Quickie Chicken and Pasta

Kyle's been traveling a lot lately, so Laela and I haven't been eating the fanciest foods.  In addition to being a subsidized single parent,  I've been a little worn out from preparing to move.  To prevent us from living a life of take-out, I've been cooking a couple of chicken breasts in the crock pot, or tossing a few chicken breasts on a foil-lined baking sheet.  That way I have a bunch of protein ready to go, and can just add the chicken to some "quickie meals".

First, I'll share how I make the chicken.

Chicken in the Crock Pot:

You'll need:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth  (or water with boullion)

Combine all ingredients in the crock pot.  Cook on low.  When the cooker is done, put the chicken in a container and refrigerate for various dishes throughout the week.

Chicken in the Oven:

You'll need:

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper
• Cooking Spray

Instructions:

• Heat the oven to 350-degrees
• Cover a baking sheet with foil (this makes for less clean-up!)
• Spray the baking sheet with cooking spray.
• In a small bowl, combine the salt, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper.
• Sprinkle the spice mix on each side of the chicken breasts.
• Place the spiced chicken on the baking sheet.
• Lightly spray the chicken with cooking spray.
• Bake for about 6 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the chicken.
• Place in a container and refrigerate for various dishes throughout the week.

Quickie Chicken and Pasta
serves 2-3

You'll need:

• 1 large, cooked chicken breast
• Pasta
• 1 cup pasta sauce
• 2 cups frozen peas
• Basil (optional)
• Provolone cheese (optional)

Instructions:

• Cook pasta according to instructions.
• Place the pasta sauce and peas in a medium saucepan on medium-low heat.
• Chop or cut the chicken into cubes.
• Add the chicken to the pasta sauce and peas.
• After 2 minutes, add the pasta to the sauce, chicken and peas.
• Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, or until well heated and combined.
• Top with provolone cheese, or rip the provolone apart and gently mix it in with the pasta.
• Serve and enjoy!

Spanish Chicken and Beans with Peppers

I love Goya Adobo seasoning.  While I'm not always big on pre-made seasonings, Adobo really is one of my favorites.  It reminds me of when I was in college, and my girlfriends and I would make these huge spaghetti pots of Spanish rice with beans, corn, peppers, and those weird little hot dogs all sliced up (it sounds gross, but oh mama, is that rice amazing) with hot sauce dumped all over it.  Seriously, thinking of that rice makes me salivate--and miss my college friends.

While this isn't the same recipe of my college years (oh yes, I will definitely be sharing that one soon), this recipe is just as good, and much, much quicker to make.  Also, I daresay this recipe is a bit healthier, as there is minimal fat, is packed with fiber, veggies, and protein.  Give this recipe a try.  It's one of the quickest, most flavorful meals you will ever make.  The best part?  If your family doesn't lick their plates and inhale everything you made, the leftovers taste even better the next day.

CaraCakes Spanish Chicken and Beans with Peppers

You'll need:

• 1 lb chicken breast  (I pound mine 1/2 in thick, and cut it into cubes with scissors)
• 2Tb Goya Adobo Seasoning
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp paprika (you can add more if you like it spicy- I'm the only one in my house who likes spicy food, so I just add more to mine)
• 1/2 vidalia onion, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 can black beans, rinsed
• 1 cup chicken broth, or 1 cup water with 1 chicken boullion cube
• Brown Rice (I used 10 minute Success Precooked Whole Grain Brown Rice)

Instructions:

• Heat a large skillet to medium heat.
• Pour 2Tb olive oil into the pan.
• Once the oil is heated (you can flick water into the pan to check.  If it sizzles, the pan is hot.), add the onions.
• When the onions are clear, add the red pepper.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.  If the onions or peppers start to stick to the bottom of the pan, add a tablespoon or two of water and scrape the onions and peppers from the bottom of the pan.
• Boil water, and cook rice according to instructions.
• Add the chicken, cayenne pepper, paprika, black beans, and broth to the pan with the onions and peppers.
• Cook for ten minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the sauce has reduced (it will look less like soup and will have thickened a bit.)
• Serve over rice.
• Enjoy!

