Chicken Florentine

Because my sister is the person I owe for encouraging me to start my own cooking blog I decided to dedicate my first recipe to her!  This is a wonderfully yummy recipe she actually shared w/ me. It's called Chicken Florentine Casserole (click to see her post), I don't know about you, but sometimes when there's the word Casserole in the name it just doesn't sound as wonderful to me.  But, don't turn your heads from this one, this is such a good dish, and much fancier than the name gives it credit for.  We (my husband, Bonny's family and I) have decided that it reminds us of Macaroni Grill's Pasta Milano.  If you know anything about this dish then you know it is definitely worth trying out!  There are a few differences, but still the same concept as Pasta Milano.  I rate this one a 4, not a 5 only because it can't be an everyday dish for me because it's so fattening, but so worth making!

It comes out of the oven looking like this!  Look at all that cheese!

Chicken Florentine

Ingredients:

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (I prefer to cut them in strips before cooking, but it's up to you)
* 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 (I didn't use this much)
* 1/2 cup half-and-half
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
* 2 (13.5 ounce) cans spinach, drained (I used fresh spinach, because it's way better)
* 4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
* Sun dried Tomatoes (I added this in to be more like the real Pasta Milano)
* 2/3 cup real bacon bits (or you can cook up some bacon and chop it up, I'm not a bacon person so I didn't do this step)

* 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Saute the mushrooms and spinach in a little butter. Place in the bottom of the 9x9 pan.
3. Melt 1/4 cup butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice, cream of mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, sun dried tomatoes, half-and-half, and Parmesan cheese.
4. Pour some of the mixture over the spinach & mushrooms, place the chicken on top, and then pour the rest of the mixture over the chicken. Top with bacon.
5. Place in oven for 30 minutes, top with mozzarella cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Serve over your favorite pasta (again, I chose bow tie pasta, just like Pasta Milano!) YUM!!