Thursday, September 25, 2008

Spinach Chicken Parmesan

Here's a recipe I tried a few nights ago that we both enjoyed and Don is not crazy about chicken. I will be making this every few weeks. The original recipe came from allrecipes.com but I followed every variation. Here's my take on it.

Spinach Chicken Parmesan

1/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 c. Italian bread crumbs
1/4 t. Italian seasoning
3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
2 T. unsalted butter
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
1 8 oz. package sliced mushrooms
1 T. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. nonfat sour cream
1/3 c. milk (I used 1%.)
Red pepper flakes to taste
1 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained thoroughly
1/2 c. chopped roasted red peppers
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl combine cheese, bread crumbs and Italian seasoning. Roll chicken pieces in bread crumbs and cheese mixture to coat lightly. Reserve remaining cheese mixture for topping. Arrange chicken pieces in an 8x8x2 inch prepared (Pam) baking dish. Mix milk, sour cream and red pepper flakes; set aside. In a large, non-stick skillet, saute' onion, garlic and mushrooms in butter until tender. Stir in flour. Add sour cream mixture and simmer, stirring until bubbly. Stir in drained spinach and roasted red peppers and mix together. Season to taste with Kosher salt and black pepper. Spoon spinach mixture over chicken and sprinkle with remaining bread crumbs and cheese mixture. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until tender and chicken juices run clear.

Enjoy!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sea Cruise 8/2 Tencel

I never cease to be amazed at how the same colorway can look so different on a different fiber. I painted Sea Cruise this week and, though I have painted it in Serenity (out of stock for a while), I decided to give it a whirl on tencel. I love this yarn and the saturation of color that it gives. I also dyed Blueberry Hill this week and am now champing at the bit to combine the two closely related colorways.Forgot to add... that Blueberry Hill is shown on top and Sea Cruise on bottom. I do think I'm going to have to try this.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Color on a Gray Day

What to do when we're rained out of our trip to the coast? Knit, take pictures and make the best of it.

These mitten ornaments were knitted with a free pattern from the knitlist and Kollage Luscious cotton sock yarn. Our guild is decorating a Christmas tree for the Craftsmen's Guild of MS in appreciation for their providing us with a place to meet.
I had fun knitting these Dolly Faroese Shawls. The first one was knit with Jojoland Melody Superwash in color MS26. I love the way the color travels in this yarn. It is a marled yarn of variegated yarns with long repeats as opposed to a marled yarn of solids that would give a barber pole effect.
The second and third were knitted in hand painted Serenity; first colorway is Gulf Breeze Sunrise and second is Sagebrush.

Fiona, given to me by my friend Sandi, is modeling the Sagebrush shawl.
I recently knit HeartStrings Lace Leaves in Kollage Luscious cotton in cherry. This yarn has a wonderful hand and there is sufficient yardage on one skein to complete the scarf.

Our guild has adopted MS Heart Scarves as a permanent service project. Our goal is to gift every woman in MS experiencing a heart procedure with a hand knit or handwoven red scarf. The project was established here in MS by our dear friend, Tina Bradford, who passed away on May 1 with heart disease, the number one killer of women.
This is HeartStrings Maple Leaves Scarf that I completed last year. It is knit with Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/18 in Garnet. I love this yarn! it is 50% merino/50% silk and is absolutely wonderful to the touch, very warm and light.
Another HeartStrings pattern. Any surprise? (-: The pattern is Peggy's Shawl. The yarns are one end of hand painted Peacock Iridescence 8/2 Tencel and one end of Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/18 in Ebony. Love, love, love this pattern and the hand of this shawl. This just might be my favorite thing to wear.

Apart from the stormy weather, it has been a good Labor Day. Now, I think I'll take Don up on his offer of a game of Monopoly.