Valentine's Day~

What did Cole and I do for V-day yesterday? Well!  We made FOOD!!!  Copy-cat versions of Olive Garden's Stuffed Chicken Marsala, and Cheesecake Factory's Avocado Eggrolls!!!  OMGAH, YUM. 

We also had sides of mashed potatoes and Wensleydale cheese and crackers.  :D

How do you make all this delicious food, you ask?   Well!  I have the recipes!

Olive Garden Stuffed Chicken Marsala

• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Servings: 4-6

About This Recipe

Serve with your favorite mashed potato recipe.

Ingredients

Cheese Stuffing

• ½ cup smoked provolone cheese
• 1 (8 ounce) shredded mozzarella cheese
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated
• ½ cup breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon fresh garlic, minced
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, flakes if in oil drain first
• ¹⁄₃; cup sour cream
• ½ teaspoon salt and pepper

Chicken

• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 4 ounces cooking oil
• 2 cups flour
• salt and pepper, to taste

Sauce

• 1 small onions, chopped
• 6 cups button mushrooms, thinly sliced   (I just used one pack of regular sliced mushrooms--about 2.5 cups, and it was plenty!)
• 24 ounces marsala wine or 24 ounces beef broth (I used the broth and it tasted fantastic)
• 8 ounces heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Stuffing: Combine all cheese stuffing ingredients in a bowl.
3. Chicken: Butterfly thickest section to create two lobes. (Cole and I just placed one chicken breast on top of another like a sandwich and it worked fine.) Place pounded chicken breasts on a plate and place desired amount of stuffing on one half of chicken breast.
4. Gently press stuffing down and fold over other side of chicken breast. Preheat a large sauté pan on stove top. Add 4 oz. oil; heat oil until shimmering.
5. Place approximately 2 cups flour in a pan and season it to taste with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour and shake off excess flour. Place stuffed chicken breasts in sauté pan with the preheated oil.
6. Cook each side until golden. When chicken is seared on both sides remove them from sauté pan and place them in a baking pan and into the oven for 10-20 minutes.
7. Bake until juices run clear and stuffing and center reach a temperature of at least 165°.
8. Sauce: Add the onions to the sauté pan. Stir with spatula. After 2 minutes add the mushrooms; sauté mixture until onions are translucent. Deglaze sauté pan with the marsala wine (make sure to incorporate particles from bottom of pan). Bring wine to a simmer and add heavy cream. Simmer sauce on low heat until reduced by half.
9. Place cooked chicken breast on a plate and top with onions, mushrooms and sauce.

YUM!!!!

AAAnnd

Cheesecake Factory's Avocado Egg Rolls

• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 34 mins
• Serves: 2-4, Yield: 3.0 eggrolls

Ingredients

dipping sauce

• 3 -4 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• ½ teaspoon tamarind pulp (Left this out...)
• ½ cup honey
• 1 pinch powdered saffron   (we left this out too--it's expensive!, still tasted great!)
• ½ cup chopped cashews
• ²⁄₃; cup fresh cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 green onions
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ cup olive oil

egg rolls

• 1 large avocados, peeled, pitted, & diced (um, i cut up THREE!)
• 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced red onions
• ½ teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped (ran out of cilantro in the sauce, sooo didn't add this, oh well!)
• 1 pinch salt
• 3 egg roll wraps
• 1 eggs, beaten

Directions

1. Stir together vinegars, tamarind, honey, and saffron in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 1 minute.
2. Stir until tamarind is dissolved.
3. In a blender, Puree tamarind mixture, cashews, 2/3 cup cilantro, garlic, onions, sugar, pepper, and cumin.
4. Pour mixture into a bowl and stir in oil.
5. Refrigerate until ready to use.  (I recommend not doing this because it thickens a lot.)
6. Gently stir together avocado, tomatoes, onion, 1/2 teaspoon cilantro, and salt.
7. Distribute filling evenly onto center of each egg roll wrapper.
8. Position a wrapper so that a corner is pointing toward you; fold the bottom corner up, 1/4 of the way over the filling.
9. Brush remaining corners and edges of the wrapper with egg, roll up from side to side, fold top corner over all and press to seal.
10. Repeat with remaining wrappers.
11. Continue by deep-frying the egg rolls in 375 degree oil for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown.
12. Drain on brown paper bags.
13. Slice egg rolls diagonally across middle and serve with prepared dipping sauce!
14. ENJOY!

Seriously, SO GOOD.  Not that hard to do seperately but since we were doing three new things at once it took us about 2.5 hours..!  Totally worth it though :)

Happy Valentine's Day~!

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