Simple Supper Monday, Vol 63: Chicken Florentine

Good Monday, friends! Some of you may have noticed my absence last week. Not intentional, I'm sure you understand. We were down a reasonably working computer, so it was difficult to post. Hubby is home on Spring Break this week (yep, he's a teacher), so I can use his work computer this week. Next week...well...we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed. Anyway, I have another great recipe to post! My mom got this recipe from her awesome co-worker. It's from allrecipes.com. Mom made us dinner one night using this recipe. And it was awesome. Like completely and totally awesome. I haven't made it yet - so I'm not totally sure how intensive it is. BUT, reading through the recipe, it seems somewhat simple. The flavor was really rich. And for those spinach-haters out there, don't be afraid to try this. The spinach takes on the creamy flavor of the dish, so it's not super "green" tasting (not that we dislike "green" here at the blog). This dish is a nice change from the usual, but also elegant enough to serve to guests.

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Simple Supper Monday

Chicken Florentine

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1/4 cup butter

3 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 cup half-and-half

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 (13.5 ounce) cans spinach, drained (** see note below)

4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced

2/3 cup bacon bits

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the chicken breast halves on a baking sheet; bake 20 to 30 minutes, until no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat, and set aside.

2.Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F

3.Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, half-and-half, and Parmesan cheese.

4. Arrange the spinach over the bottom of a 9x9 inch baking dish. Cover the spinach with the mushrooms. Pour half the mixture from the saucepan over the mushrooms. Arrange chicken breasts in the dish, and cover with the remaining sauce mixture. Sprinkle with bacon bits, and top with mozzarella cheese.

5.Bake 20 to 25 minutes in the 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven, until bubbly and lightly browned.

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** My mom's friend used 2 bags of FRESH spinach and sauteed the leaves in a pan with garlic until it wilted down. I think this might taste a bit better than canned spinach. I'd also imagine for time-savings sake, you can use frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained. DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!**

The sauce that this creates is heavenly, so be sure to have good crusty bread on hand.

Hope you are enjoying this week! I will have most posts to come, so be sure to check back. And, as always, if YOU have a recipe to share with the rest of the community, email me and I will post it up!

moderndaydonnareed@gmail.com