Chicken and Tortellini Salad

We spent last Saturday moving the boxes from our garage into the rooms that they belonged to. ALL. DAY. LONG. Moving is so fun... Knowing that this colossal task lay ahead of us, I started this tortellini salad on Friday night so that we could have a quick, self-serve lunch in between trips up and down the stairs on Saturday.

This colorful, tasty salad made for a delicious and filling lunch. It would also be a great recipe to take to a summertime pitch-in. You know, when summer finally gets here...

Here's what I did:

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet, then add two large boneless, skinless chicken breast that have been cut into strips. Stir in a couple cloves of minced garlic and season with salt and pepper too. I stir-fried the chicken just until it was no longer pink.

While the chicken cooked, I combined vinegar, honey, basil, parsley, dry mustard, and Dijon mustard in a small bowl to make the dressing.

Add the cooked chicken to the dressing and stir to combine. Then cover and put it into the fridge to marinate for several hours.

First thing on Saturday morning, I gathered some veggies and...

sliced them into a big salad bowl.

While I sliced the veggies, I also boiled a 9 oz. package of tortellini according to the package directions. When the tortellini was ready, I rinsed it with cold water to stop the cooking process and the let it drain.

Add the chicken and dressing to the veggies.

Stir in the tortellini too. Add salt and pepper to taste. I ended up adding grated Parmesan cheese at the end as well. Definitely a good call! Served up with some breadsticks, this meal fueled a whole afternoon of box-lugging.

Here's the recipe:

Chicken and Tortellini Salad adapted by me from the CHS Favorite PTO Luncheon Recipes

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1-1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
9-10 oz. fresh tortellini
1/2 medium red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 medium green bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add chicken and garlic. Stir-fry until the chicken is no longer pink.

Combine the vinegar, oil, honey, basil, parsley, garlic powder, and mustards in a small bowl. Whisk until the dressing is creamy.

Add the chicken to the dressing and toss to coat. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.

Cook tortellini according the the package directions and rinse with cold water. Drain. Slice and chop veggies. Toss the tortellini, vegetables, chicken, dressing, and Parmesan cheese together in a salad bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Chicken Lasagna Florentine

This creamy, delicious chicken lasagna looks, sounds, and tastes like it takes a lot of effort to create but is really pretty simple to throw together. Bonus: you can make it ahead when you have time and then simply bake it up for an effortless dinner.

Here's the how-to:

First heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cut up two boneless, skinless chicken breast halves into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the heated skillet with garlic. Then stir-fry the chicken until no longer pink.

Remove the skillet from heat and stir in shredded Cheddar, spinach, mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup, and sour cream.

Prepare lasagna noodles according to package directions.

Then arrange three noodles in the bottom of a greased rectangular baking dish. Top with 1/3 of the chicken mixture. Repeat layers 2 more times.

Finish with the filling, then top with grated Parmesan and finely chopped pecans. I only put pecans on half, to avoid complaints from the kiddos.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Then uncover and bake for 15 minutes more or until bubbly and golden brown on top. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Chicken Lasagna Florentine

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small bite-sized pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

2 cups spinach leaves, chopped

1 cup button mushrooms, sliced

10 ¾ oz. can cream of mushroom soup

1 cup sour cream

9 lasagna noodles, cooked and drained

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup pecans, finely chopped

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add to heated skilled with garlic. Stir-fry the chicken until no longer pink. Remove skillet from heat and stir in the Cheddar, spinach, mushrooms, soup, and sour cream.
2.Lightly coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Arrange 3 of the lasagna noodles in the dish. Top with chicken mixture. Spread evenly over the noodles. Repeat layers, ending with the chicken mixture on top. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and pecans.
3.Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes more or until bubbly and golden brown on top. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.
To make ahead: Assemble lasagna, then cover and refrigerate. Before baking, remove from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Bake according to the recipe directions.

If you're in a rush, try these time saving tricks:

*Pick up a rotisserie chicken from your grocer’s deli and chop 2 cups of the white meat, instead of cooking chicken breasts.

*Substitute frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained and canned mushrooms, also drained to cut time spent chopping fresh vegetables.

A taste tip:

*If you have an aversion or allergy to mushrooms, try adding cut-up, oil-packed, sun-dried tomatoes instead.

Heart-Shaped Pizza and The Meal Plan

Happy Valentine's Day!

We always spend the evening of Valentine's Day at home as a family. Usually I make a "fancy" dinner and we set the table with the crystal and china. We decorate the dining room. Sometimes we dress up. We have our own little kid-friendly, formal Valentine's dinner. I love this tradition...the loves of my life gathered around the table, celebrating our love for one another. It makes me happy.

But this particular Valentine's Monday happens to kick-off an extra-ordinarily busy week for our little family. Pure craziness this week, I'm tellin' ya!  And so, the other day, when I asked my 6 year old what she thought we should make for Valentine's dinner and she answered, "Heart Pizzas!" I could've kissed her. In fact, I did. Definitely do-able. Definitely a quick dinner. But still festive...I like the way she thinks!

Here's how I made the heart-shaped pizza:

First, I lightly sprinkled my Pampered Chef pastry mat with cornmeal. Then, I popped open a tube of refrigerated pizza dough and un-rolled it on the mat.

Next, I rolled out the dough to between 1/4 and 1/8 of an inch thickness. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into a heart shape.

Brush a pizza pan with oil and transfer the dough.

