Tuscan Garlic Chicken



This is really a good recipe and I need to make sure I put it on the menu rotation soon as it's been a little while since we've made it ...

It may look like a lot of work but you CAN do it it parts and generally, that IS what I do as I don't like standing in the kitchen for hours on end at the end of the day, you know?

Here's what you need to make this really yummy dish ...

2 large chicken breast - slice them in half (which now I know, alternatively called butterflying!)
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tbs salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp black pepper
olive oil (ummm, says 5 tbs total, but I don't think I used that much)
4 cloves garlic, minced (or use the lovely garlic press)
5 sweet mini peppers, finely diced
6 ounces fresh spinach
3/4 cup half and half
3/4 cup milk
2 tbs corn starch
1/2 cup chicken broth

Ok, the ingredient list is a LITTLE out of order based on the way I wrote it while doing (the Kindle kept losing its wifi connection and the TV was blaring Kid Rock Radio (Pandora, gotta check it out if you don't use it yet), AND a bottle of white wine ... yeah, it was fun. The only way to deal with two of us in the kitchen!

Heat large non stick skillet and add some olive oil.

Mix flour, salt, black pepper, basil, oregano in a shallow dish (cake pan, pie plate, whatever)



and dredge chicken on both sides, shake off extra and place in pan. Cover with a splatter screen and let them babys brown on one side before turning over. Now, I had to scold Hubby as he was feeling the need to interfere in MY project ... he wanted to move my chicken ... it's like rice, leave it alone, don't touch, no peeking, etc. Once they are turning white on top, they should be sufficiently brown, so give them a flip (gently) and finish browning. Once done, place on a baking sheet lined with foil and stick in the oven at 350 to finish cooking (15 to 20 minutes).


Wipe out the skillet if you have too much oil in it still and reheat pan over medium heat. Add oil (2 tbs) and saute garlic and sweet peppers til softened. Stir in 1 tbs flour (NOTE: I used the season flour from dredging, whether you are comfortable doing THAT is up to you), and use a whisk to stir constantly for a minute.



Slowly pour in the chicken broth (I used veggie broth, that's what I had that was opened) and bring to simmer. Continue whisking non stop til thickened, 3 to 4 minutes. (Yell at Kindle as you read the directions, trying to reconnect to wifi and whisk - like patting head and rubbing tummy, can't do it).

Whisk cornstarch in with half and half, pour in to pan, along with milk and spinach. Give a quick stir and bring to a simmer.


Stir occasionally til spinach is wilted (stand back and say, ohhh that looks good).

 


Just about there...where's the cheese?

Once the spinach is wilted, add the Parmesan cheese, stir and let melt.

Ok, here's where I 'cheated' ... I had pasta already made that was stashed in the freezer (learned this from Jackie Brown) ... and saved a lot of hassle on this day of all days! BUT, if you haven't tried freezing your leftover noodles, then you need to be boiling water and cooking up the noodles while you make your sauce (boil your water while doing the chicken and cook the pasta while doing the sauce) ...

Take half the sauce, add to the cooked, drained noodles and stir to coat. Serve up the pasta on a plate and top with a piece of chicken and top the chicken with a little of the reserved sauce.

To make it easier, I put the sauce in a dish for topping and dumped the
pasta in the skillet with rest of sauce

waiting on the chicken

Looking forward to sharing with some of these great parties ... make sure you check them out! Wake Up Wednesday,  Instagram Blog Hop, Pin Worthy Wednesday, Wake Up Wednesday, Hump Day Happenings, Wednesday Roundup, My Stay At Home Adventures, Wonderful Wednesday, Hearth & Soul, Fluster Buster Creative Muster,  Show Me What Ya Got, What's Cooking Wednesday, Its a Party!, Works For Me Wednesday, Sugar and Spice, Hump Day Happenings, Waste Not Want Not,  Wake Up Wednesday, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Wednesday Whatsits, Real Fun, Work It Wednesday, Lovely Ladies, Weekly Creative, Domestic Superhero, All Things Thursday, The Weekly Creative, Together on Tuesday, Tasty Thursday, Full Plate Thursday, Create It Thursday, Fabulously Frugal Thursday, Crafty Thursday Obsessions, Thrifty Thursday,  Showcase Your Talent, Think Tank Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, What To Do Thursday, No Rules Weekend Bloghop, Foodie Friday, Fabulous Friday, Get Real Frugal Friday, Frugal Fridays, Freakin Did It Friday, Pure Blog Love, Feature Friday, The Pin Junkie, Freedom Friday, Friday Favorite, Foodie Friday, A peek into my paradise, Weekend Social, Foodie Friends Friday, Celebrate It!,  Weekend Retreat, What’s Shakin,  Weekend Potluck, Get Him Feed Anything Goes,  Lil Luna Link Party, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday, Weekend Potluck, TGI Friday Friday with Friends, Simple Living Foodie Friday, Inspirations, Weekend Wander,  Saturday Night Fever, A Bouquet of Talent, The Party Bunch, Show Off Saturday, I Gotta Create, Show Off Weekend, Show Stopper Saturday, Sweet and Savory, The Weekend Creative, Weekend Potluck, Will Cook For Smiles, Strut Your Stuff Saturday,  Super Saturday Show & Tell, Sunday Features,  Potluck Party, Sunday Showcase, Snickerdoodle Sunday, Sundae Scoop, Super Sunday, Mop It Up Monday, Merry Monday, Creative Monday, The Scoop, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Pinch of Joy, Pin It Party,  Made By You Monday, Hunk of Meat Monday,  What’d You Do This Weekend,  Making It Cuter, Time To Sparkle, Inspire Me Monday, Mealtime Monday, Time To Sparkle, Makin You Crave Monday, Clever Chick, Motivational Monday,  Mix it Up Monday,  Save Money Monday, Monday Funday, Anything Goes Monday, Making Monday, Lou Lou Girls, Inspire Me Monday, Marvelous Monday, In and Out of the Kitchen, Memories, Tasty Tuesdays, Tuesdays At Our Home, How To Tuesday, Handmade Tuesday, Making a Home, Show Me The Goods, Totally Tasty Tuesday, All My Bloggie Friends, Retro Repin (Pinterest linkup) Share Your Stuff Tuesday, Tuesday Talent Show, Fat Tuesday, Penny Pinching Party, The Gathering Spot, Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays, Tasty Tuesdays, Two Cup Tuesday, Create, Link, Inspire, The Makers, Wow Me Wednesday, Create and Shareloa, Best of the Weekend