Real Simple Chicken, Spinach, and Noodle Casserole

I don't make casserole's very often.  It's not that I don't love food that's cooked all together in a lovely mismash of flavor (I've been known to gross out my family a time or two by stirring my mashed potatoes, corn, chicken, gravy and whatever else might be floating around on my plate into a yummy mix), it's just that I really don't think to make them.  That, and maybe I have some horrid repressed memory of a tuna casserole floating somewhere in the recesses of my brain- because for some reason, that's what often comes to mind when I think casserole.

This month, in Real Simple magazine, they listed a few tasty casserole recipes.  I decided to test out the chicken, spincach and noodle casserole on my family.  I made a few little changes (like the addition of basil, as well as fresh thyme rather than dried, and frozen spincach rather than fresh), and it came out really well.

Real Simple Chicken, Spinach, and Noodle Casserole

*make ahead tip:

The casserole can be assembled and refrigerated up to 1 day in advance (but don't top with the bread crumbs.)  Sprinkle with the bread crumbs just before baking.  Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Uncover and bake for 8-10 minutes more.

You'll need:

• 6 Tb unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups milk (they recommend whole milk, I used 2%)
• 1 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 12 oz egg noodles
• 4 slices sandwich bread (or breadcrumbs if you don't feel inclined to use the food processor.  *TIP: Use the heels of the bread that you more than likely throw away to make bread crumbs.)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken, or rotisserie chicken (I used 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast cooked broth on medium low heat for 4 minutes per side, with salt and pepper to taste)
• 5 oz baby spinach, chopped (I used 5 oz chopped, frozen spinach, drained of water)
• 2 tsp dried thyme (I used three sprigs of fresh thyme.  Remove the leaves by running your thumb and pointer finger down the stalk.  Discard the stalk, add the leaves to the mixture.)
• I used 6 chopped fresh basil leaves.  Even if you have an herb mincer, I find that rolling the basil and using scissors to cut it works best.

Instructions:

• Heat oven to 400-degrees F.  Melt 4 Tb butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the flour an cook, stirring, until foamy, 1-2 minutes (do not let the mixture darken.)
• Slowly whisk in the milk.  Bring to a simmer and cook, whisking often, until thickened, 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat and whisk in the sour cream, 1 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper).
• Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the package directions.  Drain and return them to the pot.  Pulse the bread in a food processor until coarse crumbs form. (Or just use 1 cup breadcrumbs)  Melt the remaining 2Tb butter in a microwave safe bowl.
• Add the milk mixture, chicken, spinach, thyme, and basil to the noodles.  Toss to combine.  Transfer to a 9x13 inch or some other 3 quart baking dish, sprinkle with the bread crumbs, and drizzle with the melted butter.
• Bake until the bread crumbs are golden and the filling is bubbling, 8-10 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Asparagus!

I really feel like asparagus gets a bad wrap.  For whatever reason, some people just won't eat it- or even try it!  How can you know if you like something or not, if you don't even try it?  I'm sure that there were folks out there that thought pasta looked funny, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't like pasta.

But I digress.  Asparagus is one of those things that can be cooked very simply, and taste anything but simple.  It can liven up any plate.  Besides it's being delicious, I love that Laela and I can make it together. I personally feel that any recipe that can be made mostly by a toddler, can easily be made by a grown-up.

Asparagus

You'll need:

• 1 bunch of asparagus
• Onion Powder
• Garlic Powder
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 350-degrees F.
• Place a piece of foil on a cookie sheet.
• Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on the foiled cookie sheet.
• Rinse and dry the asparagus.
• Take the asparagus with both hands.  Snap the asparagus.  It will break where it is meant to naturally. because the stalk is the natural breaking point for the asparagus.  You'll be surprised to find that the asparagus will be mostly even. 
• Place the asparagus on the cookie sheet, one quarter inch apart.
• Drizzle with a little more olive oil.
• Shake some onion powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper on the asparagus.  (This pretty fool-proof.  Laela loves to shake the spices on.  I watch to make sure she doesn't get too crazy with the salt and pepper, but our shakers aren't overly liberal, so it's not really too much of an issue.  This is the kind of recipe that no matter how much or how little of the onion and garlic you put on, it'll be amazing.)
• Place the pan in the preheated oven for 10 minutes.  15 minutes if you like it with a little crisp to it.

