New Year Resolutions

I don't exactly have any dead set New Year resolutions that I'm trying to achieve. Let's be real. If I actually said that something was my new year resolution and that I was 100% committing to it, I'd never actually make any attempt at it. So this year I am attempting to eat better,  find an exercise I enjoy and do it more than once, as well as blog more. I know life will get in the way and that is why I have no strong commitments to them and hope they just kind of happen and become part of life.

Part of my eating better plan is to eat less carbs/ refined carbs. I am a carboholic. Give me bread, give me pasta, give me white rice!!!! I want it, I need it. At least I think I need it. This recipe I'm about to share with you is a great pasta free dish if you want it to be. Personally I just couldn't picture pasta with it.  So my friends, I give to you my take on Caprese Chicken from the Novice Chef. I served mine with sautéed zucchini and simple salads.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
salt & black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
5 to 6 large basil leaves chopped or torn
mozzarella, to taste, sliced in 1/2 inch thick slices or shredded
balsamic vinegar, to taste
splash of white wine

Preheat oven to 375.
Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts and set aside.
In a large oven safe pan or cast iron skillet, over medium-high heat, heat the 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add chicken and cook for a few minutes on each side to brown. Add in garlic and cook until fragrant, add tomatoes and deglaze with a splash of white wine. Continue to sauté the tomatoes and garlic for a few minutes. Add in basil and balsamic and stir. Place pan in oven and cook chicken till about 140 degrees and top with mozzarella. Allow the mozzarella to melt and the chicken to reach 165 degrees internal temp. Serve with chicken with tomatoes, basil, and balsamic sauce on top.

While my chicken was cooking in the oven, I sautéed up some sliced zucchini with a bit of salt and pepper. The end result of the dish was a light, refreshing, flavorful meal that I see popping up in my meal rotation more often.

Yum Yum! Get in my tum tum!

 

My wife is crazy

My wife is crazy is pretty much what Scott thought when I first suggested this idea of Chicken Enchilada Pasta that I had found on Pinterest which led me to Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour who made up this delicious crazy sounding idea.  Now because of my Lima limitations, I had to come up with my own modified version. I had to take some items out and replace them with what was available... This seriously was going to go one of two ways, "This is really good Anne, I really like it" or "What the fuck Annie? This is the worst thing I've ever had.". I had high hopes since the original blog was titled "Five Stars and Then Some!" and that husband had raved about it. So let's get started!

 YOU WILL NEED

2 chicken breasts, cooked & shredded

 a smidge of olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1 medium onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

2 green chilis, minced or diced {your choice}

Green Tabasco sauce to taste

1 packet enchilada sauce {prepared according to package directions}

1 cup sour cream

Penne pasta

OPTIONAL TOPPINGS
Shredded Cheese {cheddar, monteray jack, or a blend}

Avocado

Green Onions

Black Olives

Tomatoes

Sour Cream

I started off by boiling those chicken breasts and chopping up everything that needs to be chopped up. I also made up the enchilada sauce according to the packet directions during this time too. When the chicken was done cooking, I reserved it's water to cook up the penne pasta. 

Let's really get cooking now! Like usual I just do a little splishity splash of the olive oil and get it heating up. Then I tossed in the garlic, onion, red pepper and chili and stirred that up. This part only takes about 3 to 5 minutes.

Mmmmmmm... Looking tasty already! Now I threw in the shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, and started throwing in some dashes of the green tabasco. The first time I made it I used like 3/4 of a small bottle. Might have been slightly on the excessive side because it was spicy but good. This time I used significantly less and it was still amazaballs good.  I let this stuff simmer for about 10 minutes to get a nice good happy marriage of flavors.

Now right before serving I stirred in the sour cream then dished some on up.  The first time my optional topping choices were cheese, green onion, tomato and sour cream. This time I swapped out the tomato for some avocado and both ways were good.

So in the end, it turns out that I am not crazy. Well at least when it came to this dinner idea I wasn't. Other times could be debatable. This dish is a must if you want to do a little something offbeat but amazing!