Comments

  1. LoriTuesday, May 26, 2015

    This looks so delicious, Jan!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownTuesday, May 26, 2015

    This looks absolutely scrumptious.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousWednesday, May 27, 2015

    Pinned! Thanks for sharing on Hump Day Wednesday

    ReplyDelete
  4. EliseMonday, June 01, 2015

    That looks yummy, and the sauce looks AMAZING!

    Thanks for sharing with Waste not Want Not Wednesday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jerri at Simply Sweet HomeThursday, June 04, 2015

    This looks delicious! Thanks for linking up with me. I'm featuring you this week.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Smelly Shoe Fix!

Image
Honestly, we have real good hygiene habits in my house, I can assure you of that! But, lets face it, living in paradise with 125% humidity can be a little trying sometimes ... my running shoes (which have NOT seen much running action for quite a while) get a little ripe smelling ... and oh man, you should smell the shoes that Hubby wears outside in the yard, patio, garage and boat that constantly get wet ... enough to suck the oxygen right out of your body ... whew! Then you have the Boy ... who works out pretty darn hard and doesn't always wear socks, nor does the Princess ... I mean, seriously, I've had to throw shoes away because you could smell them just sitting there. No one wants to be the person that people are wrinkling their nose at when they are walking by you! So when I saw the featured post for the Smelly Shoe Solution (and dang, I'm still trying to find the original post because I had no need to bookmark it, such a simple fix!) Yes. That's IT!...
Read more

Non Toxic Mosquito Spray

Image
Let's face it, living in Paradise does have a few drawbacks with the #1 complaint being ... BUGS. Yeah, bugs.  Mostly mosquitoes that can just ruin an evening of relaxation on the patio ... those pesky little guys can really do a number on you quickly!  Heaven forbid if you are one of those who are very sensitive to the bites (the Boy), you will have welts in no time. So Hubby always decides to spray AFTER everyone starts swatting the air and scratching. We have to gather up our drinks and appetizers, go indoors and wait for 20 minutes or so for the toxic fog to flat away ... only to be swatting and scratching AGAIN in 30 minutes. After seeing THIS tip a few too many times, I figured, what the heck, $5 at Walmart is worth it to try, right? Guess what?  It seems to work!!!  I need to do a few more nights to say for certain but I say it's WAY better than that can of toxic stuff ... and cheaper to boot! You must use the ORIGINAL fl...
Read more

Rice Cooker - Hard Boiled Eggs

Image
One of the things I picked up at Costco was a new Rice Cooker. The one I have, well, I gave that to the Boy when he went away to college (so he could make his macaroni and cheese), not to mention, it was small as heck, like mini size! So, I figured, you know, Hubby likes to make rice occasionally. The Boy makes brown rice in the microwave every other day and leaves the bubbly residue behind for ME to find when I go to heat something up (I hate a dirty microwave, totally wigs me out and sends me running for the windex!) ... so I grabbed the rice cooker ($29.95), a 10 pound bag of organic brown rice and a 20 pound bag of Basmati rice. I'm asking myself now, a whole week later, what the hell am I going to do with 20 pounds of Basmati rice? Anyways. Then I was reading the recipe booklet that came along with the cooker. They had one recipe that said to add the eggs, unshelled, to the steamer basket.  Ok. That made me re-read it a few times. Unshelled? Did they mean out of the shell?...
Read more