Spinach and Mushroom Chicken for our Farewell #SRC

I think it is very fitting that for this final Secret Recipe Club post, I am assigned to Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures.  Amy is my friend outside of blogging and the person who first introduced me to this marvelous club that I am going to miss very much.

The good thing is that I made tons of great blogging friends in the SRC community and together we have joined other blogging events and communities so we will be able to keep in touch.  I want to thank the administrators of SRC, especially, Sarah of Fantastical Sharing of Recipes for all of the hard work keeping this club interesting, fun and on task.

But back to this month's assignment.  Let me tell you if I hadn't already been friends with Amy I would have wanted to be her friend after getting to know her through her blog.  Amy has two adorable boys who just happen to be lucky enough have two of my dearest friends, John and Kirsten, as grandparents.  Amy and her husband, Mike, are a fun loving couple who love sci fi and are proud "geeks".  They have great theme parties, like this Roaring 20's Party or this Star Wars Day Party.  I just wish they lived closer so I could get in on the fun.

Amy teaches at her son's school, teaches zumba at a local gym, bakes and decorates cakes for sale, takes care of her husband and boys, cooks healthy and nutritious meals and blogs in her spare time. Phew....I'm tired just writing about it.  You really need to check out Amy's baked goods at Amy's Confectionary Adventures.  That way you will find the perfect dessert to go with the amazing dinner selection that you found on her Cooking Adventures blog.

I read Amy's blog each time she posts something so there was really no need to browse her files. Instead I went straight to her entree recipes because I wanted to serve chicken during the week and figured, correctly, that I would find a great recipe on Amy's site.

I had my choices narrowed down to the bacon and caramelized onion BBQ chicken, the melt in your mouth chicken, the chicken pot pie with cheddar biscuits and the baked chicken with spinach and mushrooms that finally won out.

I chose this recipe because I had just picked up a package of organic chicken cutlets that were at their sell by date and this recipe called for thinly sliced chicken breasts.  Perfect.

I also had most of the ingredients on hand except for the proscuitto which I omitted and the french fried onions that I substitued with caramelized red onions.  Since I didn't have the proscuitto, I made the spinach and mushrooms the middle layer instead of the top layer.

I used only 1 pound of chicken since I was only feeding the 2 of us and layered it all in an 8x8" baking pan, poured in the wine, sprinkled with seasonings, covered with foil and put it in the oven.  I had place some potatoes and some brussels sprouts in the oven to roast while putting together this dish.  When the chicken was cooked the entire dinner was ready to be pulled from the oven and enjoyed.

I had a half an hour to relax with a glass of wine....I had to open it for the recipe and you can't let it just sit there...before removing the foil and topping the chicken with the onions and cheese mixture. Put it back in to finish cooking and in another 15 minutes you are good to go.

Thanks, Amy, for such an easy and delicious dinner that we enjoyed with the remainder of that bottle of Chardonnay I used.  

Spinach and Mushroom Chicken

adapted from Amy's Cooking Adventures

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

2 t. olive oil

4 chicken cutlets (approx. 1 lb)

salt and pepper to taste

1 T. dried Italian herbs

1 T. fresh parsley, chopped

2 c. baby spinach leaves

6 oz. mushrooms, sliced

2/3 c. dry white wine

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

2 t. beef bouillon powder

1/2 T. onion powder

dash of turmeric

3/4 c. mozzarella cheese

1/4 c. parmesan, romano, assiago blend 

In a small skillet, cook onion in 2 t. olive oil, over med high heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.  Set aside

While onions are cooking, season chicken cutlets with salt and pepper.  Place 2 cutlets in the bottom of  an 8x8 baking pan.  Sprinkle with half the Italian herbs and parsley.  Top with the spinach and mushrooms and then layer two more cutlets on top.  Combine the wine, 1/4 c. olive oil, beef bouillion, onion powder and turmeric.  Pour over the chicken cutlets.  Sprinkle with remaining herbs and parsley.  Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake in a preheated 375* oven for 40 minutes. 

Remove from oven, uncover and top with the caramelized red onions and cheeses.  Return to oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, until cheese is melted, bubbly and starting to brown.  Print Recipe

Here are the other final SRC posts 

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Fried Green Tomatoes for a special edition of #SecretRecipeClub

I am a little sad writing this post.  This is the very last special edition of the Secret Recipe Club. Next month, I will be writing my very last Secret Recipe Club post ever on my regularly assigned Monday.

Some of you may not be aware of this but my blog did not originally start out as a foodie blog.  It was more of a journal that I used to document my Life with Mom for whom I was caretaking during her final years as she we struggled through her battle with dementia/Alzheimer's disease.  I did share some recipes as well as the rest of my everyday life here on the farm but not nearly as many as I share currently.  I didn't belong to all the fabulous food and drink groups that I since have joined.

It all started with my friend, Amy, of Amy's Cooking Adventures.  Amy belonged to SRC and I read her blog faithfully.  I asked for information and found that I could request to join as soon as I had at least 100 recipes on my blog.  So, I started focusing more on food and soon I was accepted into this club.  That decision introduced me to all the other cooking groups to which I belong.  Needless to say, SRC holds a very dear spot in my heart.

When I first joined SRC, it was so large that there were 4 groups and a waiting list to be able to join.  As the years have gone on our numbers dwindled and we were downsized to 3 groups but given the opportunity to join in on special events during the months that held 5 Mondays.  These special events were assigned a theme and the blogger to whom you were assigned was not necessarily from you group.  It gave us a chance to meet members of the other groups and I enjoyed that very much.

