Chicken Lasagna

As soon as I saw this recipe at Krista's Kitchen, I knew I had to make it. I love lasagna, and PJ had never tried or even heard of a chicken lasagna. He has started a "menu" of all of the delicious new recipes I am making that he would love for me to make again and again. And guess what? This chicken lasagna definitely made it on the menu. We will definitely be making this again. Another successful recipe, yay!

So first I diced 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts into small cubes. Then I seasoned the chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Next I melted 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 cloves minced garlic in a skillet, and then added the chicken to the garlic butter mixture once melted and cooked until done. Once the chicken was finished cooking, I removed it from the skillet.

Next, I added 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 4 oz. of cream cheese, 1 cup of sour cream and 1/2 cup of milk to the same skillet that I cooked the chicken in and stirred, then adding the chicken and stirring that in as well. I turned the heat down and let the sauce simmer until thickened.

On the bottom of a casserole dish, I spread some of the sauce mixture so that the noodles wouldn't stick. Next I added a layer of cooked lasagna noodles (cook 1/2 box of lasagna noodles as directed on package) followed by a layer of sauce, and then a layer of cheese. Repeat the layering process until the sauce is used up and the casserole dish is filled to your likings.

Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes and voila, your masterpiece is ready for eatin'! I love this variation of lasagna without the traditional spaghetti sauce. I think you will too!

Chicken Lasagna adapted from Krista's Kitchen who got it from Better Than Burgers

Printable recipe

• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 box of lasagna noodles, cooked according to package instructions
• 4 cups grated Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheese

Melt butter and garlic in a large skillet. Then add cubed chicken to the skillet and cook until no longer pink. Remove from skillet.

In the same skillet, add cream of mushroom soup, cream cheese, sour cream, and milk and stir together.  Add chicken to the sauce mixture and stir well. Turn the heat down and let the sauce simmer until thick.

Spread a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish, then the cooked noodles, then sauce, and lastly the cheese. Repeat layering process until sauce is used up and dish is full.

Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes.  

Cornflake-Crusted Chicken Fingers

Let me start out by saying that I love this KitchenAid knife! If you are serious about your cooking, you gotta have a good sharp knife for chopping and dicing meats, fruits, veggies and more! I am on a mission to collect some great KitchenAid products. I already got my handy knife, some kitchen scissors. Next I am getting a KitchenAid knife block at the grocery store which I saw on sale for a great price. Hopefully one day I can get me a KitchenAid mixer, or win one in one of the many blog giveaways!

Now back to the recipes! I haven't posted a real recipe in quite some time. My most recent posts have been photography related, restaurant reviews, or the simplest recipes that don't even really require recipes. Now I'm back with the goods.

One of the cooking blogs that I love to follow is Better than Burgers, a mother-daughter blogging team. They are constantly posting recipes that are yummy and not overly complicated. Their recipes range from sweet and savory to meaty to vegetarian. I can't get enough of their blog! So I have started a [long] list of recipes from blogs that I really want to try, and at least 20 of their recipes are on that list! Their original recipe calls for Colossal Crunch cereal, but since I couldn't find those anywhere, I opted for cornflakes. Gotta use your thinker!

 


















Cornflake-Crusted Chicken Fingers modified from Better than Burgers

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 egg beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 3 cups crushed cereal (cornflakes)
• vegetable oil

First, slice your chicken breasts into long strips.

This normally would be the part where you would mix flour and your seasonings in a bowl, but I realized after I started making this that I didn't have flour... Yikes! So again, I used my thunker and decided that the show must go on, without the flour. So I just skipped this step. Instead, I seasoned the chicken breasts with all of the seasonings.

Now in a bowl, mix the buttermilk and egg. Then dip your strips into the egg mixture.

Put the crushed cereal onto a separate plate and dip your strips into the cereal. (If using flour, dip strips in flour first then egg then cereal).

In batches, add strips to a skillet with 1" oil in it. Cook in the skillet for about 15 minutes, flipping occasionally.

Once finished cooking, place on a plate to drain off the excessive oil. And who doesn't like to dip their chicken fingers in some scrumptious dips like barbeque and honey mustard?!

** For honey mustard dipping sauce, mix together 1/2 cup mayo, 1/3 cup mustard, and 3 tablespoons honey.

** For barbeque dipping sauce, mix together 1/2 cup bbq sauce (I used Sweet Baby Rays), 1/2 cup mayo, and 2 tablespoons honey.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Well, I didn't make it in time to link up to Scavenger Hunt Sundays. But that aint gonna stop me from displaying my shots. At times I have to reach into my archives since I usually don't leave much time to shoot the items on the list. The point is to take a new photo of each item each week, but as we all know our busy lives sometimes don't allow for that. So here's my interpretation of this week's Scavenger Hunt Sundays:

1.  Landscape - I had to reach into the archives for this photo, and I'm not even sure if it really qualifies as "landscape". But really this is the closest I had to a landscape that was worthy enough to make it to the challenge. This was taken in Kelley's Island in Northern Ohio near Sandusky.

