Chicken Parmesan Bundles

This recipe is great. I have made it before tonight, so I knew it would be good. It's a great recipe to have a partner, so I save it for nights that H is willing to help. I got it off the kraftfoods.com site. I'm finding a bunch of recipes I want to try over there. (Sorry the picture isn't that great.)

Ingredients

• 4 oz. (1/2 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened (used Neufchatel)
• 1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed, well drained
• 1-1/4 cups KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese, divided
• 6 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided
• 6 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1-1/2 lb.), pounded to 1/4-inch thickness (used 3 large chicken breasts)
• 1 egg
• 10 RITZ Crackers, crushed (about 1/2 cup) (used the Whole Wheat kind)
• 1-1/2 cups spaghetti sauce, heated

Preparation
PREHEAT oven to 375ºF. Mix cream cheese, spinach, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese and 3 Tbsp. of the Parmesan cheese until well blended; spread evenly onto chicken breasts. Starting at one of the short ends of each breast, roll up chicken tightly. Secure with wooden toothpicks, if desired. Set aside.
BEAT egg in shallow bowl or pie plate. Mix remaining 3 Tbsp. Parmesan cheese and the cracker crumbs in separate shallow bowl or pie plate. Dip chicken bundles in egg, then roll in crumb mixture. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray.
BAKE 30 min. or until chicken is cooked through (165ºF). Remove and discard toothpicks, if using. Serve topped with the spaghetti sauce and remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese.

Story to share

This is neither food or baby related, but it's a story I just want to share.

So I met a friend at Fridays tonight just to hang out. We stayed till just after 11, and then left, we had driven separately. I pull out first onto the drive that goes around the mall, and up ahead there is an SUV that had it's reverse lights on. So I'm already cautious of this car. I get up to where he was and see that his wheels had gone straight into the curb (snow on the road). He also managed to run into the curb at the stop sign turning out onto the main street. So I'm really wary of this guy now. So we turn out, and have to do a Michigan turn around, and while in the straight part of the lane leading up to the left turn, he manages to go up on the curb 2 separate times. Now I'm really getting worried and pull out my cell phone. We both do the turn and have to stop at the next light, so I memorize his license plate. There are 3 lanes, him and I are in the middle, and my friend is coming up on my right. The light turns and she starts to pass me, approaching him. He starts to take her lane so she breaks and honks her horn. He swerves back into the middle, and then decides to take her lane, with no blinker. We are approaching a slight incline and right curve. He swerves back to the middle lane and then over corrects. Both her and I thought he was gonna wipe out. At this point, I decided to call 911. So I call and tell them what I'm seeing, his plate number, and general type and color of the car. He is still swerving a bit, and then slows down to get on the highway. I tell the dispatcher where he is going and that I hadn't followed him anymore. I'm not gonna follow the guy and risk getting into an accident myself. Once home I call my friend and tell her what I'd done, and she agreed that he was definitely wasted. We don't think there was a passenger which is a relief.

Hopefully the cops were able to find him to pull him over. I hate when people get away with stuff and then think they can do it the next time. The next time they aren't so lucky and hurt someone else. What a waste.

Trying to Conceive

So when I started this blog, I mentioned that I would talk about our attempts at getting pregnant. First off, I have no intention of getting into graphic details about various bodily functions. It's just not my style to talk about, let alone share it online.

We started talking about having kids just a couple years into our relationship, but we really wanted to wait till we did the "I Dos." Tim was fine with starting trying right after the wedding, but after the wedding I wasn't so gung-ho anymore. When trying was more abstract, and determined by when we set the wedding date it wasn't so scary and I was impatient to start. When the time to actually get pregnant arrived, it was a lot scarier than I had anticipated. So while we got married last May, it wasn't until September that I actually stopped taking the pills.

I went on birth control very shortly before meeting Tim, so I had been on birth control for over 5 years at the time I stopped taking them. Taking a little pill everyday got to be a responsible habit, but one I had no problem breaking. At this point I'm on my 7th cycle. Getting pregnant isn't happening as quickly as I'd like. My mom got pregnant just a few short months after her wedding, and had me and my sister within 3 years of marriage. My sister got pregnant right out of high school and I now have 2 beautiful nieces. My concern is that no one in my family has ever been on birth control for as long as I was. I honestly don't know a female relative that is on it at all. I'm definitely worried about how the birth control will influence our efforts.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Weeknight Lasagna Toss

This recipe came from a Kraft magazine I got in the mail. It's really easy, and tastes good too. Changes noted in bold.






























Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2 cups green peppers, about 2 peppers (only used one and it was plenty)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 jar (26oz) spaghetti sauce
• 1 2/3 cups water (used about 2 1/3 cups since I added the macaroni)
• 1/4 cup Italian dressing
• 12 oven-ready lasagna noodles, broken into quarters (only had 7, so I added whole wheat elbow macaroni as well)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation

1. Brown meat in large (4qt) saucepan or deep cast iron skillet on medium heat; drain.
2. Add peppers, garlic, spaghetti sauce, water and dressing; bring to boil. Stir in noodles; reduce heat to medium-low. Cover.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, 10 to 15 minutes or until noodles are tender. Remove from heat.
4. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover; let stand 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Makes 4 servings.

Valentine's Day Dinner

So H and I decided to skip the super long wait that always accompanies going out to eat on Valentine's Day. A few years ago we stayed in, and our menu was straight Italian. Italian cheese fondue and chicken fettuccine alfredo. This year he said that he didn't want Italian again, so we went the traditional meat and potatoes. I went in search of romantic Valentine's Day meals, and this is what our menu consisted of:
Sauteed Steak with Caramelized Shallots in a Red Wine and Cream Sauce
Cheddar & Chive Twice Baked Potatoes
Corn and Breadsticks
Dessert was fresh strawberries with chocolate fruit dip

Everything turned out awesome. The only change I made was to use beef broth instead of red wine for the sauce on the steak. H and I just aren't wine drinkers. Of course I didn't take any pictures, but it is something I will make again, so there is hope of pictures in the future.

And it begins.

Where to start? First, my name is Dannielle. I'm currently unemployed, or I suppose you could call me a SAHW. I was married in May of 2008. My H and I are also trying to conceive our first child.

I plan on making this blog an eclectic mixture of my life. I love to cook, so I'll share some of my recipes. I'll also include updates on our efforts to conceive. We'll just have to see what else I end up including here.