and I always liked it. I started making it again recently, and I'm glad I did. It's so easy, but it looks kinda fancy cause it's a stuffed pasta. haha. So enough of my rambling, here's the useful info. :)

Ingredients:
Manicotti pasta-usually they come in packages of around 14 noodles
a jar of tomato sauce
1 lb of ground beef
2 cups (1 package of the already shredded) mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the pasta until tender, drain, and let cool enough to handle. While the pasta is cooking, cook the ground beef until it's no longer pink. Drain it and let it cool enough to handle. In a large bowl, mix the meat with half of the mozzarella cheese. In a glass baking dish pour a little tomato sauce to just coat the bottom. This will keep the pasta from sticking or drying out on the bottom. Stuff the meat and cheese inside the pasta. Place into the baking dish. When the dish is full of the stuffed pasta, pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the pasta. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top of everything. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is all melted and everything is heated through. Serve immediately.

Yum! It'd be great to serve with a salad and garlic bread.

Meal Plan and Shopping List

Hooray for another week of meals! I'm going to share an ingredient list for shopping as well. :) After each meal will be a list of ingredients for that meal, so you can know what to shop for.

This coming week's meal plan, with the ingredients needed:

Sunday-eat up leftovers; no shopping needed for that. Haha.

Monday-Baked Potatoes with Steamed Broccoli and Cheese Sauce; Russet baking potatoes, Broccoli, at least a cup or two of your preferred shredded Cheese (I like cheddar, colby jack, etc), heavy cream, Butter, flour, salt, pepper

Tuesday-Beef Quesadillas; Flour tortillas, ground beef, taco seasoning (or cumin, chili powder, and garlic), shredded cheese (colby jack is my fave to use), a little bit of butter for cooking

Wednesday-Small Group for church, so leftovers or sandwiches or something

Thursday-White lasagna, made with homemade alfredo sauce; Lasagna noodles, heavy cream (at least a pint), butter, flour, parmesan cheese (a whole bag of the already shredded), mozzarella cheese (a whole bag of the already shredded), garlic to taste (I use at least 3 cloves of fresh, a couple teaspoons of powder), chicken (probably 2-3 breasts), spinach (a cup or two of frozen/canned, depending how spinachy you want it) For a slight adaptation to lasagna florentine, you can use some tomato sauce along with the alfredo.

Friday-Pizza night (pretty much every Friday is-sometimes frozen, sometimes homemade); frozen pizza

Saturday-Cream Cheese Chicken; Chicken (2-3 breasts), an 8 oz block of cream cheese, an italian dressing seasoning packet (or any seasoning packet you think looks yummy...sometimes I get a tomato and herb packet, etc), butter (at least 6 tablespoons), garlic, a can of cream of chicken soup, 1/2 cup of chicken broth, and a starch to eat it with (I use egg noodles, but rice or something would work too)

Sunday-Chicken Tacos (since I didn't make them last week); Chicken (2-3 breasts), flour tortillas, shredded cheese (I like colby jack), a jar of your favorite salsa (I use Pace picante mild), and any "fixin's" you like on tacos (lettuce, tomato, sour cream, etc). If you're going to be making more than 2-3 chicken breasts, I would suggest a second jar of salsa. You want the salsa to pretty much cover the chicken in the bottom of a pot.

Hope this helps you to prepare for the week!

Plantain Crusted Chicken with Manchego Cheese Sauce

I know, the title's a mouthful. But when your mouth is actually full of this food, I don't think you'll mind. :)

I will be honest and tell you that I got the idea for this dish from a restaurant in my home town. When I first had it, I ate entirely too much at dinner because I could seriously not get enough of it. So yummy. And although it was not completely my idea, I did make up this recipe completely on my own with similar ingredients. It may not be exactly like what's at the restaurant, but it's close enough now that I'm a bajillion miles away and can't get there often.

Ingredients:
Chicken
-Enough chicken breasts for the number of people you're feeding-I did two
-About 1 cup of Plantain chips per chicken breast (if you can't find them, just use banana chips)
-All purpose flour, for dredging (i used about 1/2 cup for two breasts)
-Egg and milk, for dredging (I used 1 egg and about 1/4 cup milk for two breasts, and that would probably be enough for up to 4)

Sauce:
-1 cup cubed Manchego cheese (this is a Spanish sheep's milk cheese, and is sometimes hard to find. If you can't find it or are allergic to sheep's milk, just use monterrey jack)
-1/4 cup butter or margerine
-1/4 cup flour
-1.5-2 cups milk


