Can you say DELICIOUS? { seriously! }

  

The other night for dinner, I made what may no be titled my NEW favorite chicken recipe...

Chicken Scallopine with Sage and Provolone

{ both Hubby and Prince approved }
FYI...  I used Giada's recipe as inspiration...

3-4 servings
(depending on the size of your cutlets)


{ INGREDIENTS }

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken cutlets, pounded thin (my cutlets were about 2 ounces each)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 sage leaves, chiffonaded*
1/3 cup grated provolone cheese
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tsp Sriracha hot chili sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 (24-ounce) jar of Barilla Napoletana Roasted Garlic pasta sauce
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Toothpicks
{ *see below for special directions }


{ DIRECTIONS }

Place the pounded chicken cutlets on a clean work surface, narrow end facing you.  Season chicken with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle some of the sage on piece of chicken.  Sprinkle each piece of chicken with some of the shredded provolone cheese.  Roll up the chicken and seal with one or two toothpicks.

Warm the olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat, then add the chicken.  Brown the chicken on all sides, 1-2 minutes per side (depending on how thin you pounded your cutlets).  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the chicken stock and simmer for 2 minutes while scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add the Sriracha chili sauce to the jar of Napoletana pasta sauce.  Then add the spiced up Napoletana pasta sauce to the reduced chicken stock in the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes to let the flavors marry.

Return the chicken to the pan. Simmer the chicken in the tomato sauce for 7 minutes. Turn the chicken over and simmer until cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes.  (Cooking time may vary depending on how thin your chicken cutlets are.)


Remove the chicken from the pan. Season the tomato sauce with salt and pepper. Spoon some of the tomato sauce onto each plate.  Place the chicken over the sauce and serve immediately with your preferred pasta { our fave is spaghetti }
Remember to remove the toothpicks before eating.  


{ *What is chiffonade? }

Chiffonade is a special cooking technique for cutting herbs and leafy vegetables, like sage and basil, into thin strips.
1.  Stack the sage leaves on top of one another.
2.  Roll the stacked leaves lengthwise into a tight roll.
3. Now cut across the sage leaves and you now have thin strips of sage, like so...

picture via The Pioneer Woman

And that's, that!!  

If you decide to try your hand at making this, please let me know what you thought of it.

Have a wonderful Saturday, lovelies!!

The prince's 3rd birthday recap 2 { all about the yummies }

As I promised in my first recap of the prince's birthday party...

a post all about the yummies we served for lunch { smile }

I had originally planned to make all of the yummies that I mentioned here, but reality kicked 

in a few weeks before the party and I decided that 

{ one } it would have been too much food, what with the pizzas I was planning to also serve 

and 

{ two } it would have taken way too much time to make all of it.  

Enough background, here's what I decided to make and serve...

{ first }

anti-pasto skewers

And... this is an actual picture from the party.

{ thank you, Heather }

I got the idea from here and made a few changes, some of them on-the-fly...

{ left out the tortellini }

{ used plain/unmarinated mozzarella balls }

{ served artichokes & pepperoncinis (mild Greek peppers) on the side }

{ second }

guacamole

(picture & recipe to come in a future post)

But for now here's a run-down of the ingredients that I use...

{ avocado }

{ garlic }

{ shallots }

{ jalapeno }

{ tomato }

{ fresh squeezed lime juice }

{ salt & pepper }

{ third }

watermelon salad

Picture & recipe via FoodNetwork.com

Again, I made a few changes to this recipe

{ used blackberries instead of blueberries- it's what Costco had available }

{ did not add the additional lemon zest & mint leaves as pictured above }

This salad was DELICIOUS and I will be making it as much as possible while all of these ingredients are in season.

Seriously you've got to make this one!

{ fourth }

brie tarts

Picture & recipe via Plain Chicken

These were AMAZING!  

I was told to give these a very high rating on Pinterest!! { they were that good }

Again... AMAZING!!

You've got to make these, too!

{ fifth }

the drink...  strawberry lemonade

Picture & recipe via scjohnson.com

Use whatever berry you prefer or have on hand in the recipe...

strawberries at Costco are much more budget friendly than raspberries.

AND...  instead of making my own lemonade with the simple syrup mentioned in the recipe

I used Newman's Own Lemonade.

Another "you must try" recipe!

{ desserts }

In yesterday's post I listed the desserts that I made, but here are the links to the recipes 

{ in case you want to try them yourself }

{ cherry vanilla cupcakes }

{ chocolate chip cookies }

{ train sugar cookies*** }

*My inspiration for the look of these cookies.

