What’s Cookin’ in the Parsonage?

Finally! A Sunday dinner at home! We had the added joy of having our college daughter, Alli home for a quick visit. Also visiting were friends, Bruce, Ellen and Claire Countryman. I love it when my kitchen is full of people!

I don’t really do this on purpose, but because I LOVE to try new recipes, our guests are often eating something I’ve never made before. I found a recipe for Chicken Breasts stuffed with Avocado, lemon zest and Goat cheese and had to try it. I did do a little trial run on Saturday to see if it needed anything. Glad I did that. The result was that I made a sauce for the chicken. White meat tends to be dry (especially when it’s been in the oven all morning).

Menu

Sweet Potato Knots (from Cooking Light)
This was the first time I’d made them and they need a little something – maybe a little sugar to the dough. I made a honey butter and glazed them when warm, and that helped. Not so light anymore, I guess, but they tasted good!

I’ve shared this Apple Cake before. We love it. It’s one of those recipes you have to make in the fall! The leftover caramel sauce is good for dipping apple slices into the rest of the week.

This is so moist and yummy, yet the outside of the cake gets a little crunchy.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

 

3 oz. Goat cheese

2 1/2 tbl Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

2 tsp grated lemon rind

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 (6oz) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped

4 6 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine first six ingredients; stir well.

3. Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4 inch thickness. Top each breast half with 2 tbl cheese mixture, roll up jelly-roll fashion. tuck in sides, and secure each roll with wooden picks.

4. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. (Here’s my adaptation – spray the chicken breasts with cooking spray and roll in Panko crumbs.) Add chicken to pan, and cook for 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Place in baking dish and bake at 375 for 15 minutes or until chicken is done.

For a Sunday dish, I did steps 1-3 on Saturday, then put in the oven Sunday morning before Sunday school at 275 degrees and covered it with foil. Here’s the sauce I made for it:

1/3 Cup Lemon Curd

1/4 -1/3 Cup Chicken Broth

Place in a sauce pan and stir with whisk until lemon curd melts.

Pour over chicken.

It’s getting “fallish” here, and I’m anxious to pull out more of my recipes that suit the season. Thank the Lord for His many provisions to have good meals here in our parsonage!

What’s been cooking in your kitchen recently?

With cups of love,