Fun Foodie Family

Creamy Tomato Chicken with Garlic Rosemary Skillet Potatoes

Chicken, Dips, Dressings, and Spreads, Pantry Raid, Side dishes...veggies, potatoes, grains

It seems like forever since I have blogged. It actually has been about a week, and last week kinda was a blur. I cooked dinner a few nights, but nothing was really anything new or blog worthy. Tonight, I was feeling like I had a lot of random ingredients, so I decided to do a pantry raid. Here is what I found…

Proteins- Chicken breasts, chicken sausage, Black Beans, eggs

Pantry- Tomato paste- 2 cans, Diced Tomatoes- 2 cans, baked beans, chili, corn, 3 potatoes

Frozen- Variety Steamfresh Veggies, garlic bread

Fridge- cheese ravioli, alfredo sauce, half and half, fresh herbs- rosemary, thyme, and sage, white wine, 1/2 onion

So here is what I used and created…

Creamy Tomato Chicken

Ingredients

2-4 chicken breasts
3 cloves garlic crushed and chopped
1/2- 1 onion chopped
1/4 cup white wine
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 pint of half and half
Chopped fresh herbs- I had rosemary, thyme, and sage.
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Make sure you get your pan screaming hot!!! After 5 minutes of heating your pan, add your oil; 1 tablespoon or so to coat the bottom of the pan. When you see steam rising from the oil, add your chicken. Cook on each side for about 3-5 minutes until it is golden brown.

Once they are brown, take them out. Turn heat down to med heat and add onion and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent and garlic is fragrant. Do not burn the garlic! Pour in about 1/4 cup of white wine… just enough to deglaze the pan. Add in 2 cans diced tomatoes and 1 can tomato sauce. I mashed up the diced tomatoes a bit, because my girls don’t like tomato chunks. Skip this step if you wish.

Then I added the half and half and the chopped herbs. I mixed together and added the chicken back in until the chicken was cooked through. A total of around 45 minutes for browning and cooking the chicken. …

I have some of the leftover creamy tomato sauce…I am thinking some good uses for leftovers this week!!!

Garlic Rosemary Skillet Potatoes

Ingredients

3 potatoes thinly sliced with a knife. You could use a mandolin, but make sure they are not too this. They need a bit of thickness to absorb all the delicious butter and cream.
1 stick of butter…yes, that is correct!
1 tablespoon or so of olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
1/4 cup of half and half
parmesan cheese- wild abandon
chopped rosemary

Directions

Heat your oven to 400
Heat your skillet with 1/2 a stick of butter
Add your garlic and rosemary- cook for about 5 minutes…ummmm, rosemary garlic butter =) Sprinkle in just a bit of parmesan cheese. Mix together.
Add your sliced potatoes in a pretty circular pattern. Add the rest of the butter in chunks all over the top.
Cook for 40 minutes.

Take out and sprinkle more parmesan and rosemary. Turn your oven to broil. Brown the top of your potatoes and prepare to be wowed!!!

I added a side of Steamed Fresh Green Beans and Garlic toast. Dinner was a BIG HIT!

Spinach Chips

Appetizers and snacks, Date Night, Girls' Night Out/In, Happy Hour, Vegetarian

I had a nice quiet house, a growling tummy, and a bag of spinach. I made this…

http://theindolentcook.blogspot.com/2010/11/oven-baked-spinach-chips.html

This snack or side dish goes well with a nice glass of Cabernet. Would be a nice snack for girls night or happy hour!

Enjoy some healthy indulgence!

Easy Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce

Beef, Pasta

I think the last time I bought jarred sauce was one time back in the summer. Lizzie was still in the hospital, and the other 2 girls and I had been hanging at the pool all day. We threw on our clothes and ran to get dinner. I would have been happy with going to Zaxby’s or Chick-fil-a, but they cried, “We want spaghetti!” So I ran to Publix with them and picked out some marinara sauce and noodles. They were happy and the sauce was fine, but I have figured out over time that homemade sauce is always better! There are a few sauces out there that are pretty awesome, but usually they are more expensive. So I make my own now for the most part. I have no problem with the convenience of the jarred sauce, but I am very picky when it comes to the sauce.

Here is my super EASY recipe-

Browned hamburger meat with 1 chopped onion
Add 1 container of sliced mushrooms
A few good squirts of tomato paste
1 large or 2 small cans of tomato sauce
1 large can of diced tomatoes or 2 small cans
1 glass of your favorite red wine
A couple tablespoons of worcestershire
1 tablespoon of sugar
Any fresh or dried herbs you have- I added rosemary, thyme, oregano, and marjoram
You could even add in some chopped parsley if you have it.

Cook all together for AT LEAST 30-45 minutes—The longer the better.

PERFECTION!!!

Add to your favorite pasta and some garlic bread!
ENJOY!!! Can’t wait for the leftovers…the sauce just gets better with time. The longer it sits, the better it gets! =)

Grilled Chicken Caesar Wraps

Chicken, Sandwiches

Another snow day! I am ready for winter to be over, but since I am stuck at home, I can at least make a healthy lunch for my family! My husband got the idea at the store the other day to take this to work for lunch, but since we are home, we all got to enjoy.

I butterflied and grilled up some chicken breasts on my cast iron stove top grill. These are a great investment for grilling in the winter. Then I sliced up some romaine lettuce and warmed up some Naan bread (you could use pita, flat bread, or tortilla) on the eye of the gas stove. I sliced up the chicken on the cutting board. My husband and I built our sammies and topped it with Caesar dressing.

I served the girls “deconstructed,” because the girls are not really into lettuce or dressings, but we make them try everything at least once each time at the table. Lizzie is beginning to get the taste for lettuce, so hopefully the others will come around.