Chicken stuffed with Spinach and Ricotta

Hello again!

Well, I managed to snag some chicken breast for $5 at Publix, and found a recipe that I was sure to enjoy.  I love the idea of stuffing poultry because it tends to scream for help from other ingredients.  I love chicken, mostly because you can add so many flavors to it.  It's like a canvas for food.  Today, I decided to stuff it.  I made a very Italian chicken breast stuffed with spinach and ricotta.  I thought of it as a lasagna without the pasta. I decided to serve rolls with it on the side, though Albert thought a salad would be nice instead.  I am not a fan of salads, so I chose not to pay attention to him.  What else is new? haha

In the end, my dish came out delicious! I hope you enjoy it!

INGREDIENTS
3-4 chicken breasts
1 container of ricotta cheese (15 oz)
1 bag of mozzarella (8 oz)
1 box of frozen spinach- thawed and drained: squeeze out all the juice from the spinach
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese-grated
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
1 jar of red pasta sauce, I used vodka sauce (it was on sale!)

DIRECTIONS!
1. pre heat the oven to 350degrees.
2.  Cut a pocket into each breast and season them inside and out with salt and pepper
3.  Put the chicken aside.
4.  In a bowl, mix the spinach, ricotta, eggs, 3/4 of the mozzarella and Parmesan together to create the filling
5.  Fill each chicken breast with the filling and put them in a lightly greased baking dish.
6.  Glop the rest of the filling right over the chicken.
7.  Pour the red sauce over the chicken and top it with the remaining mozzarella cheese
8.  Bake for about 50-60 minutes, and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

ENJOY!!

Garlic Roasted Chicken with Twice Baked Potatoes

We've been getting more and more serious about this magazine, so I decided to buy the March Food Network magazine just to get some ideas.  I stumbled upon this easy to do recipe that I pretty much had all the ingredients for.  I decided to make Garlic Roasted Chicken.  It seemed simple enough, so I gave it a try.  Half an hour later and a few minor burns on my right hand, and I can safely say, I am not impressed.  My twice baked potatoes came out tastier than the chicken, and I followed the recipe to a T.  Albert though it was delicious, but I just didn't think it was tasty enough.  We had lots of leftovers, so I think I might just make the rest into a chicken salad for tonight. I think my favorite part was the sourdough bread that accompanied it.  I'd show you a picture of my hand, but this is a food site, I would like you to keep reading my blog.

I'm sure you can find the chicken recipe on foodnetwork.com or in their latest issue of the magazine.

I can, however give you the recipe to my oh so yummy twice baked potatoes!

Ingredients:
4 IMMENSE potatoes, scrubbed and dried
a LOT of cheese
half a cup of scallions
12oz of Sourcream
bacon bits

1. Preheat the oven to 400degrees. Seriously
2. Put the potatoes in the middle rack for 30mins.
3.  CAREFULLY take them out and poke a few holes in them with a fork.
4. Stick them back in to the oven for another 30 minutes.
5. Take them out CAREFULLY. They are HOT POTATOES!!
6. Cut them lengthwise in half and scoop out the insides.  Try not to tear the skin.
7.  In a bowl, mix the potatoes, and the rest of the ingredients. (Add a little salt and pepper to taste)
8.  Put the potato salad back in the skins and put them on a baking sheet.  Cover them with cheese.
9 Stick them back into the oven at about 350degrees for about 8-10 mins.
10.  Let them sit for about 10 minutes and enjoy!!!

Beer Chicken!

So I decided to cheat in a different way.  I decided to marinate my chicken in beer before baking it.  It came out amazing!!! The recipe's below.  Because beer is still too bland of a taste for chicken, I had to marinate the chicken with much more.

Ingredients:
 4 chicken thighs (that's just what I had)
1 bottle of beer.  I used Coors, but you can use any kind.  The darker the beer, the richer the taste.
garlic salt (I didn't have anymore garlic, so this was my alternative)
fresh rosemary
fresh oregano
salt and pepper
dried thyme

1. pat the chicken dry
2. rub the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic salt, oregano, thyme and rosemary
3. In the casserole dish, pour the whole bottle on to the chicken (yes, the chicken will be swimming... it's okay)
4. bake at 375 degrees for about 45mins.
5. ENJOY!

The thing with this recipe is that you can put in anny kinds of herbs you want.  Chicken is meant to be tweaked with.  I had left over beer from before my diet, and I wanted to do something with it.  I served the chicken with a mixture of sauteed asian veggies that I got at my local oriental store.  I sauteed them with soy sauce, and they came out yummy!!

Unfortunately, I remember about taking the picture after I'd eaten dinner... Oops! Maybe next time!!

Baked Chicken, Cheezy Broccoli and Meringues!

For dinner last night, I made some amazing seasoned baked chicken thighs and cheesy broccoli.  I think it was pretty awesome! Here's the recipe:

4 chicken thighs
fresh oregano
fresh rosemary
dried thyme
low sodium soy sauce
extra virgin olive oil

1. pat the chicken dry
2.  season liberally with all the ingredients
3. in baking pan, pour a few tablespoons of the olive oil and soy sauce over and around the chicken
4. bake in the oven at 375degrees for 45 mins.
ENJOY!

Next, I just put mozzarella over broccoli and for dessert, I made meringues!

The recipe for meringues:

Ingredients:

3 egg whites

3/4 cup sugar (in my case, splenda)

I beat those eggs until they looked silky with stiff peaks.  While beating, I gradually added sugar.

I stuck them in the oven at 325degrees for 25 mins.