Now, top the pizza. Tonight the kiddos voted for plain cheese. Perfect! No chopping involved!

Twist the leftover dough into breadsticks. Brush with garlic butter and sprinkle with grated Parmesan.

Bake the pizza according to the dough package directions. Put the breadsticks in there too. The breadsticks turned out really nice! I think that these went into the 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. I can't be sure.  I forgot to take notes this time.

The heart-shaped pizza was a hit! Nothing fancy this year, we ate the pizza on paper plates. No one complained...least of all, me (aka The Dishwasher).

I did have to do something a little "fancy" for the occasion. A Valentine's treat for my family.... Check out this decadent Nutella Torte that we ate for dessert!

When things slow down around here, I promise to post the step-by-step and recipe for this spectacular cake! It was loaded with chocolate-hazelnut goodness!

It was a good Valentine's night!
__________________

Now for the belated, abbreviated meal plan. You may notice that I'm on a chicken kick this week. You can cook all of the chicken at once and use it for meals throughout the week!

Monday February 14th

Heart Pizza
Nutella Torte

Tuesday February 15th

Chicken Florentine Lasagna

Wednesday February 16th

Chicken Tortellini Salad

Thursday February 17th

Leftovers

Friday February 18th

Chicken Enchilada Pizza

Saturday February 19th

Dinner Out with Friends

Sunday February 20th

Leftovers again? Takeout? Not sure yet....
(The kiddos will be at their grandparent's overnight!)

Grocery List

Produce

Spinach
Mushrooms
Garlic
Pecans
Red Bell Pepper
Green Bell Pepper
Celery
Red Onion
Onion
Jalapeno Pepper
Grape Tomatoes
Cilantro

Dairy

Sour (light) cream
Grated Parmesan
Shredded Cheddar
10 oz. fresh tortellini
Refrigerated pizza crust
8 oz. Colby Jack cheese, shredded

Meat

6 large boneless skinless chicken breast halves

Canned Goods

1 can cream of mushroom soup
Cider vinegar
Honey
Dijon mustard
Vegetable oil
Green Taco Sauce

Dry Goods

Lasagna noodles
Parsley
Dry Mustard
Basil


I hope that you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day and have an equally wonderful week!

A Winner!

As of 12:03 am EST, I implored Random.org's Integer Generator to select the winner for the fabulous Duck Prize Pack.

And we have a winner!

DRUMROLL.......

Congratulations to Ty'sMommy!

I would have been happy to share this gift with anyone, but I'm especially excited for Beth, who just happens to be the author of a cooking blog that I love, "The Seventh Level of Boredom" ! Beth, you can finally sample duck without having to pick out the buckshot! Yay! Congratulations!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Maple Leaf Farms Duck Giveaway. If you're still just dying to get your hands on that cookbook, there's still a chance!  You only need to purchase 5 items from the MLF online shopping site and they'll throw in the cookbook for free! It's a win-win!

Baked Sweet Onion Shells with Cheesy Spinach Filling

These individual savory onion bowls would be great for a starter or a side. I love how the delicious cream cheese and spinach filling is encased in it's very own edible shell. These would be the perfect accompaniment to the main course for your Valentine's Day dinner!

Let's begin with the filling:

Beat a block of cream cheese and an egg until smooth.

Add in some soft bread crumbs(I made my crumbs from stale Hawaiian bread this time. It added a nice, subtle sweetness), Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, milk, salt, and pepper. Mix until combined.

Stir in a package of thawed, well drained (I squeezed mine to remove the excess moisture after draining), chopped spinach.

Grab a large, flat sweet onion. I used a Vidalia.

Peel away the paper and cut in half from top to bottom.

Separate the onion into layers and arrange in a rectangular casserole dish prepared with non-stick cooking spray.

Spoon the filling into each onion "bowl".

Then top with more bread crumbs and grated Parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees until the onions are soft and the filling is slightly browned or bubbly. Mine went for 40-45 minutes and then I finished them off under the broiler for a couple of minutes to get that nice, golden brown color on top.

The onions were soft enough to be enjoyable, but firm enough to hold their shape. I could have picked them up to eat them, although that would have been messy. I went with the fork and knife method instead. So good! Since I was testing and tweaking this recipe and not serving it to a crowd, this was my dinner tonight. I stopped myself at three...but I was seriously considering a fourth! 

Baked Sweet Onion Shells with Cheesy Spinach Filling

I really need to come up with a shorter name for this recipe. Any suggestions?

1 (10 oz.) package chopped spinach, thawed and drained
8 oz. light cream cheese
1 egg
1 cup soft bread crumbs (not the stuff from a can), divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/3 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup milk
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large, flat sweet onion such as a Vidalia

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Squeeze excess moisture out of spinach.

Beat cream cheese and egg until smooth. Add in 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1/4 cup parmesan, mayonnaise, milk, salt and pepper. Mix well. Stir in spinach.

Peel onion and cut in half from top to bottom. Separate layers to form shell. Place in a baking dish. Divide spinach mixture evenly among the shells. Top with remaining bread crumbs and parmesan. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes or until the onions are soft and the filling is set. Finish under the broiler for color.

Taste tip: This would also be good with some chopped artichoke stirred into the filling before baking.

Serves: 4-6

Enjoy!

Oh, before you go....don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY sponsored by Maple Leaf Farms.  Go to my last post to ENTER!  Just 2 days left....