Bruchetta Chicken

Recipe: Bruschetta Chicken

Source: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2012/04/bruschetta-chicken/

Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ease: 2

Taste: 4

Leftover Value: 6 (The bruschetta kept well overnight)

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Down the Drain!

This recipe made me blurt out Jim Carrey's first truth from the movie, "Liar Liar".

I've had better. 

And yes, just like Carrey's character I also had to question myself after making that statement.

I've had better?!

How, in all that is holy and pure, can any recipe louse up bruschetta?  Unfortunately, truth is truth people.  And I'll tell you nothing but the truth here.

The best part of this recipe was something that really can't be messed up: the tomatoes.  Okay, perhaps they can be messed up.  If you pick out a carton that has mushy gushy tomatoes, then your bruschetta might suffer right off the bat.

However, I meticulously turned, shook, and rolled the pints of tomatoes until I was completely satisfied with the two I purchased.

What I have determined to be the overall problem with this recipe is the lack of ingredients.  Sure, I'll admit, that when I find a recipe with less than five ingredients my heart jumps for joy and suddenly, no matter what the recipe entails, I am convinced it will be the easiest meal ever.

Here's what was needed:

Tomatoes
Garlic
Basil
Oil
Balsamic vinegar

I imagine that the quantity of the said ingredients may have also had an effect on the flavor (but I couldn't imagine putting in more than the five cloves of garlic and 16 basil leaves this recipe already called for).

Despite the fact that going into this recipe I saw five ingredients and thought of a few things I would personally want to add to it, I had to follow the unexplained notion I have to always follow a recipe exactly as it is written my first time through.

In the end, this recipe simply tasted like plain chicken topped with tomatoes.  While the tomatoes themselves were perfect, the recipe was not authentic bruschetta.  Therefore I have to say I've had, and made, better.

Capellini Caprese

Recipe: Capellini Caprese
Source: Kraft Recipes
http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/capellini-caprese-111255.aspx
Time: 20-25 minutes
Ease: 1
Taste: 7
Leftover Value: 6
Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

When I first got married the extent of my cooking was easy mac and pancakes.  Not together though, I promise.

I swore I would never tackle the dreaded beast known as chicken.  Anything that could potentially cause me harm if not cooked through worried me silly.  I was sure that my soon-to-be-husband and I would either starve or go broke eating out.

After over five years of marriage, we certainly aren't starving.  Quite the contrary, in fact.  (No further comment on that!)  And we try to save the eating out for desperate times.  (You know, those times when you are so hungry that the thought of having to cook in order to eat makes you want to scream and then curl up in the corner in hope that a singing magical food fairy will show up and plop a three-course meal on your lap).

Am I the only one who wishes such things?

Times like that call for a recipe that is quick, but delicious.  We can all butter bread with peanut butter and jelly, and have a meal in seconds flat, but would that satisfy the need for a good home cooked meal?

Definitely not for me.

Capellini Caprese has been the meal that I knew I could count on when I needed to make something quick in order to keep the hunger demons from coming out and possessing my entire being.

Almost everything you need you can have stocked in your pantry.

-capellini or angel hair
-Tuscan house Italian dressing (or any Italian dressing)
-1 onion
-2 cloves garlic, minced 

*(I buy a jar of minced garlic so I always have it on hand)

-grape or cherry tomatoes 

*(Okay, fresh tomatoes are great, but, I always have a can of 

diced tomatoes in the pantry and they work just as well)

-mozzarella cheese
-fresh basil, finely sliced                                                                                                 

I marinated some chicken in Italian dressing the day before, then cooked it for about 10 minutes in the broiler.  This way I was able to add a little protein to my meal, but still finish cooking in under 30 minutes,

When everything was just about ready, I tossed in the chicken to warm it up, then sprinkled everything generously with mozzarella.

It's delicious.  It's flavorful.  And no one needs to know how quickly you were able to make it.