Balsamic Fontina Chicken

Several years ago, Olive Garden offered this dish on the menu for several months and my husband and I loved it. We were so sad when it was taken off the menu and have been waiting for it to come back, to no avail. The other day, it finally dawned on me that I could recreate it at home.

It turned out pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself. And even though it wasn't technically a light meal, I felt better eating it at home where I served fresh produce on the side instead of fattening breadsticks and salad.

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Balsamic Fontina Chicken

serves 4

1 package refrigerated cheese-stuffed tortellini
4 chicken breasts
Italian dressing (we like Good Seasons)
8 oz Balsamic Vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
4 oz fontina cheese, sliced thinly
freshly grated parmesan cheese
fresh ground pepper

Marinate the chicken breasts for several hours in the Italian dressing. Cook the chicken on the grill over medium heat until cooked through. Remove to a plate, arrange cheese slices on top, and cover with foil for 5-10 minutes.

While the chicken is sitting, cook the tortellini according to package directions. Drain and divide into 4 serving plates or bowls.





While tortellini is cooking, pour the balsamic into a large skillet and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add brown sugar and cook and stir for several minutes, until the liquid is reduced into more of a pourable sauce.

Place chicken breasts on tortellini and drizzle the balsamic reduction over each breast.

Garnish with parmesan and black pepper and serve!

Spicy Romano Chicken

Here is an easy copycat recipe of Johnny Carino's Spicy Romano Chicken. Really, I can't tell the difference between my version and the real thing. Serve it with crusty bread dipped in olive oil and roasted garlic, and you've got yourself a great stay-in date night!

This is a very versatile recipe. If you don't care for some of these vegetables, feel free to substitute others that sound good to you.

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Spicy Romano Chicken

serves 4

8 oz bowtie (farfalle) pasta, other kinds work too
1 Tbsp butter
1 can quartered artichoke hearts in water, drained
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
4 green onions, chopped
1 cup chopped raw mushrooms
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 pint prepared alfredo sauce (we like to use Olive Garden's alfredo, available for about $5 per pint for takeout, but you can use a store-bought jar if you prefer)
cayenne pepper, to taste

To begin, chop the mushrooms and green onions and set aside.

Next, slice your chicken into thin strips diagonally against the grain. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

In a large skillet or dutch oven, melt 1 Tbsp of butter over medium high heat. Meanwhile, begin cooking the pasta according to package directions.

As soon as the butter is melted, add the chicken to the pot or skillet.

Cook several minutes per side, until the chicken is golden and cooked through.

Add the mushrooms, green onions, artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes, cooking and stirring until mushrooms are cooked, about 3 minutes.

Add the cooked (and drained) pasta and alfredo sauce. Season with cayenne pepper, to taste. Cook and stir until sauce is hot, then remove from heat and serve.

Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes

I almost didn't blog about this dish. It is so easy, it really doesn't qualify as a "recipe." But it was a perfect "Meatless Monday" dish, easily converted to a side dish (maybe for Italian Breaded Pork Chops) if you aren't into the whole Meatless Monday idea.

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Pasta with Sun-dried Tomatoes

All you really need is your favorite pasta (I usually allow 2 oz per person) and a jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I like to purchase the big jar pictured here from Costco. We keep it in the fridge and have sun-dried tomatoes on hand whenever we need them. It is much cheaper than buying small jars at the store each time a recipe calls for them. Cook the pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking, heat up the sun-dried tomatoes with olive oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. The tomatoes we buy are packed in olive oil with garlic and herbs, but if yours aren't then you may want to add some minced garlic and italian seasoning.

Drain the pasta and toss with olive oil/tomato mixture. Season to taste with salt and red pepper.

Serve with a garnish of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, if desired. It's as simple as that!

This recipe is featured in Menu Plan 12.

Parmesan Pasta with Meat Sauce

This is a great, easy, satisfying recipe from my mother-in-law. My husband has been requesting this meal for a couple of months now so I was thrilled when I called his mom for the recipe and found out I had all the ingredients on hand! The only exception was the penne pasta, but I substituted thin spaghetti and all was well.

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Parmesan Pasta with Meat Sauce

serves 4

1 lb hamburger
salt and pepper
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 cans beef broth OR 4 cups water and 4 tsp (or cubes) beef bouillon
8 oz uncooked penne pasta (or another kind)
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup fresh shredded parmesan

Brown ground beef in a large skillet, drain off fat, and season with salt and pepper. Be generous with the pepper.

Add parsley and broth and simmer for 5 minutes.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, and toss with butter and parmesan.

Place pasta in individual serving bowls and top with beef and broth mixture.

This recipe is featured in Menu Plan 11.

Braciole

I have been wanting to make Braciole (pronounced bra'zhul) ever since I watched the Everybody Loves Raymond episode where Deborah makes it. Up until this particular episode, the only thing she cooks well is Lemon Chicken, coincidentally also on this week's menu plan. So when Deb makes a delicious Braciole, Ray and Frank can't get enough of it and Marie gets quite jealous. Hilarity (including Deb dumping tomato sauce all over Ray's pants, on purpose of course) ensues...