Enjoy!

*Variations:

• You can use fresh garlic instead if you'd like, just finely chop 2 cloves of garlic, and sprinkle it over the asparagus.
• You can also use fresh onion.  Chop 1/2 onion, drizzle it in a little bit of olive oil, and sprinkle it over the asparagus.
• Chopped red pepper added to the recipe is also delicious, and tastes great served over pasta, or with roasted chicken.

Crock Pot Chicken

I've been craving some chicken with salsa, so I decided to "food-speriment"  I put two large, boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot on low, with some black beans(as much as you like), chunky tomato salsa (about a half a jar-4-5 oz or so), kidney beans (as much as you like), and a half cup of chicken broth.  I served it with some basmati rice with a bit of shredded cheese, and wala!  Dinner was ready!

Super delicious!  Try it!

**Optional:  You can "pull the the chicken" and put the chicken with salsa and beans in taco shells/tortillas.  It's also great served with tortilla chips.

Fajitas!!

We are big time Mexican food lovers in our house, so when I got the email from the Food Revolution to try this recipe, I went for it.  I paired it with some golden Spanish rice.

This took about ten minutes to make, and froze/reheated really well.  Give it a go!

Fajitas

Ingredients for the fajitas:

• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 medium red onion
• 8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast fillets
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• A small pinch of ground cumin
• 2 limes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/16 teaspoon sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 x 8-inch flour tortillas
• ½ cup plain yogurt
• 2 ounces Cheddar cheese

For the salsa:

• ½–1 fresh red chile, to your taste
• 15 ripe grape or cherry tomatoes
• about ½ cup a small bunch of fresh cilantro
• 1/16 teaspoon sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 lime

For the guacamole:

• a small handful of cherry tomatoes- about ¼ cup
• ½-1 fresh red chile
• a few sprigs of fresh cilantro
• ½ ripe avocado
• 1 lime

Jamie's Tips:
•This is a great meal to prepare ahead, like a stir-fry – the trick is to prepare all your ingredients before you start cooking because once you start things go pretty fast!
•Make sure your grill pan is nice and hot before you start cooking so that the chicken starts sizzling and grilling as soon as it hits the pan.

•The trick to sizzling hot, golden brown chicken and veggies is to not overcrowd the pan. If you’re making this for 4, just double the ingredients but cook them in two pans or in batches.

•You can make the guacamole a little bit ahead of time – to keep it nice and fresh, press a piece of plastic wrap right onto the surface of the guacamole – this will keep it from turning brown.

Method:

•Put your grill pan on a high heat. Halve and seed your bell pepper and cut it into thin strips. Peel, halve, and finely slice your onion. Slice your chicken lengthways into long strips roughly the same size as your bell pepper strips.
•Put the bell peppers, onion, and chicken into a bowl with the paprika and cumin. Squeeze over the juice of half a lime, drizzle over a lug of olive oil, season with the salt and pepper and mix well. Put to one side to marinate for 5 minutes or so while you make your salsa.

•Finely chop your chile. Roughly chop your tomatoes and the cilantro, stalks and all.

•Put the chile and tomatoes into a second bowl with the salt and pepper and the juice of 1 lime. Then stir in your chopped cilantro.

•Use a pair of tongs to put all the pieces of bell pepper, onion, and chicken into your preheated pan to cook for 6 to 8 minutes, until the chicken is golden and cooked through. As the pan will be really hot, keep turning the pieces of chicken and vegetables over so they don’t burn – you just want them to lightly chargrill to give you a lovely flavor. Give the pan a little love and attention and you'll be laughing.

•To make the guacamole squeeze a handful of cherry tomatoes on to a board. Finely chop up the flesh with ½ -1 red chile and a handful of cilantro leaves, including the top part of the stalks.

•Halve the avocado, leaving the side with the pit for another use. Then squeeze the one side of the avocado over a board so the flesh comes out of the skin. Discard the skin. Squeeze over the juice of 1 lime and chop everything together until fine. Taste and adjust the flavors if needed.

