Rosemary Bacon Chicken For Two

Have I confessed my tendency for over-achievement to you?  If not, I'm an over-achiever.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE creating gourmet meals...from scratch!  I admit that not every meal is *par excellence*   ---my excuse(s)--I'm in a hurry.  Not the right ingredients.  I'm too tired.  But my chef genes kick in to high gear kinda often.  Here's a new recipe that is, from this point forward, a new permanent resident in my gourmet repertoire...    Thanks to my beautiful friend Anna who shared this fabulous recipe for Rosemary Bacon Chicken...I now present our


Friday Night *Just Cowboy and Me* Date Night
your applause is mandatory here....I'll wait.


Thanks!  You're too kind!

Friday Night Special:  Rosemary Bacon Chicken, peas with sauted mushrooms, crisp Romaine salad with Bleu cheese dressing and French bread lavished with butter...Bon Appetit

Here are the *cooking for 2* menu and recipes (caution:  part of the meal -as it turns out- is NOT from scratch... I felt I should add this disclaimer.  I know how to make it all from scratch--I just didn't, so there.)


Rosemary Bacon Chicken
1 large chicken breast half, halved (it was huge..you could use 2 breast halves)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 slices thick cut bacon
salt & pepper

Directions:  Preheat oven to 425.  Spray baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.  Rub each breast half (or chunk of meat, in my case) with garlic then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Lay a spring of rosemary over each half  and wrap a piece of bacon over the chicken breast & rosemary sprig.  If you stretch the bacon slice slightly, you can fix it so that both ends of the bacon are on the underside of the chicken breast eliminating the need to secure with a toothpick.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, till chicken juices run clear.  Serve.  

Peas with Sauted Mushrooms
4 oz frozen peas, give or take
3 crimini mushroom, sliced
2 tablespoons butter

In enameled pot, saute mushrooms in butter over medium-high heat until lightly browned about 3 or 4 minutes.  Reduce heat, stir in peas.  Cover pot and let the peas cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.


The salad, dressing, french bread were all --I'm being honest--prepackaged.  But you could so totally whip these up from scratch...just takes more time.

For dessert--My signature maple walnut oatmeal cookies...recipe next time.