Chicken, Peppers & Mushroom Bake in the Creamiest Cheese Sauce.... yum!

Hi Honeys
How are you today?  All well and enjoying the sunshine I hope 🌻  This is our second day in a row of beautiful sunshine and, with the company of our furbaby Jade, I've been pottering around the house looking for little projects to do 😊  There's laundry of course, I adore laundry, but I also decided I'd spring clean our tiny bathroom too.  It's been such a wonderful day honeys 💝

Today I thought I'd share one of our favourite oven bakes.  It's ideal as a mid week dinner because it really doesn't take too long to make and really feels like a treat too.

We actually had this yummy oven bake last night and Hubby liked it so much he took some to work with him for lunch 😊 

Let's take a look at how to make this extra, extra cheesy, extra, extra creamy plate of deliciousness then honeys 😋  To the kitchen then dear ones...

Chicken, Peppers & Mushroom Bake in the Creamiest Cheese Sauce Ever...

Ingredients:

600 gm chicken fillets, diced
150 gm onions, diced
150 gm mushrooms, sliced
150 gm peppers, sliced

For the extra cheesey sauce:

 75 gm mayonnaise
150 gm cream cheese
150 gm grated medium cheese (I used a combination of Scottish Cheddar & Red Leicester)
250 gm mozzarella cheese

Extras

Italian herbs
Garlic
Olive oil 

Directions:

1. Place your chicken pieces into a saute or high sided frying pan, wok or just a wide based pan over a medium heat with a little olive oil and stir occasionally, turning and allowing them to cook through.

2. When the chicken has cooked through (pierce with a knife to see if juices run clear) add your diced onions, sliced mushrooms and sliced peppers, stir through and continue to cook.

3. Add a good pinch of Italian herbs (I used dried herbs but use fresh if you prefer) and garlic granules (again I grabbed my always-close-by jar from the spice rack but use one clove if using fresh) Continue to stir through until everything is combined and the mushrooms and peppers are almost soft. Remove the pan from the heat and set to one side.

4. In a mixing bowl, add cream cheese, mayonnaise, grated cheese (choose your favourite honeys, I used half Scottish Cheddar and half Red Leicester because I love them both) another good pinch of Italian herbs and a sprinkle of garlic granules...  

5. Gently combine by stirring together...

6. Very carefully (it might still be hot) drain most of the liquid from the pan containing your chicken, peppers, onions and mushrooms.

7. Once the excess fluid is drained (you don't want your sauce to be runny) carefully add the chicken mix to the bowl containing your cheese sauce mix.

8. Mix through until all of the chicken, mushrooms and peppers are coated in the yummy cheese sauce.

9. Pour into an oven proof dish...

10.  Slice the mozzarella cheese and arrange the slices across the top of your oven bake...

11. Place into the oven, on the middle shelf, at 160C (or 320F or Gas mark 4)  for 25-30 minutes until bubbling and golden on top...

12.  Serve with a crunchy salad, your favourite steamed vegetables or your choose your favourite side dish and await compliments from loved ones...

There is simply not enough yum in the whole, wide world to describe this mouth-watering, delicious, completely irresistible dish honeys 😋   The photo above doesn't do the creaminess of the sauce credit I'm afraid and the heat in the kitchen wilted my salad!

Hubby still loved it though and, as I said, took some with him next day for lunch too.  He's asked that I add it to our dinner rotation too so I'd say that makes it a hit 😍

What do you think honeys?  I'm wondering what a chicken-less version might be like?  Do you remember I recently invested in a spiralizer?  I'm thinking of making some courgette/zucchini noodles, combining them with this cheese & mayo sauce and making a similar, meat free oven bake. I'll keep you posted on how it turns out 💖

As I write this the sun is still streaming in through the windows in our living room and our furbaby Jade is having a nap next to me on the sofa 💝 It's been such a great day honeys, I hope you've had the best day too, full of smiles, happy memories and maybe even some hugs, hugs make the best days even better 😊

Till next time dear ones, smile lots and hug even more, huggles always xx