Tuscan Garlic Chicken

Finally back to my blog! I knew that this month would be a pretty busy one. I had a gut feeling that it would keep me from cooking and baking for awhile. Unfortunately, it did.

This month was just a very, very busy month for me. It usually is. Towards the beginning of this month, I left for a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I use go as a kid, so I was very excited. It was such a fun trip! It was so beautiful! I didn't realize how much I missed being around to so much land! Being in Orlando, I'm so use to all the tall buildings and compacted buildings and homes stacked on top of each other. It was such a great thing to go do. Something I don't get to be around all the time. I enjoyed each and every minute of the trip with my family. I really didn't want to come home, but, the time came and it was time to leave dream land..

As soon as the trip was over and we were back home, we were heading right back to school. I had 2 days to get ready for school. Obviously, I was not ready to go back to school. After rushing to get all my things for school, I'm told we have a hurricane coming our way. Great. I went to school for one day before they had to cancel school.

Fay, the hurricane, ended up weakening to a tropical storm. However, the storm decided to party over Florida for about a week. It rained and rained and rained non stop. I feel so bad for the people in the other county's around me. I live in Orange County, and in the county's next to Orange, Brevard and Seminole, they got flooded so bad! This storm broke records. They got somewhere to about 4 feet of water in the streets. It's horrible! Homes flooded, cars can't move, people traveling by little boats... It's really sad. I hope those people are able to get things situated.

I'm just glad that it's gone and that the sun has actually been starting to come out. For about 2 weeks, we didn't see blue sky's or sun at all. Totally uncommon for Florida. I mean, we are the Sunshine State! I was so glad to just get out of the house. Went to the movies, saw Tropic Thunder (hilarious!), and me and my boyfriend went to Olive Garden last weekend. Something I hadn't gone to in some time.

I knew what I wanted. I always love to get the same thing. What happens when I get there? They took my dish off the menu! I was so bummed! They had this awesome dish, Tuscan Garlic Chicken. Honestly, in my opinion, best meal ever. I love it. It really depressed me to see that they took off such a delicious meal from the menu.

When I got home, I decided to go on their site to see if it was true. Sadly, it was. After I let that sink in, I decided to see if they had the recipe for the dish on their site. Ta-da! They did! I was so happy to see that. Since I had to time today, I decided to make this for everyone to have and make up for the fact that I didn't get to enjoy it last weekend. Turned out just as I remembered it. I a very happy girl today.

Recipe

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups flour, plus 1 tbsp.
1 tbsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 lb fettuccine pasta, cooked according to package directions
5 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. garlic, chopped
1 red pepper, julienne cut
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 lb whole leaf spinach, stemmed
2 cups heavy cream
1 cups Parmesan cheese, grated


1. In a shallow dish, mix 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Dredge chicken in the mixture, shaking off any excess.

2. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a large skillet. Cook chicken breasts 2 at a time over medium-high heat until golden brown and crisp (2-3 min). Add more oil for each batch as necessary.

3. Place cooked chicken breasts on a baking sheet and transfer to preheated oven. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 F.

4. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a sauce pan. Add garlic and red pepper and cook for approximately 1 minute. Stir in 1 Tbsp flour, wine, spinach and cream and bring to a boil. Sauce is done when spinach becomes wilted. Complete by stirring in parmesan cheese.

5. Coat cooked, drained pasta with sauce, then top with chicken and remaining sauce. Garnish with extra Parmesan cheese.