Personal Pizza

Ingredients:
Crusts (regular or thin & crispy
Tomato sauce
browned ground beef
browned ground sausage
cooked bacon slices
green pepper, diced
onion, diced
mushrooms, sliced
black olives, sliced
Mozzarella cheese, grated

Directions:

• Place crust on pizza stone.

• Spread tomato sauce on crust.

• Spread browned meats over sauce.

• Chop bacon slices into small pieces.
• Spread bacon over sauce.

• Sprinkle on peppers .

• Sprinkle on onion.

• Sprinkle on mushrooms and olives over all.

• Cover with grated cheese.

• Bake 10-18 minutes until cheese is melted, golden, and bubbling.
• Slice into quarters and serve.

I loved these!  They were quick and easy to assemble using ingredients I had on hand - most of it already prepared and in the fridge.

Penne Chicken Casserole

This is an adaptation of the Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked chicken
3 cups cooked Penne pasta
2 Tablespoons butter
1 small red pepper, diced
1small onion, diced
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1 small can mushroom slices
1 small bunch broccoli, steamed
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can low sodium chicken broth
1 cup Velveeta cubes
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
Salt
Pepper
Tony Chachere's Cajun Spice

Directions:

• Cut up chicken.  (I used two left-over grilled chicken quarters and cut into bite-sized pieces with my Pampered Chef Salad Choppers.)
• Melt butter and sauté peppers and onions till onions are translucent.
• Add mushrooms and olives with liquid and boil liquid away.
• Stir peppers, onions, olives, mushrooms, broccoli, and cooked noodles together.
• Add cream soups and stir till noodles are coated.
• Add chunked Velveeta and chicken and stir to mix.
• Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning to taste.
• Pour into casserole dish that has been sprayed with vegetable spray.
• Pour chicken broth over all.
• Top with grated cheddar.
• Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
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Outback's Alice Springs Chicken - My Copycat Version

We don't dine out all that often but when we do, I try to test out something different from what we usually prepare at home.  One of my favorite dishes is found at Outback Steakhouse and is listed on the menu as Alice Springs Chicken.  It is a combination of chicken breast, bacon, mushrooms, and Monterey Jack Cheese.  Yum!

Here is the recipe as I adapted it from a blog called Lauren's Kitchen.

1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/2 cup honey
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
Vegetable cooking spray
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 Tablespoons butter
3 thick slices of onion
8 slices of bacon
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of paprika
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 Teaspoons chopped, fresh parsley or 1 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

• Combine the mustard, hone, butter, and lemon juice in a small bowl.  
• Place the chicken in a large plastic zipper bag and add 1/3 of the mustard mixture to coat the chicken well.
• Close the bag and marinate this a couple of hours or as long as overnight (like I did).
• After the chicken has marinated, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Heat a frying pan and melt 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter.
• Remove chicken from marinade (toss the marinade in the trash) and sear the chicken in the frying pan and butter for about 3 minutes per side.
• Place chicken in a baking pan or glass dish that has been sprayed lightly with vegetable cooking spray and set aside.
• Fry 8 slices of bacon till crisp and reserve about half the grease (2 Tablespoons).
• Saute' the mushrooms and onions in the combination of 1 Tablespoons butter and reserved bacon grease.
• Brush each seared chicken with 1/2 of the reserved mustard marinade, saving the last portion of marinade to use as a sauce for the finished dish.
• Season the chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika.
• Stack the top with two slices of bacon.
• Spoon the sauteed mushrooms and onions onto the bacon.
• Top with a sprinkle of the cheeses.
• Bake the pan of prepared chicken breasts for 7-10 minutes or till cheese is thoroughly melted and starting to bubble.
• Sprinkle with parsley and serve, using extra honey mustard marinade as a dipping sauce.

We enjoyed this on July 4th with The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes and a tossed salad.  Yum!