Chicken Vino Bianco

I'm not gonna lie. I love the Olive Garden! With those breadsticks and that salad and all those carby entrees. I usually go into carb-shock within minutes of paying the check. The downsides are the wait is always at least an hour. (Seeeee all you OG haters! There are more of me!) So I decided to try to find a copycat recipe of my favorite entree that I get each and every time I go to the Olive Garden. This is the second time I've tried a "copycat" recipe for this dish and this one was right on!

Chicken Vino Bianco

Source: Recipezaar.com

Ingredients:

4 pieces boneless skinless chicken breasts; pounded thin

4 T olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped green onions
1/2 cup small diced tomato
1/2 cup red onion, sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon chopped fresh garlic
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, divided (cut to 5 T. No one needs that much butter)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 lb uncooked linguine (I used spaghetti because thats what I had and cut it back to 3/4 lb. because I like my pasta wet with the wine sauce)
seasoned flour (for dusting)

FOR SEASONED FLOUR (this was way too much! I'd suggest cutting in half)
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large saute' pan. Dust chicken in seasoned flour. Cook chicken on both sides until golden brown and internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

2. Add 2 Tbsp butter to pan. Add green onion, diced tomato, red onion, mushrooms, garlic, chopped parsley, crushed red pepper, black pepper and salt to pan. Let saute' for three minutes, stirring constantly.

3. Add chicken back to pan. Add white wine, lemon juice and the remainder of the butter.
Allow to come to a boil. Cook pasta according to directions. Add drained cooked pasta to the pan and toss together and serve.

Shrimp Scampi

This is one of the staple dishes in our house. It's incredibly easy and very good. I do recommend adding a bit more white wine so its a bit more wet.

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients-

8 oz linguini ( I used whole wheat penne)

2 T olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 small onion, minced

2 t red pepper flakes (I omitted)

1 pound shrimp, peeled

2/3 cup white wine ( I used 3/4)

3 T fresh parsley, minced or 2 T dried

salt and pepper

Directions-

1. Prepare pasta according to directions on package.

2. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes and saute until soft.

3. Add shrimp and cook until firm, about five minutes. Remove shrimp. ( I left them andf lived to tell the tale) Add wine to the skillet and bring to simmer. Add Parsley. Let simmer gently for a 2 minutes. Drain pasta and toss with sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Penne a la Betsy

One of my favorite cooking blogs is The Pioneer Woman Cooks. She has some great recipes, incredible photography, and witty writing-style. Check her out!

Back to the situation at hand, You are gonna need to use your imagination a bit with this dish because it calls for penne. A noodle's a noodle, right? Now imagine the ziti you see above is penne.

This dish is amazing! You can subsitute the shrimp for chicken, sausage, or even vegetarian if you are one of those people. I would have licked the dish clean if it wasn't completely inappropriate. Fortunately for me, I deemed it inappropriate after the deed was done.

Penne a la Betsy

Source: Pioneer Woman Cooks

Ingredients-

¾ lb. penne pasta
3 tbsp. butter, divided
3 tbsp. olive oil, divided
1 lb. large shrimp
1 small white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup white wine (or chicken broth)
1 (8 oz.) can plain tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
basil leaves, to taste (use a bunch!)


Directions-

1. Boil water and cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, while water heats and pasta cooks, make the sauce. Melt 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet. Add the shrimp and cook for a few minutes, until opaque. Remove to a plate to let cool.

3. Heat 2 tbsp. butter and 2 tbsp. olive oil in the skillet. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally. While the onion and garlic are cooking, chop the shrimp into small, bite-sized pieces. Add the wine (or chicken broth) to the pan and allow to reduce for a few minutes.

Chiffonade the basil leaves and set aside.

4. Stir in tomato sauce. Add the heavy cream and stir well to combine. Add shrimp back to the skillet and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the parsley and basil and mix well.
Drain pasta and return to pot. Add the sauce to the pot and stir well to combine. Serve.

Lasagna

I always thought lasagna required waaaay too much effort with all those layers! I gave this recipe a try while at a friend's house for the weekend. I was surprised how easy it was and incredibly tasty.

Lasagna

1 lb ground beef

2 jars spaghetti sauce

1 package uncooked lasagna

4 cups (2 lbs) ricotta cheese

2 cups (8 oz) shredded mozzerella cheese

1/4 cups grated parmesan cheese

4 eggs

1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1. Brown meat in a 3 qt saucepan; drain. Add sauce and simmer 10 minutes

2. Cook pasta according to package.

3. Combine cheeses, eggs, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour about 1/2 cup meat sauce on bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan arrange 4 pieces of pasta lengthwise over sauce, overlapping the edges. Spread 1/3 cheese mixture over pasta and cover with about 1 cup meat sauce. Repeat layers of pasta, cheese, and meat sauce twice. Top with a layer of pasta and remaining meat sauce; sprinkle with additional parmesean cheese, if desired

4. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350F about 30 minutes or until hot & bubbly. Remove foil and bake about 10 minutes longer or until lightly browned. Allow to stand 10 minutes before cutting for easier handling.