Crock Pot Italian Chicken in Wine

This may make you a hero at dinnertime. Tastes like you ordered out from an Italian restaurant.

Ingredients:

4	Boneless Chicken Breasts
1/4  cup	Balsamic Vinegar
¼ cup	Dry White Wine
2 cloves	Garlic, chopped
2	Sprigs Fresh Thyme
½ tsp	Dry Crushed Rosemary
½ tsp	Salt
½ tsp	Cracked Black Pepper
1 Tbsp	Olive Oil
1 Tbsp	Chopped Capers
8 oz.	Cleaned & sliced Baby Bella Mushrooms, or white button mushrooms
1 cup	Shredded Mixed Mozzarella/provolone Cheese

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients except the chicken and mushrooms together in a small bowl. Pour a little of the marinade in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add mushrooms and top with chicken, then pour the rest of the marinade over the chicken. Cook on high for 4 hours, remove the chicken and mushrooms and set aside. Add the liquid to a saucepan. In a small bowl mix together 1 Tbsp flour and 1 Tbsp water. Slowly add to the simmering sauce and whisk until thickened, about 5-8 min. Add chicken to slow cooker and spread out the cheese on the tops of the chicken pieces. Turn crock pot off and leave in with the the lid on until ready to serve. Serve the chicken and mushrooms over mashed potatoes or pasta and pour a little of the sauce over top. You can also pass some separately at the table.

Eggplant Chicken Casserole

My Mom used to make a similar dish- using up leftover chicken, tomato sauce, mozzarella and other vegetables. Makes 6 servings or (as in our case) 2 with a lot of delicious lunches!

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken cutlets
1 Italian Eggplant (the round purple ones) or you can use regular purple, skinned and sliced thin- 1/8"
2 cups tomato sauce*
8 oz ball mozzarella, sliced thin
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup shredded Italian cheese, aged provolone is good, or Asiago
2 cups baby spinach or 1 pkg frozen, thawed and drained
5 basil leaves, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced

Have 2 skillets heating 1 tbsp. of olive oil. In one saute chicken 3-4 min each side until browned and cooked through. Remove and set aside. In the other saute eggplant a few pieces at a time until browned on both sides. Remove. Saute spinach in one skillet until limp, 2 min, or skip this step is using thawed frozen spinach. Saute mushrooms in the other skillet until lightly browned, turning to brown both sides, about 3-4 min., then add garlic for 2 more minutes.

In a large casserole dish ladle in 1/2 cup tomato sauce, top with chicken, eggplant, spinach, mushrooms and mozzarella. Sprinkle a little of the shredded cheese, then repeat layers, topping with the rest of the mozzarella and shredded cheese.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 min covered and remove cover and bake additional 10 min until bubbly and lightly browned.

Season to your liking, I did not add salt because the cheese seemed to have enough. I did pepper the chicken on both sides. You can also add 1/2-1 tsp chili flakes if you like.

Ricotta Gnocchi

these little pillows of ricotta pasta are light and delicious, especially with some homemade marinara on top.

Ingredients-

1 3/4 - 2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
1 cup Parmigiana Reggiano cheese, grated
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Stir the ricotta, eggs, 1 cup Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Add in flour and mix well. Dough will be wet.
Shape the dough on a floured surface. (Dip your hands in flour first) into 2 ropes. Cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces with a butter knife. Place each piece on wax paper-lined baking sheet that is lightly floured. Dip a fork in flour and lightly press and roll each gnocchi- this gives them ridges to gather the sauce!
Boil 6 quarts water (add in 2 Tbsp salt) and add gnocchi in 2 batches a few at a time to stirring occasionally, until cooked, 3 to 4 minutes per batch. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain in colander.
Serve with butter and grated cheese or your favorite marinara.

Helpful Tips:

This probably actually makes more than 8 servings- but they are a wonderful leftover to have for lunch! See picture #2 for how they look before they are cooked and how many I made!