•Warm your tortillas up in a microwave or a warm dry frying pan. Divide your warmed tortillas between your serving plates.

•At the table, carefully help yourselves to the chicken and vegetables straight from the hot grill pan. Just be sure to put it down on top of something that won’t burn, like a chopping board.

•Halve your remaining lime and squeeze the juices over the sizzling pan. Serve with bowls of plain yogurt and guacamole alongside your Cheddar, a grater, and your lovely fresh salsa.


Spanish Rice:
This is one of my favorite dishes.  Follow the instructions on the box/bag.  Add 2 packets of Goya Sazon seasoning, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, a small pinch of paprika, and salt and pepper to taste.  You can add kidney beans, black beans and/or olives if you'd like.  I chose not to this time because I felt that a nice simple rice was the perfect addition to the fajitas!

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Ricotta and Peppers Stuffed Chicken with Pasta

After a long day of playing at the park, going to the children's museum, and running errands, Laela and I were STARVING!  I needed to make something quick, filling, and packed with healthy goodness.  This stuffed chicken was just the trick!

I try to make it a habit of having cleaned chicken cut in different forms in my freezer (pounded flat, left whole with the fat cut off, cut into nuggets- you get the idea).  I grabbed a flattened one that I'd defrosted, and instead of doing the normal method that I use when stuffing a chicken breast (using a long skinny knife and cutting a hole in it), I decided I was going to roll the chicken around the stuffing and cook it with a bit of broth to steam it.  (This results in a deliciously juicy chicken, regardless of whether or not you are stuffing it.)

Stuffed Chicken:
Ingredients:

• 1 large chicken breast, pounded flat (don't pound it so much that there are holes!)
• 4 oz frozen spinach- defrosted and drained
• 1 roasted red pepper, chopped (I always have a jar of these in my fridge)
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 roasted artichoke, chopped (I always have these in a jar in my fridge) 
• 4 oz ricotta cheese
• 1 package whole grain pasta (I like Barilla Plus angel hair)
• 1 small handful of parmesan cheese
• 4-5 large basil leaves, chopped
• 1 cup chicken broth (you can use boullion if you don't have broth)
• 2tsp garlic

Instructions:

• Lightly oil a skillet, and heat to medium heat.
• In a medium sized bowl, mix 3oz of the ricotta cheese, 3oz of spinach, roasted red pepper, 1tsp garlic,  roasted artichoke, salt and pepper.
• Spread the mixture across the flattened chicken.
• Roll the chicken (much like rolling a pumpkin roll).  If it won't stay in place, use butcher's tine, metal poultry picks, or tooth picks.
• Place the chicken in the skillet.
• Cook for one minute.
• Add the broth.
• Place a lid on the pan.
• Leave the chicken cooking in the skillet for 6 minutes.
• While the chicken is cooking, heat another skillet to medium heat and pour in a tablespoon of olive oil.
• Add the remainder of the spinach, the chopped red and green peppers, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, basil leaves, 1tsp garlic and a dash of salt and pepper to the hot skillet.
• Stir while cooking to mix the ingredients well.
• Flip your chicken.
• Cook for 3-5 more minutes.
• While the chicken is finishing, boil the pasta in well salted water.
• When the pasta is done, toss it in the cheese-veggie sauce.
• Top with finished chicken and enjoy!

Leftovers Kicked Up a Notch!

Kyle and I went on a hot date at the Melting Pot the weekend before he had to leave for London, and if you've ever been there, you know that you go home with a TON of leftovers.  We had enough pieces of chicken, filet mignon, shrimp, salmon, and duck leftover to make a hearty dinner for the three of us, plus a huge lunch for Kyle to bring to work.

Best part?  It takes ten minutes, and you should have all of the ingredients ready to go in your fridge.