So back to Braciole. There are all kinds of fancy ways to prepare this dish including expensive cheeses, prosciutto, currants, etc but I decided to start with a very basic recipe. I already had all of these ingredients on hand, just had to pick up the meat. I thought the result was simple and delicious, although I had company over when I served it so I neglected to take pictures of the finished product.

The above picture as well as the recipe is courtesy of Momma Hen's Kitchen. The pictures of the cooking process are all me, for better or worse.

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Braciole

serves 4

1 1/2 lb flank steak (also called round steak or London Broil), cut into 4 pieces

4 Tbsp minced fresh garlic

4 Tbsp freshly grated parmesan

4 Tbsp breadcrumbs (I used Italian seasoned, since that's what I had on hand)

salt and pepper to taste

3 Tbsp olive oil

32 oz spaghetti sauce

cooked spaghetti noodles (enough for 4 people, about 1/2 of a 16 oz box)

kitchen string

Pound out the steak until thin enough to roll (somewhere between 1/4" and 1/2" thick). Sprinkle each piece with 1 Tbsp each of garlic, parmesan, and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper. 

Roll up each piece of steak and secure with kitchen string.

Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and brown each roll of meat.

Once browned, place in saucepan with spaghetti sauce over medium heat. Heat until bubbling then turn down to low and simmer 2 hours, stirring occasionally. If the sauce starts to cook down too much, you can cover the pot with a lid.

Remove from pot, cut each roll into 4 slices and serve with sauce over spaghetti noodles.

 

Macaroni and Cheese

Home-made macaroni and cheese, does it get any better than this? This beats the stuff in the box hands down. I actually didn't feel guilty serving this to my kids because it was made completely from scratch. It's not low-fat of course, but it isn't full of processed ingredients I can't pronounce!

This is a Pioneer Woman recipe so you know it's gotta be delicious!

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Macaroni and Cheese

serves 6

16 oz box dried macaroni

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1 egg

2 1/2 cups milk

1 tsp dried mustard

1/2 tsp each of salt, seasoned salt, and black pepper 

1 pound cheese, I used half monterey jack and half cheddar but you can use whatever sounds good to you!

Preheat oven to 350F. Boil macaroni until it is very al dente (still firm but chewable), about 6 minutes. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium low heat.

Add flour and whisk for 5 minutes, do not let burn!

Add milk and mustard and continue whisking for another 5 minutes, mixture will thicken to gravy consistency. I had to cook it a little longer and turn the heat up to medium to get this to happen, just depends on your stove.

Reduce heat to low. Whisk an egg in a separate bowl. Add 1/4 cup of milk mixture slowly to the egg, whisking continually. 




This is called tempering and will bring the temp of the egg up gradually so you don't have chunks of scrambled egg when you add it to your sauce. (This happened the one time I tried to make alfredo from scratch, disgusting).

Add egg to milk mixture, whisking constantly until well-blended. Stir in salt, seasoned salt, and pepper. Add more to taste, if desired.

Stir in all but about 1/2 cup of the cheese. I was in a hurry and accidentally dumped it all in, oops. Stir it all together until blended and cheese is melted.

Stir in the cooked macaroni. Pour into a buttered casserole dish, 2 quart or 9x13 and top with remaining cheese (assuming you aren't an airhead like me). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

I don't have a picture of the finished product in the baking dish because Nathan high-jacked my camera. He took this picture.

And this one. My husband was trying to entertain Hannah, who was getting fussy and hungry.

And this one. I have no idea what I am doing here.

Eventually we dished up the food. It was delicious.

I just happened to have an avocado so I sliced it up. It was so good eaten with the macaroni and cheese. Who would have thought?

This recipe is featured in Menu Plan 8.

Tomato Tortellini Soup

This is meatless meal that will please kids and adults alike. I love making things from scratch, but sometimes it's great to have a meal that's just "semi-homemade" with the help of a few cans and pre-made ingredients. The end result definitely doesn't taste like it's from a can!

I adapted this recipe from one found in a Taste of Home magazine.

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Tomato Tortellini Soup

serves 6-8

1 pkg (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini

2 cans (10 3/4 oz each) condensed tomato soup, undiluted

1 can (15 oz) vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups milk

2 cups half-and-half cream 

1/2 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes 

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried basil

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese plus additional cheese for garnish

Cook tortellini according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large stockpot (5 quarts at least) combine the soup, broth, milk, cream, tomatoes and seasonings. Heat through, stirring frequently. 

Drain tortelli and carefully add to soup.

Simmer over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir in Parmesan cheese.

Serve hot with extra Parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper as garnish, if desired.

This recipe is featured in Menu Plan 7.