Easy Chicken Marsala w/ Sage and Cremini Mushrooms

There are few things more exciting than finding a recipe online that sounds delicious and then having every single ingredient available in your house without having to make an extra trip to the grocery store. This was my luck at 4:45pm yesterday.

The coolest part? ....I even had fresh sage growing in my mini herb garden on my patio!!! I mean seriously? I felt like such a diva.

You have to try this this simple recipe that I found on http://dinnertonight.marthastewart.com/
All of their recipes are easy and fast....so if chicken marsala isn't your thing - they have plenty of other ideas for your dinner too!

Ingredients
Serves 4
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (6 to 8 ounces each)
1 tablespoon olive oil
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup sweet Marsala wine
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter

Directions
Place flour in a shallow bowl; season generously with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, shaking off excess.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium. Add chicken, and cook until golden on the outside and opaque throughout, 8 to 10 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate, and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm (reserve skillet).
Add mushrooms, shallot, sage, and 1/4 cup water to skillet; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until mushrooms are tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Add wine and cream; simmer over medium-high until slightly thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in butter; season with salt and pepper.
Top chicken with mushroom sauce, and garnish with sage.

I love her.....and you are going to be seeing a lot of this little muffin!

Ohhhhhhh!

ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

oh my gosh.........

Gorgeousssssssss!

WOwwwwwww!

Serrrrrrrrrrrrriouslyyyyy?????

...Yep she really is THAT cute!

(more pics with Aunt Katie and Uncle Pat to follow)

She's Here!!!! Amory Colette Dowd....my beautiful niece!

This little cutie arrived 09/03/09 at 1:15 ish in the morning....She is 7lbs 6oz, 20.5 inches long, and absolutely beautiful!!

Her little tongue sticking out in this picture just melts my heart!

Kristen and Amory are both doing really well. I can't wait to see the whole fam-bamily this weekend.
Congrats you guys!!

"Change" for change.... (i die)

So I just spotted Obama .....on clearance.....on the bottom shelf ....at Home Goods. Pretty sure this was the first time I have ever seen something with his name on it that doesn't cost a TRILLION dollars!!

This made my day (especially since I actually saw this 2 weeks ago and still no one has bought it)!! Next week I hope to see his health care plan and Nancy Pelosi sitting on the shelf next to him.

:)

Motivated by a post-it .....

The weather is gorgeous....I have time. There is no excuse. I will start running again and the post-it stack pictured above will document my progress towards reaching a goal of 20 outings before September 26th.

I can do it. I will do it. I will wear my new birthday running shoes from Pat.....and there WILL be results!!!!

Birthday Thoughtfulness

26 is not a stand-out birthday....it isn't a huge milestone like 13 or 21 or 30- it is just sort of another year, in between the other milestones that I am thankful to have reached.


The one thing that i have always and will always love about birthdays though is the reminder of how lucky I am to have so many thoughtful people surrounding me year after year.


And I don't want this to sound like the most important thing to me for my birthday is something material - but i do have to say that I think it is so cool to open up a present, get a phone call or read a card from my husband, my parents, my siblings, my in-laws or friends and realize that they know me so well. They get my personality and my style and they took the time to think of me.

It is just so darn nice....and fun to have a whole day devoted to "me." I can't wait to get home tonight - find a fun/glamorous birthday outfit to wear.... Go on my birthday/dinner date with Pat and hopefully catch up with some friends too!

and P.S. Happy birthday to all of you other August 28th Birthday Beauties...it is so fun to share a birthday with you guys!

How Fancy do you get for Dinner??

I often wonder what other people make for dinner. At this point in our lives a lot of us are working all day, some of us have kids, and all of us are still pretty busy. When i get home from work (despite the fact that i really do enjoy cooking) I am hardly ever in the mood to make anything fancy. The meal pictured above is pretty typical - Grilled chicken, a tomato salad, and some green beans with - you guessed it...lemon juice (because i put it on all vegetables). The fanciest part of this whole meal was that i used "Montreal chicken" seasoning instead of the usual Lawry's so that this dinner could qualify as something "different"

I am not sure if I am the only one cheating my husband out of gourmet dinners. When i read other blogs that talk about food - every weekday meal seams to have about 33 ingredients and a wine pairing. We just don't do that.

I typically make things like fajitas, hamburgers, frozen pizzas, chicken and rice, tilapia, spaghetti and garlic bread, and in the winter lots of soups and chili. None of these things involve reading a recipe and they all get repeated pretty often. I think one problem is that aside from the lack of energy I have at the end of the day - I also find it amazing how expensive it can be to cook large recipe-ish meals. I can do my whole 2 weeks worth of shopping for the same amount of money that i will spend if I am entertaining for one night.

What am i doing wrong? Is this normal? What are your go-to meals....seriously - I am curious.