Ingredients:

• (1) package chow mein noodles. (Although, any kind of asian noodles are fine.)
• All of your meat/poultry/fish leftovers. (This works for ANY kind of protein.  You can even use eggs if it really blows your hair back.)
• Mixed veggies- I always have a bag of asian mix in my freezer, but any veggies will do. (enough for 4 people.)
• (3) Tb Soy sauce
• Ginger (fresh is always better, but if you don't have it, just use any kind you  have in your spice cabinet)
• Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• (3) Tb honey
• (2) Beef boullion cubes
• (2) Tb flour
• (1) Tb onion powder
• (1) tsp crushed garlic

Directions:

• Cook your noodles according to the package instructions, with beef boullion in the water.
• Dump all of your protein into a bowl and toss in the flour.  Make sure each bite is lightly coated in flour.
• Put the pan on medium high heat.  Pour the protein and any remaining flour into the pan.
• Ladle one ladle-full of the noodle broth into the hot pan.
• Add in the honey and soy sauce.  Add a few good shakes of pepper, cayenne (depending on how hot you like your food), and ginger (again, some like more ginger, some like less- remember that you can always add more).
• Cook for two minutes, keeping the protein moving.
• Stir in the veggies.  The sauce will cook them quickly. 
• Lower your heat to medium low heat.
• When the noodles are done cooking, rinse them well and toss them in the pan.
• Stir the noodles into the mixture.
• Cook for one minute, stir occasionally.
• Serve! 

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!  I made it a little spicy, and was pleasantly surprised to find that my little girl loved it too!!

A Quick Easy Dinner After a Long Day

Today was one of those really awesome exhausting days.  I got a lot accomplished around the house, ran/walked my parents dog with Laela in the carrier, ran some errands, went to the park to chase Laela around, and then went on a playdate with Max and Lauren at Smith Playhouse.  It was our first time there, and Laela had a superfun time!

After such a long day, I obviously didn't have a ton of energy to cook, so I heated up some leftover basmati rice that I'd seasoned wtih paprika, salt, pepper and butter.  Then I grabbed a bone-in chicken breast, put it in a plastic bag with a seasoning mix made with kosher salt, pepper, and paprika, and gave that baggie a good shake to get the chicken fully covered with the seasoning.  I chopped 2 small potatoes and 1/2 of a small vidalia onion, and dumped some paprika and Tony Chachere's seasoning with a bit of olive oil into my cast iron skillet.

Once my skillet had reached a medium heat, I tossed in the chopped onion.  Once the onion had began to carmelize, I added the chicken and potatoes and plopped on the lid.  Check your potatoes every few minutes to move them around, but don't flip your chicken for four minutes.  After the four minutes, pour in some water to deglaze the pan, and move your potatoes and onions around so that they get covered in all that yummy chicken flavor that will come out from adding the water.  You can add broth if you want even more flavor, but like I said, I was tired and I didn't want to do any more work than I had to!

Once the eight to ten minutes of cooking are up (it will take 4 to 5 minutes per side depending on the size of the breast: bone-in chicken generally takes a few minutes longer than boneless, but it's worth it for that extra flavor), plate the potatoes, chicken, and rice and you're good to go!  It's even better if you have any steamed broccoli or peas on hand to add.  I like to mix my veggies up, while Kyle likes his in separate non-touching portions.

This is a great, easy meal that you can have in minutes!

Perfect Roast Chicken

This chicken smelled so good, I ripped off some of the crispy, piping hot skin before I got a chance to take a picture of it!  The stabbed lemon and herbs stuffed into the cavity of the chicken sounds so simple and plain, but let me tell you, this will be one of the best bites of chicken you will EVER have.  Follow the recipe to the letter and you'll have a dangerously delicious and healthy meal that your family will love (or that you can live on for a week!).

It's a Jamie Oliver recipe from his Food Revolution cookbook, so be sure to try it!

Perfect Roast Chicken

Serves 4-6

1 x approximately 3 1/2-pound chicken, preferably free range, organic, or higher welfare

2 medium onions

2 stalks celery

1 bulb of garlic

olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon

a small bunch of fresh thyme, rosemary, bay or sage, or a mixture (I used a mixture and it was fantastic)

To prepare your chicken

Take your chicken out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before it goes into the oven. 

Preheat your oven to 475 degrees.

There's no need to peel the vegetables- just give them a wash and roughly chop them.

Break the garlic bulb into cloves, leaving them unpeeled.

