Look at Me Now! Wha?!

Who knew I was a culinary genius?!
For once, I did not create a disaster that tastes good but looks nasty!

The Menu:
Appetizer:  Parmesan Artichoke & Avocado dip with white corn tostadas
Main Course: Stuffed Chicken Breasts marinated in red wine vinagrette with feta cheese & mushrooms
Sides: Green Bean Casserole, fried red tomato slices
Dessert: Baked Apples with honey & brown sugar topped with whipped cream

Viola!
It only took two hours to cook, and I didn't burn down the kitchen.

The Parmesan Artichoke dip was from a recipe that a classmate had brought to class one night that I really enjoyed. I'll admit, this part didn't involve much cooking, but I wanted to try making it in case of potluck. Even though I'm not much of a cook, I like to have a few easy standby recipes in my noggin for when last minute potluck recipes are needed. The dip is canned artichokes, drained and peeled, with chicken chunks (canned or cooked), avocado slices and a dash of parmesan cheese. With tostadas, its super delicious!

Meanwhile, I had chicken marinating in a red wine vinagrette in the fridge. Raw chicken always gives me the heebies! I imagine our insides feel similar to raw chicken meat. Bleh!

Here are my ingredients to fry the tomatoes. I will be the first to admit, I have odd eating habits. I LOVE tomatoes, but I can only eat them HOT. I like them in burgers, but not in sandwiches or salads because they are cold, and seem slimy. So I have always wanted to eat fried green tomatoes. I couldn't find green tomatoes (although I hear they taste the same) so I used red. I salted the largest tomatoes I could find, dipped them in egg and bread crumbs and fried them.

Meanwhile, my chicken breasts got stuffed with feta cheese and fresh mushrooms and I stuck them in my FlavorWave oven. Yes, it's that gadget you see on infomercials at 3 A.M. {For the record, it works great and I fucking love it, it cooks EVERYTHING, even frozen food super quick} While all this was going on, I stuck my green bean casserole in the oven. I hate bean greens personally, but my Grandma loves them. Every Thanksgiving, she wishes for a green bean casserole and says she has tried to make them, but they don't "come out". I think she just has trouble following directions. So I wanted to make it for her. It's not pictured, but I added fresh sliced mushrooms to it as well since the recipe calls for Cream of Mushroom soup. Everything is made better by fresh mushrooms, in my opinion.

These are my lovely finished chicken breasts. They were delicious, if I do say so myself ;-)

My fried tomatoes were the best part, methinks. Don't worry, I soaked out all the grease. YUM!

Finally, my dessert! I cored Red Delicious apples, and stuffed them with honey and a scoop of brown sugar and baked them for 10 minutes, then topped them with whipped cream. The result was a warm, sweet apple that was cooked enough to be chewy, but raw enough to still have a crunch.

Two happy recipients!
;-)





PS- I have a big weekend coming up...tomorrow I have to ask someone out that's not my type. Friday, I get a new tattoo; Saturday, I stay up all night for a midnight picnic and to watch the sun rise, and Sunday, I get my Annie Oakley on...goin' shootin'! And in the evening, I have my private activity! Playing catch up this weekend! I'm excited!