Hi, I'm Macy Fisher the Mifflin County Dairy Princess.
This past week I have had two promotions. On Saturday I was the Decatur Community Days. It was a small promotion where I walked around and handed out recipes and "Got Milk" stickers. It turned out to be a rather warm afternoon. They had activities for kids and a band played at 3 o'clock.
Today I will be at the Bean Soup. I will be there along with the Sun Area Dairy Princess to help with the Milk Chugging Contest and the Homemade Ice Cream Contest. I hope that maybe we will be the taste testers for the ice cream. It would be interesting to see what new and interesting flavors that people can come up with. I just hope that they all use real milk. Ice cream that is made of the new milk substitutes does not taste as good and also does not contain all of the nine essential nutrients. I will be out there around 6 o'clock to help out. I hope to see most of you there. I have never been to the Bean Soup, which I know probably sounds like a sin to some people. My mom remembers going a few times as a kid with my great grandmother, but I have never been there. I hope that my first experience is a good one.
This week I have been eating a lot of chicken for some odd reason. So I decided to have chicken recipes this week. They also both have spinach in them. I wasn't really trying to have two with spinach, it just happens that they do. Chicken is a great product to work with because there are so many ways to incorporate dairy into the dishes. You can add cream cheese to make a creamy chicken dish or add cheese to make an oozy chicken quesada. These chicken recipes are quick meals that you can make quick once you get home or can make ahead and warm up later.
Chicken Spinach
Florentine Bake
2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sun dried tomato salad dressing
1 cup fat-free reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 ounces cream cheese
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Heat oven to 375. Cook pasta as directed on package. Meanwhile, toss chicken with flour. Heat dressing in a large skillet in medium heat. Add chicken; cook and stir for 3 minutes or just until evenly browned. Add broth and cream cheese; cook for 3 minutes, or until the cream cheese is melted, stir frequently. Stir in spinach. Drain pasta. Add to chicken mixture; mix lightly. Spoon half into a 2 quart casserole dish; top with 1/2 cup mozzarella. Repeat layer; sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until casserole is heated through and mozzarella is melted.
Chicken Parmesan
Bundles
4 ounces cream cheese
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
1 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
6 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
6 small boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 lbs.), pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
1 egg
10 Ritz crackers, crushed (about 1/2 cup)
11/2 cups spaghetti sauce, heated
Heat oven to 375. Mix cream cheese, spinach, 1 cup mozzarella and 3 tablespoon parmesan until well blended; spread onto chicken breasts. Starting at one short end of each breast, roll up chicken tightly. Secure with wooden toothpicks, if desired. Beat egg in a shallow dish. Mix remaining Parmesan and cracker crumbs in separate shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg, then roll in crumb mixture to evenly coat. Place, seam-sides down, in 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove and discard toothpicks, if using. Serve chicken topped with spaghetti sauce and remaining mozzarella.