Pile all the vegetables and garlic into the middle of the large roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil. (The chicken roasts on top of the vegetables.)

Drizzle the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper, rubbing it all over the bird.

Carefully prick the lemon all over, using th tip of a sharp knife (if you have a microwave, you could pop the lemon in there for 40 seconds at this point as this will really bring out the flavor).

Put the lemon inside the chicken's cavity, with the bunch of herbs.

To cook your chicken

Place the chicken on top of the vegetables in the roasting pan and put it into the preheated oven.

Turn the heat down immediately to 400 degrees fahrenheit and cook the chicken for 1 hour and 20 minutes. 

Baste the chicken halfway through cooking and if the vegetables look dry, add a splash of water to the pan to stop them from burning.  (Be careful, this may cause the pan to steam up at your face if you're too close to it.)

When cooked, take the pan out of the oven and transfer the chicken to a board to rest for 15 minutes or so.

To carve your chicken

Remove any string from the chicken and take off the wings.

Cut through the joint and pull the leg off.

Repeat on the other side, then cut each leg between the thigh and the drumstick so you end up with four portions of dark meat.

Place these on a serving platter.

You should now have a clear space to carve the rest of your chicken.

Angle the knife along the breastbone and carve one side off, then the other.

When you get down to teh fussy bits, just use your fingers to pull all the meat off, and turn the chicken over to get all the tasty, juicy bits from underneat.  You should be left with a stripped carcass, and a platter full of lovely meat and roasted veggies.

note:  Jamie Oliver has a recipe for gravy and bread sauce for this, but I made the chicken without gravy since it was so moist and delicious.  Plus Kyle, Laela and Darin were hungry, so I had to get to serving dinner!

Anniversary Chicken

When I was single, I had a few rules that I tried to abide by (the key word here is "tried").  One of those rules was not to cook for a guy until we'd been dating for a reasonable amount of time, because otherwise, the next thing you know I'd have another idiot thinking that he either found a Mommy fill-in or a nice girl to take advantage of.  He'd get all crazy clingy and want to marry me or something.  And not take me to dinner anymore.  I don't know about the rest of you, but as much as I like to cook, I love to go to great restaurants and really enjoy some quality cuisine, delicious desserts (or hoity-toity desserts as Kyle calls them), and good wine/craft beer.

I was completely out of my element with Kyle.  I've always been a very free spirit, and didn't like to be held down or told what to do.  Hell, I have a cell phone and it wasn't until I had a child and a husband that worried that I began carrying the darn thing around.  I've just never been the leash- electronic or otherwise, type.

Anyway, the point is that once I met my husband, I saw him everyday.  Not practically everyday, not everyday but one day a week.  I'm talking everyday.  We ate dinner together every night, and damn it if I didn't break down and make the boy dinner much earlier in the relationship than I had ever planned.

So now, whenever it's an anniversary or Ky needs cheering up, I make "Anniversary Chicken".  It's a very simple breaded chicken that for some reason impressed Kyle's roommates (Doby declared that "it looked like restaurant chicken!" when we met), and I hope you enjoy it too.  Oh, and to all you parents out there, my little one LOVES this chicken.

Anniversary Chicken
(serves 4)
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts
Bread Crumbs (doesn't matter if they're seasoned or not)
1 tsp Onion Powder
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic (crushed)
3 sprigs Thyme (leaves only)
2 sprigs Rosemary (chopped finely)
2 Eggs
3 Tbs Milk
Sea Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)

Clean the chicken breast.  If you don't have great knife skills, no worries, just use some sharp kitchen shears.  If you're afraid of cooking a whole breast, you can slice it in half so that it's thinner, and cooks about four minutes faster.

Now that the chicken has been butchered, beat the eggs and milk together in a medium sized bowl.  Add the spices and herbs to the egg mixture.  Get another bowl and fill it with breadcrumbs.  Before you dredge the chicken, heat the skillet to medium low heat.  Add a few glugs of olive oil.  Let the pan get hot before you put the chicken in the pan.

