Dinner - Wino Chicken

Cooking and I have a love/hate relationship. I love cooking when it works out, hate it when it doesn't. I'd say that, overall, my cooking turns out good about 50% of the time. Lately, though, I've been doing pretty well... knock on wood! I did get a new oven, I think this is really helping!

I watch a good amount of Food Network, but somehow seem to miss the actual cooking shows designed to help people like me, average cookers. I catch a lot of Iron Chef and Food Network Challenges, which helps me ad lib cook, but doesn't really give me a lot of recipes to use at home. Luckily, FoodNetwork.com has been awesome at helping me with this.

One day I stumbled upon an awesome recipe by Paula Deen. The official recipe title is "Lady and Sons' Chicken in Wine Sauce," which is a mouthful. I've renamed it Wino Chicken. Below is the recipe, slightly altered to fit my taste.


Ingredients:

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut to 1" squares
4+ tablespoons butter
Salt and Pepper
6 to 7 slices of Swiss cheese
1 can (10 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup herb-flavored stuffing mix

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a casserole dish (I use a 3 qt. dish) and add chicken. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Place the sliced Swiss cheese atop the chicken, aim for a single layer covering as much as possible (usually takes me 6 slices, Paula Deen recommends up to 8(!)).

In a separate bowl, combine cream of chicken soup with wine; season lightly with salt and pepper. Pour over cheese. Sprinkle stuffing mix over the sauce, drizzle with 4 T melted butter (will not cover all of the stuffing, this is okay!). Bake for 45 minutes.

The finished product (tastes so much better than it looks!)

Simple 'nuff, right? It's pretty fabulous! I've noticed that using different types of wine changes the flavor ever-so-slightly, so feel free to experiment!

My wonderful husband recently picked up a variety of fresh vegetables which are just sitting in the fridge, waiting for me to do something with them. I decided to sautee up some fresh green beans to serve with the Wino Chicken. I started by partially steaming them using a Glad Microwave Steaming Bag, microwaving them for about half the time recommended. 

Glad Microwave Steaming Bags - no added water, butter, or oil... just your vegetables!

About a medium sized clove of fresh garlic, pressed, was sauteed with about three or four "rounds" of olive oil (I have olive oil readily available in a bottle with a pour top on my stove). I added the partially steamed green beans, about five shakes of soy sauce, a handful of slivered almonds, and about two pinches of brown sugar. Turning the green beans every few minutes, I decided they were ready when I could cut through the bean easily with the rubber-tipped tongs; the beans had partially taken on a nice brown color.

The finished product

Everything was great together! After a long night at work, this meal was fairly stress-free and well worth it!