2. Power Lines - This was taken on my camera phone while driving in to work yesterday morning. You can barely see the actual power lines but you see the towers. The sky looked amazing.

3. Newspaper -FAIL

4. Pose - My friend posing with an appletini

5. Hobby - I love football, and I love the Cincinnati Bengals. These are little helmets that we collect.

Next time I will actually try to submit my photos before the deadline. Such the procrastinator I am.

And if you want to participate in this week's Scavenger Hunt Sunday (due next Tuesday), the items you need to shoot are: 

1. Wish/Dream
2. Clean
3. Currency
4. Pair
5. Square

So get to it - don't be like me and wait until the last minute!

Mushroom and Onion Omelet with Chive and Onion Cream Cheese

Here comes a simple one! But oh so good! A mushroom and onion omelet with chive and onion cream cheese. Yummy!

1. Slice and dice mushrooms and onions. Then add butter or oil to a skillet and saute both until tender.
2. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and whisk together.
3. Add tablespoon butter to a skillet and let melt.
4. Add eggs and whirl it around to cover the skillet.
5. Once it has settled a little and is about ready to flip, season with salt and pepper.
6. Flip, and season other side. Immediately add cheese - I use pepper jack cheese slices and tear into strips to cover one side of the omelet.
7. Add diced cooked mushrooms and onions to omelet, then flip the side with nothing on it to be the top of the omelet.
8. At this point, I let the cheese melt a little bit. Then I remove to a plate.

Basic omelet, right? Well yes. But I also like to add a little Philadelphia Chive & Onion cream cheese on top. So I spread a little bit on top of the omelet and let it melt a bit and get warm. Or you can spread a bit on while it is still on the skillet so that the heat from the skillet melts it. It adds a creaminess to the omelet, and of course a chive flavor.

I am not quite sure that I needed to write a post on how to make an omelet. But I just wanted to share with the world, that I love this Chive & Onion cream cheese and I love it on my omelets and it makes it a little somethin extra special  :)   Bon Appetit!

Restaurant Review : Old Town Cafe in Covington

I like to venture out and try new places for lunch. Why eat the same thing everyday if you don't have to?! There are many options where I work, you just have to travel a little bit to get to them. One place that I tried recently was a little restaurant on West Pike in Covington called Old Town Cafe. They don't have a parking lot or anything so you have to park at a meter. Well I did at least. And since I had no change, I had to keep peeking my head out of the window to make sure I wasn't getting a ticket! Not the fault of the restaurant obviously, my own silly fault for not having change. But just be prepared for the meter parking.

I got comfy in my booth and ordered a water and checked out the menu. They mainly offer burgers and an assortment of sandwiches. I was torn between the Deep Fried Cod Tail, the Frying Pig, and Franco's Steak Sandwich. I opted for the steak sandwich which is a ribeye with grilled onions and cheese. I believe this is a family-run business (I love the idea of small family-run diners!), and that Frank is the man in charge. The man behind the food. This is just an assumption, but I do think his daughters and wife were serving and he was cooking the food. So I wanted to try this sandwich named after him. Only, the waitress never came back to take my order. I always am a little pressed for time when I am eating out for lunch anyways, since obviously I can't stay out too long. And they weren't too busy so I figured it would be no problem to get in and get out. But there was a delay since I was just waiting there for her to take my order. I eventually had to go up and ask her to take my order. She came over, apologized, and said she assumed one of the other girls took my order. Don't really know why she would assume that, seeing as she was my original waitress. And if she still just saw me sitting there for awhile, why would you just assume someone else took the order? But that's just me. She was a nice girl, but just seemed to not be paying attention. Anyways, so I finally got to order Franco's steak sandwich but I wasn't too impressed. The meat was a little too chewy for me. Now granted, I probably have a biased opinion based on the fact that I normally eat filet. But I do enjoy ribeyes as well. So I think maybe it just wasn't as good of grade as I was hoping for. I know you are probably thinking, "It's a steak sandwich.... from a small diner.... did you expect the highest quality steak possible?!" Well, I guess yes I did. Maybe my expectations shouldn't have been so high.

They are open for lunch from 11 AM until 3 PM. They even deliver if you are in the area (I should have used that option!!). I wasn't too impressed by my meal, but I would like to go back and try it again. Like I said, there were a few other options I wanted to try. I think I just shouldn't have ordered the steak sandwich. So maybe I'll give that Cod sandwich or Frying Pig a chance. And if the second try is a failure then I would know that this place just isn't for me. But everyone (well, maybe not everyone) deserves a second chance. Maybe next time I'll make them come to me (deliver) so I won't have to deal with parking or forgetful waitresses and paying for a tip.

Restaurant Review : Bubba Gump Shrimp in Gatlinburg, TN

My fiancee loves Forrest Gump. It is definitely in the top running on the list of his fave movies. I am not as much of a fan, but I do love shrimp. And I do love Bubba Gump and his accent. And if anyone knows about Bubba, you know he loves his shrimp! But of course we know these are all made-up fictional characters. Lucky for us though, the movie lives on at Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. 