While you wait for the pan to get hot, dip the chicken in the egg mixture and then in the breadcrumbs.  To test if the pan is hot, flick some water in the pan, and if it sizzles, you can put the breaded chicken in.  Cook the chicken for about six minutes per side (depending on thickness).

Let the chicken rest for a minute or two before eating it so it stays nice and juicy.  Enjoy!

Super Simple Chicken and Pasta

One of my most favorite meals growing up was chicken parmesan and spaghetti.  There's something comforting about the smell of homemade spaghetti sauce filling the house.  Since it's summertime, I decided to play with my childhood favorite and keep it light with a yummy grilled garlic chicken, rather than fried breaded chicken, and I paired it with homemade spaghetti sauce and thin spaghetti.

Laela really enjoyed her first chicken and spaghetti dinner...

After Kyle called me on his way home from work to tell me it'd been a really long day, I topped his pasta with a ton of shredded parmesan cheese.  I thought this was the perfect time to utilize my brulee torch (yay!), so I lit that sucker up to amp up the "goo factor" of the cheese.  I tried to catch a picture of Kyle eating it, but he ate it so fast I didn't get a chance.  Luckily I snapped a pic before he walked in the door!

I have a feeling spaghetti is going to be one of Laela's favorites too...she didn't seem to get as much of her dinner on her as she normally does! She scarfed it right up!

For the chicken:

1 whole boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tsp chopped garlic (or 2 chopped cloves of garlic)

1/2 tsp onion salt

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tb olive oil

Slice the chicken into 1/4 inch strips.  This will help the chicken cook quickly and evenly, and will also help to keep the portions of the chicken more even.  If you aren't kitchen knife friendly, the absolute easiest way to butcher boneless chicken is to get a pair of really clean, sharp scissors and just cut the chicken into even strips.  Scissors make it easier to trim fat without losing any of the good meat.  In a medium skillet (I prefer cast iron, as it distributes heat more evenly), heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic to the skillet.  Dry the chicken and sprinkle the seasoning on each side.  The typical rule of thumb for chicken strips is three minutes per side, but if they seem to be cooking quicker (the chicken will start turnign a white "cooked color" up the sides), flip them and when you can touch it and it's firm to the touch or bounces back at you, it's done.

I like to make my own pasta sauce, but if you don't feel up to it, that's more of a personal choice.  This recipe yields quite a bit, and is extremely easy to freeze.  I love to put it in individual containers in the freezer, so I always have extra on hand!

Super Easy Tomato Sauce

(1) 29 can tomato puree

(1) 29 oz can tomato sauce

(1) 6 oz can tomato paste

2 tsp garlic, finely chopped (4 cloves)

1 Tb olive oil

2 Tb Italian seasoning (if you like it very seasoned, feel free to add more)

1 Tb sugar

2 Tb onion powder

Water

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place a medium sized pot on medium-low heat, and add the oil and garlic.  When you can see that the pot is beginning to heat up, stir in the italian seasoning, onion powder, and tomato paste with the garlic and oil.  Next add the sauce and puree.  After they have been added, fill each can with water and add to the pot.  Stir all of the remaining ingredients in the pot.  If you have any fresh herbs, such as basil, thyme, italian parsley, or rosemary, add them to taste.  This is one of those things that the longer it cooks, the better it tastes, but it still tastes pretty great if you only cook it for ten-twenty minutes.

I've got to be honest, this is the SUPER easy version.  The version I make for my family is a bit of a secret that a girlfriend of mine gave me, and I'm pretty sure Carly would chop off my head if I gave it to the general public.  So all of my Italian friends out there, stop slapping me with your culinary dirty looks, this version is still a heck of a lot better than jarred sauce (and let's be honest, a lot easier than Grandma's recipe)!

All you need now is some pasta.  I'm a sucker for angel hair and thin spaghetti, but you can use just about any kind of pasta you can think of.  It's not even bad with rice, but I'm one of those people that would eat just about anything with rice.

Lastly, if you're feeling cheesy, slap some on top of your chicken and pasta and bust out the blow torch!  (or pop it in the microwave until the cheese melts).

Happy eating!  And as usual, if you have any questions, just ask!  I promise this recipe is easy enough for ANYONE  to make!!