Mashed Potatoes:
-Enough russet potatoes to feed everyone (I used 2 for the two of us)
-2 tablespoons butter/margerine (use a little more for more potatoes)
-1/2 cup milk (use a little more for more potatoes)

Cilantro Veggies:
-Enough zucchini and carrots to feed everyone (I used 1 zucchini and two carrots for us)
-1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil (just barely coating the bottom of a saute pan)
-1 teaspoon dried cilantro (or use fresh if you'd rather, chopped finely)

Directions:
Chicken-
In a food processor, pulverize the plantain chips until they are very small, but not completely powder. Mix the egg and milk together until it is a pretty even consistency throughout. In three separate plates or shallow bowls, place the flour, milk/egg, and processed plantain chips, like this:

Butterfly the chicken breasts to make them thinner (If the chicken breast is lying flat on a plate, cut it from one side almost all the way through to the other side, and open it up like a book). Take the breast, cover it in flour on both sides. Move it to the milk/egg mixture and coat evenly on both sides. Move it to the plantain chips and coat with that. Move it to a cooking spray coated baking sheet. Repeat for all breasts. They will look something like this:

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes, turning over halfway through. The chicken should be cooked through. When everything else is close to being done (all the sides and sauce), put a slice of cheese on top of the chicken and put it back in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese.

Mashed potatoes-
While the chicken is cooking in the oven, peel, cube, and boil the potatoes in a pot of water. When the potatoes are tender, drain them and put them back in the pot. Add the butter and milk, and mash until relatively smooth. Add a little more milk if they're too dry.

Sauce:
While the chicken and potatoes are cooking, heat a saucepan over medium heat. Melt the butter in the pan, then add the flour and whisk it together (you're making a roux). When the mixture is consistent, add the milk and let it heat up, stirring frequently to help the roux thicken the milk. When the milk and roux mixture is warm, start adding your cheese, stirring frequently. When the cheese is all melted and mixed in, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer, stirring frequently, until everything else is ready to serve.

Veggies:
In a saute pan, drizzle in the olive oil, and let it heat up over medium heat. Peel and slice, thinly and on a diagonal, the zucchini and carrots. When the oil is warm (it will thin out a bit as it gets hot), sprinkle in the cilantro. Place the sliced veggies in a single layer in the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 2 minutes, the flip them over. Cook another 2 minutes, or until tender but still firm, not mushy. Remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel.

To serve:
Place a large scoop of the mashed potatoes on the back center of the plate. Place the chicken breast half way onto the potatoes, so it's angled down the plate like a slide. Ladle the sauce over the potatoes and chicken, and drizzle a little around the plate. Place some veggies on either side of the chicken. Serve immediately.

It may sound intimidating, but it's really not. I hope I was clear enough. Enjoy!!!

Baked Potato Soup

Today was kinda cold and rainy and yucky, so I adapted my meal plan and made baked potato soup instead of the chicken I was going to make. It just seemed more appropriate. I wish I could say I came up with this recipe, but I didn't. I got it from yet another blog...http://mrsseamonster.blogspot.com. It is a pretty darn good recipe. So I will share the original, and then my adaptations.

Original: http://mrsseamonster.blogspot.com/2008/12/potato-soup-oatmeal-raisin-cookies.html

My take:
First of all, I half the recipe, and it still makes enough for my husband and I to eat it for two meals. So this is a crowd meal, for sure.

Ingredients:
6 slices bacon
1/3 cup margarine or butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
3.5 cups milk
2 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed (cooked!)
3/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I use quite a bit more cheese...I like cheese :) )
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
Cook the bacon. Let it cool enough to handle, then crumble it up and set it aside.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat, and wish in the flour till it's well mixed and smooth. (This is a roux in cooking terms). Gradually stir in the milk, whisking it constantly until it's well mixed and starting to thicken up. Stir in the potato chunks, then bring the soup to a boil, stirring frequently.

Reduce the heat and let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes. Mix in the bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until all the cheese is melted. Serve immediately. I "garnish" mine with a little sprinkle of colby jack cheese, and sometimes some bacon crumbles. It's also great with a chunk of crusty bread. Yum.

Meal Plan Time!