This final Special SRC theme is Fall Dishes and I was lucky enough to be assigned to Kate of Thyme for Cooking.  Kate was born here in the Midwest area of the USA.  Since then she has spent time living in Ireland, Andorra ( a tiny country between France and Spain) and is currently residing in France.

Kate has an extensive library of recipes.  Knowing that I would get lost and confused without a roadmap, I decided to make a first course from Kate's blog.  That narrowed it down some but it was still a vast amount of recipes from which to choose.  Since our theme was Fall Flavors and I had decided to go savory rather than sweet.  I went to her subset of First Course Vegetables.

When I think Fall foods my mind turns to squash, cabbage, pumpkin, pears, apples, etc.  I started perusing the starters that Kate offered and found a Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Polenta dish that sounds amazing.  The warm Acorn Squash and Walnut Salad also sounded delicious to me. Baby Pumpkins filled with Creamy Spinach nearly won the toss for this month.  In the end, I came across Kate's recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes, and my decision was made.  Our son in law, Pierre, had just given me a huge bag of late season tomatoes that were still green.  When I saw this recipe I knew that I wanted to make this popular dish that I had never tried.

I used Kate's recipe just as written, except that I seasoned the flour with salt and pepper, added some water to the beaten egg and made 8 slices of tomato as there were 4 for dinner and I wanted 2 slices per person.  You start by slicing the tomatoes and cheese.  Then you create a dredging station of seasoned flour, beaten egg and cornmeal.  The entire recipe only takes 10-15 minutes and it was a great starter that I served in lieu of a salad.

Make sure you stop by the other SRC Fall recipes being shared today.  You will find them right underneath my recipe.

Fried Green Tomatoes

slightly adapted from Thyme for Cooking

4 green tomatoes, sliced into 1/4" slices

1 T. olive oil

1/4 c. flour

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

1 t. water

1/3 c. cornmeal 

8 slices fresh Mozzarella cheese

Heat olive oil in an oven safe pan over med high heat.  Place flour in a shallow bowl, season with salt and pepper.  Place egg and water in a second shallow bowl, beat with a fork.  Place cornmeal in a third shallow bowl.  Dredge the tomato pieces in the flour, dip them in the egg mixture and then dredge in the cornmeal.  Fry in the hot oil about 3 minutes, flip over and top with each with a slice of cheese.  Fry about 2 more minutes then place under a broiler until the cheese is melted.  Print Recipe

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I'm having a Smooth(ie) day, thanks to #SRC

Happy Monday everyone.  Today is the second Monday of the month which, normally, means only one thing around here....Secret Recipe Club Reveal Day.

Today, however, it means the movers are coming and the rest of our belongings will be at the new house.  We have been very busy around here.  We spent weeks packing and then Saturday began moving stuff.  Today is the last moving day.  After this we can concentrate on putting stuff away and turning our new house into our new home.

I'm never too busy for SRC though.  I did have a little panic attack last week when I realized that reveal day was only 5 days away and I hadn't even looked at my assigned blog.  Then I got really worried because I went to my calendar where I normally put my assignments and links to the sharing codes and there was nothing listed.....not even SRC!!

Our fearless leader, Cam of Culinary Adventures with Camilla, came through for me though.  She calmed me down and re-sent all the info I needed.  My assignment was Jeanie at The Tasty Cheapskate.  I was thrilled with this assignment because:

I love this blog

I found Jeanie when I first came to group B and immediately enjoyed her style of writing.  I also enjoy that each recipe comes complete with a breakdown of what it will cost to make. I am familiar with this blog so I didn't have to spend a lot time researching.

I am familiar with this blog

When I dropped the ball with SRC this month, I was so disappointed in myself because I was afraid that I would not give my assigned blog the attention it deserved.  Being familiar with The Tasty Cheapskate made my life much easier. Time is a rare commodity while moving and Jeanie's blog was a God send.

Jeanie has tons of fast, delicious meals

In fact, she has a special category for Fast Meals (under 30 Minutes) in her recipe file.  I peeked at the Vegetarian Fajitas and the Quinoa and Black Bean Salad  because it is, after all, Meatless Monday.

There are tons of Smoothies on this blog

There are over 30 recipes for drinks and smoothie on her recipe page including the one I made that was listed with a week's worth of smoothies to prep ahead so each morning goes more Smoothie for you.  Jeanie calls these Smoothies in a Bag.

If you are a regular reader here, you know that since starting the FMD eating plan I have been a smoothie nut. Smoothies are a great way to get in your breakfast or snack on this eating plan. Today is Phase 1 which means I need to have fruit and grains for breakfast and fruit for each snack.  I am also allowed to have unlimited amount of vegetables with snacks or anytime during the day if I get hungry.

This recipe for The Brown Berry caught my eye right away.  I made some slight adaptations.  I deleted the banana because bananas are not allowed on FMD and I used cider instead of apple juice since that was what I had in the refrigerator.  Mine was more of a Green Berry than a Brown Berry but it was still perfect for my snack on a very busy day.  

Thanks Jeanie, you made my day much Smoothier!!

Green Berry Smoothie 

Adapted from The Tasty Cheapskate

2 c. spinach

1 c. frozen mixed berries

1/2 c. apple cider

1 c. water

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth.  Print Recipe

More Great SRC Reveals

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