you will want to write this one down. {yummy recipes}.

I would say I'm pretty middle-of-the-road when it comes to cooking. I try hard to provide meals that are nutritious, but I don't go over the top with all organic and straight out of the dirt ingredients. I wish I was better at it, but I do feel pretty proud of myself for cooking a meal most nights of the week. And we like to have people over a lot to join us. I grew up with the door is always open attitude and I hope to continue that legacy my mama instilled on us.

This week I tried two new killer meals, that I just have to share because 1) they are absolutely delish 2) easy enough for anyone to make 3) no crazy unknown ingredients that you have to google before shopping for.

The first one is taken from allrecipes.com. It is my go-to website for recipes, seriously. I didn't make up this yummy dish, but I do want to share it with you. Here it is...

Chicken Florentine Casserole:
Olive Oil
4 boneless chicken breasts-I cut up into strips
1/4 c. butter
3 tsps. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 can (10 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
1/2 c. half and half (i used heavy whipping cream and milk, because that is what I had in stock)
1/2 c. grated Parmesan
2 cans of spinach drained- I used a bag of FRESH spinach leaves
4 ounces of fresh mushrooms, sliced
2/3 c. bacon bits, I used REAL bacon and cooked it
2 c. shredded Mozzarella cheese

I modified the directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350.
2) Saute fresh spinach leaves and mushrooms in a little bit of butter, place in bottom of 13x9 baking dish.
3) Add cut chicken on top of spinach mixture.
4) In same saucepan as used for the spinach, melt the butter over medium heat. Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, half-and-half, and Parmesan cheese.
5) Cover chicken with white sauce in baking dish. Top with bacon crumbs.
6) Cook at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Remove, and top with Mozzarella, bake for an additional 10 minutes.

The recipe calls it a casserole, but I put it on top of some pasta that was mixed with olive oil and Italian seasoning and it tasted fabulously! I brought this to a friend who just had a baby, and she thought it was so yummy!

The next recipe is totally awesome for lunch or a quick dinner. I found it from The Little Brown House blog.

Monte Cristo with Blackberry Dipping Sauce
(This made three sandwiches for me)
6 slices of thick white bread
Ham
Mayonnaise
Swiss Cheese
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. of Dijon mustard (I used honey mustard salad dressing because that is what was in the fridge)
1/4 c. seedless blackberry jam
1/4 c. milk
salt and pepper

 1) Mix 1/4 c. Mayonnaise with 2Tbsp. Dijon mustard with wired whisk in small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2) Spread on one side of each slice of bread. Add Swiss cheese and ham. Top with remaining bread.
3) Beat eggs with milk in shallow dish. Add salt and pepper. Dip sandwiches in mixture.
4) Cook on griddle or grill.
5) While the sandwiches are cooking, make the dip. Mix jam, 2 Tbsp. Mayonnaise, and 1 tsp. of mustard together.
6) Enjoy the sandwich hot with melted cheese and dip away! YUM!

Let me know if you get a chance to try these recipes out. Or send some recipes my way! Happy eating!