We dined here while vacationing in Gatlinburg, Tennessee for our 10 year anniversary and engagement celebration this past May. It isn't a fancy kind of restaurant. It is more based around family fun and good times with friends. It isn't really a quiet setting, but not a bar setting either. But it is a boisterous kind of restaurant where the servers are pleasant (maybe it's that Southern hospitality?), with adorable country voices and great attitudes to match. It was sometimes hard to understand our waitress because she had such a thick accent, but we still loved it! She explained that we just had to flip this here license plate sign to "Run Forrest Run" whenever we needed her, and to flip the sign to "Stop Forrest Stop" when we wished to be left alone. I liked the system and thought it was a clever but effective communication tool. I also loved the willingness of other waiters and waitresses to help out when necessary. It seemed like a working team atmosphere, where everyone pitched in and helped whatever table had their "Run Forrest Run" sign up. These Tennessee folk know how to treat their customers!

I will tell you a little about what they offer on their menu, and also what I ordered. They have smoothies and other drinks with clever names, and even some that you can purchase with a Bubba Gump glass you can take home with you! And of course they offer other seafood items like clams, crab legs and hush puppies. If you aren't in the mood for shrimp (maybe you came to the wrong place?!), then they have sandwiches/burgers and salads for you. And as you guessed it, their main focus is.... wait for it.... SHRIMP! A vast selection of it, some being shrimp specialty items - a few I would love to try are the Shrimp & Grits, I'm Stuffed Shrimp which has crab stuffing and cheese (YUM), and the Kentucky Bourbon Skewers. I had the pleasure of ordering Lt. Dan's Drunken Shrimp with shrimp, andouille sausage and bourbon sauce. It came with a side of mashed potatoes and some fried potato sticks coming out of the top, which made a very cool-looking presentation. It was pretty good with a little spice. Of course I have had better at fancier restaurants. But this holds its own. Sorry yall, I didn't take the picture until after I had already dug into my meal. This was in my pre-blogging days. So you can't see the pretty presentation. But visit their website if you really wanna see it!

For the life of me, I can't remember what my man ordered. It was some months ago and I didn't think I would be blogging about it so I didn't take a picture of his food. But it must have been some sort of sandwich (he sure does love to order sandwiches, even at a shrimp place!) because I see a bun and fries in the background on the above pic lol. If I remember correctly, they also have writings on the tables which are little sayings from the movie. And I remember someone getting on top of a table and embarrassing themselves singing and dancing, maybe a birthday celebration? I just can't remember why. It was a fun dining experience. I was happy to have experienced that with my fiancee... another fun time together with good food and laughter. Another memory to add to our long list  :)

August Photo Hunt Challenge

Wow, some days I feel like my blog has taken a turn - I feel like I have been posting about photography alot lately more than food. I am just happy to have found a cyber world filled with people who love two of my favorite things: food and photography! I promise more food posts to come, but I am also loving participating in these photo challenges. One in particular was the August Photo Hunt Challenge. The challenge gives you a month to photograph a list of 20 items. I didn't find out about it until the last week or so of August! So I am certain my photos won't be as creative or clever as others'. I promise that my next months' photos will be more thought-out since I will have more time. So cut me some slack this month! And on many you will see more than one pic, and that's because I couldn't choose!

1. A flag that represents you (your town, state, country, team, etc.)

2. Something comfortable

A homeless man finding whatever comfort he can on the concrete stairs and wall

3. Something in season

 

4. Feet

Our feet in the sand on the beach

5. Repetition

Repetitive bricks on the ground, graced by a rainbow

Colorful bricks on a wall

Repetitive tombstones in a cemetery

6. Culture or ethnicity

Not very creative, but Ethnic food menus at our hotel. 

I wish I had taken pics of an Indian wedding that was taking place, it was beautiful!

7. Contrast

The contrast of the colors of our skin

8. An indulgence

Gigantic piece of chocolate cake!

My favorite beer - Bud Light Lime. I thought the glow looked cool

9. A macro or closeup

Rocks from my candle display on my coffee table

10. Something masculine

A gift for my fiancee - I thought this depicted "masculinity" in a humorous way!

11. Something feminine

Victoria's Secret and zebra print - need I say more?!

12. Light

This feels like the light from heaven, the light of God

13. Eco-friendly

14. Business

We saw this truck while driving back from Chicago 
and it has my fiancee's name, and is a business (on wheels)

Hilton Garden Inn

15. An arrow

I probably shouldn't be going here...

My hometown

Choose Heaven, Not Hell

One way ticket to heaven or hell, which one will you choose?

16. Something wet

17. Something dry

Dried berries on the sidewalk

18. Butterflies *

19. Heart-Shaped Clouds*

Aunt Granny's up there

 

20. Strength 

Strength in human form - my Aunt Granny. 
Looking down on me from her heart shaped cloud in the sky  :)