*I used this recipe for the sugar cookies this time, but have also used this recipe.

*Royal icing recipe.

And before I forget...

a big THANK YOU to those who helped pull this party together.

Mom Woods { for letting us use your beautiful home for the party }

Mom { for helping put together everything the day of the party }

Hubby { for making sure we didn't settle for non-Thomas balloons & marking the route to the party }

Dad { for lightening up the mood in the car when stress levels were high }

Lacey { if it wasn't for you those brie tarts would never have been made }

Have a wonderful Saturday, and trust me you've got to try these recipes!!

The prince's 3rd birthday recap { finally }

{ THREE }

AND...  as of tomorrow it will be two weeks since the prince's 3rd birthday party and this mommy is finally getting around to telling all of you about it.

First things first...

No.  I didn't forget to post about it, we've just had a busy two weeks.

Second...  how about a picture of my sweet birthday prince!!

Third...  the dessert table { before I forget to share it with you }

I made the bunting out of newspaper and craft paints.

{ It says, "Carter is three"... in case you don't have x-ray vision to see through the balloons }

{ Cherry vanilla cupcakes* }

{ Train sugar cookies* }

{ Chocolate chip cookies* }

*all made by me

YUMMMMMM!

{ you may remember when I shared the inspirations for this party here }

And finally on to the party fun!!

The coloring station.

Thomas trains to play with or for some... { teething toys }

Of course there were presents to open...

{ reminder for next year...  do cake before presents because after having opened all of the presents someone didn't want to even blow out the candles on his cake }

My boys = { LOVE }

Last, but not least a few pictures of the cuties that we got to spend the day with...

{ best buddies, sharing in their love of choo-choos }

Seriously.  Those blue eyes. { LOVE }

And for those wondering what was served for lunch...

You'll have to check back this weekend for the details.

{ FYI, the food was eaten before I could remembered, to get any pictures }

But... there were some amazing recipes that I used and everyone LOVED them, 

so come back this weekend to see which ones they were!

Have a FABULOUS Friday, lovelies!!

Some photos I forgot to share...

I was organizing photos on the computer tonight and realized I hadn't shared a few of the projects I completed for some new additions to my extended family...

For sweet, adorable Madeline Esta { Maddy }...

{ a little quilt and some coordinating wall hangings }

{ close-up of the wall hangings }

And then for precious little Evelyn Rose { Rosie }...

{ some appliqued onesies, burpclothes and bibs }

Have a wonderful week, lovelies!

Coming soon... recap of the prince's 3rd birthday party!

Cookie baking with Grandma and Mommy.

And we're still on vacation { YAY! }

We just got back from spending the night at Grandma's house...  all of our little family including the puppy dogs got to go, usually it's just the hubby and the prince.

We had a wonderful time... 

some cookies were baked { by the prince, with help from Grandma & Mommy }

{ stirring the ingredients }

{ learning how to break an egg...  into the bowl }

{ more stirring... he's such a good stirrer }

{ this would be the face you get when you ask him to smile }

{ Mommy & the prince }

Lots of toy cars were played with, possibly by everyone... definitely the prince.

 And a certain prince played until he couldn't play any longer...

{ aren't they sweet?! }

We're hoping the weather clears up in the next few days so we can make a trip to the zoo

{ cross your fingers for us }

Have a wonderful week, lovelies!

A super busy staycation! { the first event of the week }

I'm on vacation for 10 whole days!!

Specifically a staycation and relaxation is kinda the last thing on the list for us this week.

The first event this week was the hubby's surprise birthday party...  it was a major success!!

{ Yes, he was totally shocked and surprised. }

See for yourself.

That look's saying, "thanks for the party, hunny!"

It might be hard to believe from this picture, but we didn't do thirty candles for fear of setting off the sprinklers in the restaurant { love you hubby }

He can't wait for a piece of the German chocolate cake I made specially for him.

A couple of the cuties that were at the party { smile }

And then there's the German chocolate cake I made for the special occasion...

I found the recipe at Une Deux Senses, get the recipe here...  it was delicious!

{ the hubby told me how good it was a couple of times... so that means it was AMAZING }

And in case you're interested in the frosting technique I used check it out here.  

Thank you again to all of the family and friends who helped us celebrate this special day for my hubby!!

Check back soon for some other exciting events from our week of vacation { smile }