Chicken Milanese

Chicken Milanese is one of those iconic dishes that seems to be forgotten or skipped over. I wanted to rejuvenate this recipe a bit.

Chicken Milanese

chicken breasts (2-4)
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup flour
2 eggs
fennel bulb
cherry tomatoes, halved
garlic
1/2 cup cream cheese
penne pasta
 salt
pepper

Preheat oven on the lowest setting, 150-170.

Boil water for the pasta, put plenty of salt in the water, once bubbling add in whichever pasta you prefer, I used penne.

Take your chicken breasts and pound them until they are about a 1/2 inch thick. Sometimes the breasts are so large I cut them in half. In three bowls add flour, salt and pepper in one, eggs in the second and panko in the third. Dip the breasts into the flour, then coat with the eggs and dredge in the panko bread crumbs. Once pasta is al dente, drain.

Brown each side of the chicken using olive oil in a hot pan, about three minutes per side. Then place the coated chicken breasts on a baking sheet with a wire rack on it, put in the oven to cook through and keep warm.

In the same pan you browned the chicken in, add in the fennel, let it cook until soft. Then add in the garlic and lastly the tomatoes. Once the vegetables are soft, add in the cream cheese to create a creamy sauce. Retrieve the chicken from the oven. Spoon pasta in bowl, top with crispy chicken and finally the creamy sauce. I garnished with a little of the fennel sprigs. The panko makes this chicken even more crispy and slow cooking makes the chicken extra moist. The bite from the fennel and creaminess from the sauce makes this dish irresistible. Any guest will love this meal.

Enjoy! xo Lo

Pass the dessert please!

I have been on quite the hiatus since I gave birth to my daughter two months ago. It has been a whirlwind and I'm finally starting to feel more settled. Halen is my gorgeous daughter and I love her more with every breath she takes.

My dad and his girlfriend were coming over for dinner so I wanted to make a special dessert. As always, I looked around my pantry to see what I had. I had Nutella and almonds. I decided to make mini cheesecakes. I grabbed cream cheese and almond crisp cookies from the grocery store and got to work.

Nutella Cheesecake

3/4 package of cream cheese

2/3 c Nutella
1 tsp vanilla
12 crisp cookies
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 chopped almonds

The best thing about this cheesecake is it does not require baking, which makes it super easy to put together and set aside until your guests arrive. In a hand mixer or standing mixer, blend the cream cheese and Nutella together. Add in the vanilla when well blended, set aside.

You can use any kind of cookies you want, I decided to use thin, crisp almond cookies. I took about 12 and crunched them up until they were in tiny pieces. Then I mixed them with melted butter. To give this dessert some extra special flair I decided to use my grandmother's old tea cups. I pressed the cookie mixture into the bottom and then spooned the Nutella mixture on top. Then I put them into the fridge; you want them to chill for at least two hours before serving.

Once our dinner was finished I retrieved the cheesecakes, topped them with whipped cream (usually I make mine homemade...but alas being a mom you learn to cut corners sometimes) then topped each individual cheesecake with some chopped almonds.

They were creamy, just the right amount of chocolate with a delicious buttery crunch from the cookie crust and nuttiness from the almonds. A perfect summer dessert!

Mango-Roasted Almond-Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup of almonds
1 cup of oatmeal
1/2 cup of softened butter
1/2 cup olive oil
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup chopped, dried mango

Instead of the typical oatmeal-raisin cookie, I wanted to step it up a notch. I ended up having dried mango and almonds, so I decided to use those.

Pre-heat oven to 350 and lay the almonds on a baking sheet. Roast for about 5-10 minutes.

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, set aside. Mix butter, olive oil and brown sugar in a mixer. Add in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add in dry ingredients. Once fully mixed, add in oats. Lastly, add in almonds and dried mango.

Use cookie scoop to lay on baking sheet. Bake for about 9 minutes and let cool. This cookie is a great vehicle to add in any types of nuts you may have in your pantry or dried fruit. Makes for a more exciting, delicious cookie!

Hope you enjoy! xo Lo