Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Cutlets

Doesn't that title sound fancy? We made some gourmet stuff toNIGHT!
The premise? Oce is in town! And I needed to bribe him with food. And he didn't want pizza or hamburgers. Chinese was out, as was Thai. So, he settled on Italian. We went to this delicious-looking website, Italian Food Forever (get why we clicked on the link?) and saw this delicious treasure!

Ingredients:
Chicken Cutlets
1 1/2 Cups Sautéed Spinach
8 Tablespoons Grated Cheese
8 Slices Very Thin Sliced Bacon
Salt & Pepper
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Clove Garlic, Peeled & Minced
3/4 Cup Chicken Broth
3/4 Cup White Wine
3 Tablespoons Finely Chopped Fresh Sage
To Thicken:
1 Tablespoon Butter
1 1/2 Teaspoons Flour

Making the dish:
First, I had to saute the spinach, cause all that I had was fresh. Then we took chicken breasts and turned them into cutlets--make them thin by cutting in half horizontally (We just pounded on them).

We made four; We figured that two each was plenty. Cover them in the spinach and then sprinkle it with cheese. Roll it up, then wrap bacon around it and secure with a toothpick. I didn't like their cheese choice, so we used mozzarella  Plus, I have a ton of it. We also decided that our rolls were more secure with two pinned rolls of bacon around them. In a large skillet, add oil (or in our case, bacon grease) and brown the rolls on all sides.

This took around 10 minutes, Then add in minced garlic. Saute the garlic for a tic, and then add the broth and wine (we used a pinot grigio). It is supposed to come to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, partially cover and let alone for 15 minutes. We then took out the rolls, heated the wine mixture up to a boil, added the sage, brought it back down in temperature, created a roux and added it to the wine to thicken. When it was deemed think enough, we rolled the rolls in it, put them on plates and covered in more sauce.

How it turned out:
Delicious! I was worried about the chicken cooking, but that worked out just fine. :) It was easier to do with two people working to get it all done. Even the roomie who's not into meat cooked in delicious grease liked the bite she tried!

Portland

For Christmas, my cousin got the part of Snow Queen in the Nutcracker! (Along with several other parts) This seemed the perfect excuse to go visit Portland. As an added bonus, Em was in town AND my brother was headed up there.

So all three of us kids got into the car and drove off toward the sunset. But not quite literally because we left around 10am. We had to stop off in Pendleton to pick up my uncle, and then we were off again!

The problem with making plans as you are currently enroute to somewhere is that they get very jumbled. After hanging out at Fran & Ken's, we all went shopping and I took the MAX into Portland to meet up with Max. I was a bit early, so I wandered around the Pioneer Place mall and bought Liza a nice-smelling present. Then Max showed up.

We went to Le Happy for some food and I had a fantastic drink that was on special. Since I couldn't make up my mind on what to eat due to price, Max paid. :/ After much protestation, I claimed paying for the next meal. Then I showed him the Tube, which was quite chill. We decided to actually DO something and went to the Boiler Room to play pool and watch the silly people sing. There was a party there, so people were dressed up like super heroes! Max and I both played terribly and I lost. :( I need to play him again. *note to self*

We then decided to go out for dessert. After looking for pie on his fancy phone, the Pied Cow became our destination. I ended up having cheesecake, though. It was nomnom! I would go there again. The atmosphere was very fun as well. It was pretty late and I was tired, but we didn't quite want to call it a night. So Max drove around for a while, then we went to Ken & Fran's to drop me off.

But.
The door was locked! I'd forgotten to text Fran what the plan was. So we killed 2ish hours sitting in the car in the driveway talking and listening to music. I called my brother a few times, but I didn't want to call Fran and wake them up because it was my own fault I got locked out. Max was nice enough not to leave me. We went to go get gas and use the bathroom. Then we drove all the way around the loop made by the freeways(highways?) and back to their house. SOOOOO tired at this point, we put the back seat down and laid down together and talked. Well, mostly Max talked. I weaved in and out of consciousness. It was at this point that I began to feel very sick. We made it to 6am and I finally called the house phone, called my brothers again, and called Ken. Ken always answers. Apparently he was on call all night. And he had even answered a call near the house when Max and I had first gotten there. He could have stopped by and let me in!! But, he gave me the code to the garage and I bade Max goodnight. It was kind of ridiculous. I felt really bad about keeping him out, but I'm so grateful that he kept me warm!

I slept for 3 hours.
I had lunch and hung out with the family until it came time to meet Max and Em and Joey for lunch. We all went to the Thai Peacock. Was pretty good, I think. I didn't eat much, as I was still feeling pretty sickish. It was really good to see Em. I wish I'd had more time with her. But we all walked to Powells and Joey got splashed by a rude car. Then Max and I made our way to the S. Waterfront to meet my family for dinner.

My WHOLE family. I mostly just had my head on Max's shoulder. He was warm and comfortable and I did not feel good at all. I drank some juice and tried to eat some chowder. That was a bad choice of foods. We all made it through dinner and drove to the Nutcracker. It was pretty. Some of the angles were a little off, as we were sitting below the stage level instead of above it. Celeste danced beautifully. Max and I tried not too die. All the classical music. The dim lighting. It's a good thing I was interested enough in the costumes and performance. >.<;

We said goodbye to everyone, dropped Max off at home, and then I went to blessed sleep.

The next morning, we all hung out since Pat, Jp, and I were meeting mom and dad in Hermiston for an early Christmas. After a long enough delay, we set out! And.......the tire blew. In the rain. and cold. Luckily, there wasn't much I could do since my two brothers were wanting to take charge. We tried to figure out how to get the tire off and ended up needing a rescue. Apparently there were caps over the lugs that just looked real. Off we went, stopped 3 mins later in the Dalles to fill the spare with air and the Jp drove! Through the rain and dark, all the way to Hermiston. :)

Smothies?

Smoothies! This is something new I decided to try. So, I went to the store and bought random fruits and greek yogurt and randomness.

The first smoothie I made included white grapes, pears, apple juice, and spinach. It actually wasn't too bad for a random concoction. I then ended up pureeing a bunch of avocado. After scraping most of it out, I dumped the first concoction and ran it again to help clean the avocado out of the blender without wasting it. And made a fantastic discovery! Before, I noticed that the pulp and juice in my smoothie would separate. But after the avocado was added, it all stayed mixed up! I wonder if it had something to do with the fat of the avocado? I don't know, but that was kinda cool. And I enjoyed the slight taste it added. :)

The second smoothie I made.....hasn't grown on me yet. I included blueberries, cran-grape juice, two white grapefruits, and two spoonfuls of greek yogurt. I don't know what I was thinking. Grapefruits are SOUR. I added a bunch of sugar, but it's still making my stomach ache a tad. I think I need to get better at thinking about taste, not just what fruits I have a lot of. XD Oh wells, slowly learning.