Restart

Alright let's start over again. I'm not making any promises but I'm going to attempt to be a little more active then one post every 8 or 9 months. Since last post boyfriend and I have started eating low-carb in Jan. The hardest adjustment has been not being able to bake like I used to. Dinners have also changed as you can imagine. No more potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, basically all that is good and holy. We definitely still eat these things occasionally but usually on holidays or special treats, no longer on an everyday basis. As hard as it's been, it has been worth it since we have lost over 70 lbs combined! So tonight's dinner was a new dish, fairly low in carbs and quite tasty if I say so myself.
From the ever handy allrecipes.com

Chicken Florentine Casserole

Ingredients

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves- I cooked 3 chicken brests the night before and cubed them for this recipe
  
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 cup half-and-half- I used heavy cream
  
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 (13.5 ounce) cans spinach, drained- I used 1 pkg frozen that had been thawed and drained
  
• 4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced-I omitted these as I'm not a fan of mushrooms
  
• 2/3 cup bacon bits-I used crumbled turkey bacon
  
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the chicken breast halves on a baking sheet; bake 20 to 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat, and set aside.
2. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
3. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, half-and-half, and Parmesan cheese.
4. Arrange the spinach over the bottom of a 9x9 inch baking dish. (I used a 13x9) Cover the spinach with the mushrooms. Pour half the mixture from the saucepan over the mushrooms. Arrange chicken breasts in the dish, and cover with the remaining sauce mixture. Sprinkle with bacon bits, and top with mozzarella cheese.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven, until bubbly and lightly browned.

Here's a picture of the cast before we started:


Mmmm that sauce is starting to look pretty good.
First layer
Second Layer
Third Layer
Fourth Layer
Fifth and final layer
After baking for 20 minutes
And finally on the plate
Overall I thought this turned out really well. I thought the flavor of the sauce was good, the only negative thing I can say is that it was a bit salty. I did add a couple pinches of kosher salt to the sauce when it was on the stove and I think that was a mistake since it had plenty of salt from the bacon and other ingredients. I am putting it in my recipe book as a keeper but will of course omit the extra salt next time. We have quite a bit of leftovers and as I was uploading these pictures I'm starting to get hungry.

Brand New

Aren't all brand new things intimidating? I'm talking about a brand new notebook, journal, or in this case, a blog. I have always had a bit of a problem with beginnings and endings so let's just jump in shall we?
Today's Quest: Quick dinner for my boyfriend and I.
Accomplices: Hormel Center Cut Pork Loin (citrus flavor) frozen broccoli, Betty Crocker instant Butter and Herb mashed potatoes.
Outcome: 5/10
Explanation: Broccoli was OK and the mashed potatoes were awesome as they always are. Pork loin was a major disappointment. They were on sale at Winn Dixie buy one get one free so I boufht the citrus and mesquite BBQ. The citrus marinade tasted very bitter and gave the pork a strange taste. The closest flavor I can think of to describe it is earwax. (Don't ask how I know this) I only had 1 slice and I didn't even finish it. Boyfriend said it was OK though so maybe it's just me.