I am a planner, in pretty much every regard of my life. So...cooking is no exception. I make a meal plan for every week. Not only does it satisfy my need for order, but it also helps me make a grocery list, which helps me not overspend, not impulse buy, not duplicate buy. It is so anoying when you come home, start putting your groceries away, and realize that you bought ANOTHER bottle of the same salad dressing, or another bottle of worcester sauce, or...you get the idea. So here is this coming week's plan. :)

Sunday: Plantain crusted chicken with Manchego cheese sauce over mashed potatoes, with cilantro grilled veggies.
Monday: Baked Potato Soup with crusty rolls
Tuesday: Chicken Tacos
Wednesday: We have an evening activity, so either leftovers, sandwiches, or food at the event
Thursday: Manicotti
Friday: Frozen Pizza- it's my "break day"
Saturday: Chicken and Fried Rice

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

Oh yes. Mexican food mixed with Italian (kinda). This was made to be a winner. And it makes enough for my husband and I to have for at least two meals, so it would easily feed 4-6 people, especially if some of them are kids. Yum.

I found this recipe on another blog I frequent-http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/ I love that blog. Has some really great recipes on it, including this one. I did, however, adapt her recipe to make it fit my standards of picky. Haha. I'll post the original for all you less picky eaters, and share my modifications.

For her original recipe go here: http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/10/chicken-enchilada-pasta.html

Now for my modifications...

Ingredients:
2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed or shredded
1 table spoon of olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely minced (or garlic powder if you don't have fresh-about a teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 (10-oz) cans green chili enchilada sauce (I used mild)
2/3 cup red enchilada sauce (I used mild)
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded cheese (I used colby jack)
16-20 oz. penne pasta (Depending on how "saucy" you want the pasta)

Bring a big pot of water to a boil, and cook the pasta till tender. While the pasta is cooking, heat up some olive oil over medium heat in a REALLY big skillet. Saute the garlic for just a couple minutes. DON'T BURN IT. Burned garlic is one of the worst tastes ever. Trust me, I know from experience. If you're using powdered garlic, just add it to the sauce with the rest of the spices. When the garlic is cooked, add the cooked chicken, the enchilada sauces, and the spices (salt, chili powder, and cumin). Stir it all together and let it simmer for 8-10 minutes. It will look something like this (in my version):


Add the sour cream and cheese, and let it all heat up and melt together. This will make it a lot thicker. Don't allow the sauce to boil, though. It will look a little like this:


At this point, the sauce and the pasta are ready to get married. Once you drain the pasta, just mix the sauce with the pasta until every noodle has been covered in the yummy goodness of the sauce. Serve it, and garnish with a little sour cream and cheese, or whatever else you think would be good on top of this. It is wonderful.

Creamy Spinach and Chicken Over Toast

This little number has been nicknamed "The Ugly Dish" by my husband. But don't worry, he means it endearingly. He loves the taste, he just thinks it looks funny. And, well...it kind of does. See what I mean?


But it is pretty tasty. Think creamed spinach with some chicken thrown in, and a little toast. MMM.

Ingredients:
About 1.5 cups heavy cream (you can use half and half too)
1.5 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 to 1.5 cups frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1.5 cups cooked, chopped chicken breast (probably 2 breasts)
garlic to taste (fresh or powder)-I used about 1.5-2 teaspoons garlic powder
Bread, for toast

Directions:
In a medium sized saucepan, heat heavy cream over medium/medium low heat for a couple minutes. Add the spinach, garlic, and cheese, stirring frequently until everything is heated through and the cheese has melted into the cream. It should be pretty thick, but still somewhat fluid. You can add a tiny bit more cream if it's too thick, but make sure it gets heated up. Add the cut up chicken, stir it in, and heat through. When everything is heated through and melted and yummy, scoop it over toast and serve immediately.

Like I said before...not the most beautiful meal ever, but yummy enough to redeem itself. It has a good personality. ;)

Welcome to my Persnickety Picnic!

I am starting this blog as a way to share ideas and recipes with friends and family. I am a self-proclaimed picky eater, and if you ask anyone that knows me, they will heartily concur. So...all my recipes, whether created myself or adapted from others, will reflect my "persnickety" tendencies, but I think everything still tastes good. :) So if you have a tough sell in the food department in your house, this blog might help dinner go a little more easily.

While I have broadened my horizons in the culinary world, I still have trouble stomaching certain tastes and textures. You will never find seafood on my blog. I have tried a million and one things, and I haven't found one I really LIKE. I can STAND a few bites of some things, but...I never choose to eat it. Haha. Some things, like onions, and, well, most veggies, I have to hide inside other things, with a few exceptions. So my veggies will almost always be stuck in a casserole, drenched in cheese or dressing, or made into a sauce or something. It just makes it easier for me. :) I will openly admit that I am not the healthiest eater, but I do try to squeeze in healthy ingredients. Hey, I'm trying right? Haha.

So, without further ado...The Persnickety Picnic. I hope you enjoy.