Want to Impress? Chicken Recipe

I had to own up to my Betty Crocker skills this past weekend. I love to cook but not as much as I love to bake. Either way it's a trial and error process with recipes and I hate to be disappointed. After lengthy conversation of What do you like? Oh wait more importantly what do you hate? The consensus was chicken. Okay chicken I felt like I could handle. But I honestly wanted to make something pasta...but pasta was by no means a favorite so off I went to find a recipe.

And gosh it was AMAZING, and easy and impressive. Even my father who thinks he should qualify for iron chef said it was perfect. So here ya go:

Chicken Provolone Rollups

• 4 pieces Chicken Breast, Pounded Thin
• 8 slices Provolone Cheese
• 8 Tablespoons Seasoned Bread Crumbs
• 8 teaspoons Parmesan Cheese, Grated
• 1 bottle (8 Oz. Bottle) Italian Dressing

Prep and Instructions: Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese together. Set aside. Put 2 slices of provolone cheese on each chicken breast. Roll breasts up jelly roll fashion; dip each in dressing, then in the bread crumb mixture. Place in a Pyrex dish sprayed with non-stick spray. If necessary, to keep the chicken from unrolling, place a toothpick in each chicken breast. Bake at 450 degrees F for 25 minutes.

Now I made the above as is, but if you wanted to make it low fat you could use FF italian, reduced fat parmesan cheese and either whole wheat bread crumbs or fiber one bran cereal in the food processor with italian seasoning.

I also think it would be great made with pepperjack cheese! Either way, it's easy and impressive!

*Oh and I might add after my hour of searching...I find out last night that he loves lasagna..okay well you could have told me that and it would have been easier! lol

Amazing Recipe Blog

I have been browsing through her stuff and she has some amazing recipes. At first I was super excited because there were lots of desserts (you know me I love to bake!) but that was just for the holidays. But the two things I have made from her blog are delicious. So I think you all need to go check out Fake Ginger.

The first thing I made was Pumpkin Caramel Coffee Cake. I love pumpkin, I love sweets what could go wrong. There were a lot of steps but it was definitely worth it. As noted in the recipe spreading the batter the 2nd time was more challenging, but i used an icing knife and it went okay. I shared this with my bff and he said it was a keeper. I don't let family judge, because they don't like sweets.

Then this morning I made Vanilla Spice Oatmeal. I like oatmeal and I am trying to get on the eating healthy bandwagon. I don't like raisins though so I skipped those, and I was too lazy to do the walnut thing (and I can do without those calores: comparable worth) But it was very easy to make and is delicious. It just sweet enough, not overpowering. Now if I would have used the splenda brown sugar I am sure it'd be a bit better, but oh well beats eating the coffee cake for breakfast like I did yesterday.

I think you must be convinced now to check out her blog and read about her. I was excited to see she is my age and a SAHM, so i think it's totally sweet she loves to cook, don't find that often most people my age are eating ramen and sofa pizza. Be sure to check out the other food blogs she loves. I have already snagged another recipe from one of those!

These rolls are easier than you think

So it's about time I probably blog about SOMETHING other than a giveaway. I hate to admit it, but I have a life outside of giveaways.

Last weekend I was finally able to make these rolls and they were delicious. The only downfall is that I had to cook them in the toaster oven so they didn't cook all the way through, so I had to put them in longer after realizing that. Moral of the story do them ahead of time in the big oven if you have other cooking to do at a different temperature. If you are lucky enough to have a double oven...well you are on my frenemies list now.

This is yet another recipe The Pioneer Woman. Sadly, I have been neglecting her sweet blog because of other web distractions. Here is the recipe for the Easy Parmesan Knots. Who doesn't love carbs? And this will certainly impress your guests and/or family. I even have a request from my sister to make them again before she leaves for college. I made 2 batches because I had an inkling they would be a hit!

Food Network here I come

Lately I have been enthused about cooking and baking, more so trying NEW recipes! Tonight I tried my hand at Shrimp Linguine Foil packets. Another divine recipe by The Pioneer Woman. Seriously, check out her recipes and blog and you will not be disappointed.

Of course, I had to improvise due to my lack of precise planning and laziness to go to the store. I did not have 3 cans of diced tomatoes, just 2. So I had to use tomato sauce, which means the noodles were a bit saucier and less good hearty tomatoes thrown in. Secondly, we have 3 or so precooked bags of shrimp (thank you BOGO) in the freezer. I used that instead of fresh, and ya know I think it turned out alright. We'll see what the critics say tomorrow. Next time I would like to try the fire roasted diced tomatoes, bet that will be delish! Cooking is a trial and error process, so far this recipe rocks and the kitchen isn't a roasted tomato mess!