Creamy Tuscan Chicken

Sometimes I go searching for recipes solely to use up ingredients that I’m worried will go bad before I get around to using them.  Case in point: this tasty chicken recipe.

I was looking in the refrigerator and realized that I can grossly overbought fresh tomatoes and half and half that I’d used in other recipes and with food prices as they currently are, I did not want these to go to waste!

Having Tuscan Roma Pizza on the mind, I decided to make a Tuscan Chicken recipe and it was great - both super delicious and used up those pesky leftover ingredients!

Creamy Tuscan Chicken

Adapted from DownShiftology

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

2-3 Roma tomatoes, cut in wedges

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Salt

Pepper

Pinch of garlic

Chicken

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 ½ pounds boneless skinless  chicken, cut into 3-ounces pieces

Salt & pepper

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup yellow onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic

2 cups fresh baby spinach

Roasted tomatoes (recipe above)

1 ½ cups half & half

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

To roast the tomatoes, preheat to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet.  Toss the tomatoes with olive oil, balsamic, garlic, salt, & pepper.  Roast in the oven for 20 minutes or until they are very soft, turning a few times during cooking.

To make the chicken, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Season the chicken with Italian seasoning, salt & pepper.  Cook in the skillet 5-7 minutes per side or until the chicken is browned and cooked through.  Remove from skillet and set aside.

To make the sauce, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in the same skillet.  Add the onions and cook until soft.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute longer. 

Stir in the roasted tomatoes and spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted.  Stir in the half & half and heat until steaming.  Stir in the parmesan, then add the chicken back to the pan.  Cook for another 3 minutes to heat the chicken and serve.