Chicken Florentine Casserole

It's Whatcha Makin Wednesdays here today!  A new recipe I tried last night, has been on my to cook list for awhile now. It's the Chicken Florentine Casserole from AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup butter
3 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 (13.5 ounce) cans spinach, drained **EEEW really? Canned spinach looked HORRIBLE so I omitted this all together, but I do suggest you try using fresh spinach instead, I just substituted with green beans I had on hand.**
4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
2/3 cup bacon bits **Omitted for fat content reasons**
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions (Modified as Comments Suggest)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. 

Stirring constantly, mix in the garlic, lemon juice,

 

Italian seasoning,

Parmesan cheese,

half-and-half

and cream of mushroom soup.

4. Meanwhile sautee your *green beans* and mushrooms in a pan with alittle EVOO and then transfer to the baking dish. (I used separate dish to do green beans in)

Arrange the *green beans* over the bottom of a 9x9 inch baking dish. Cover the green beans with the mushrooms. (Didn't get photos of these next few steps)

5. Pour half the mixture from the saucepan over the mushrooms and *green beans*.

6. Arrange chicken breasts in the dish, and cover with the remaining sauce mixture.

7. Bake 40 to 45 minutes in the 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) oven, until bubbly and lightly browned, then top with mozzarella cheese for another 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool, then enjoy! I served over rice, but I am going to try it with pasta instead for dinner tonight. 

Praise: It was pretty tasty, I think the pasta with it will taste better tonight, plus I didn't cook the rice correctly, don't ask me how that happened, but the recipe gets rave reviews on AllRecipes.com. I would definately have to try this again but with spinach since that's what the recipe intends on it.  Just DON'T get canned spinach it literally was so yucky I put it on the baking pan and then tossed it because it smelled and looked SUPER gross. 

Overall a tasty recipe but definitely in need of perfecting, some comments suggest pan searing the chicken before baking to give it more flavor and to cube the chicken.   I'd definitely give this another try the correct way next time.