Chicken Parmesan

So it's been about 8 months, but I'm back with one of my favorite recipes from my mother - Chicken Parmesan!

I may not have an Italian bone in my body, but that's okay, because this recipe is pretty easy! If you feel like making a nice dinner or if you just want to eat something totally delicious, try this one out! 

Ingredients (serves 4)

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 1 teaspoonful salt
• 1/8 teaspoonful black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoonful garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoonful basil
• 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 8oz cans tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoonful butter
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 8 oz mozzarella cheese (sliced and cut in triangles)

Directions

Pound the chicken until 1/4 inch thick. They make tools for this, but I improvised using the back of a knife. (Miraculously I didn't slice a finger off! Maybe my coordination is improving.)

Dip the chicken into the egg mixture, then into the crumbs.

Heat the oil until very hot, and quickly brown the chicken on both sides, and then remove to a baking dish. (It is at this point that your kitchen will begin to smell DELICIOUS. Take note.)

After removing the chicken, in the same frying pan, stir in the tomato sauce, basil, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes (or until it is thick). Stir in the butter.

Pour the sauce over the chicken, and sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.

Look at all that cheese. AMAZING.

Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Uncover and place the mozzarella slices on the chicken. Bake uncovered for about 10 minutes longer until the cheese melts!

And enjoy!

P.S. This dish goes delightfully well with fettuccine alfredo. 

I use a really easy recipe from my Aunt June:

Ingredients:

• 1 stick of butter
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 package of fettuccine noodles

Directions:

Using low heat, melt together butter and heavy cream in a saucepan. Cook the noodles as directed. Take the butter and cream off the heat, add the cheese and mix well. Pour and mix over the noodles! Yum, so easy!

Chicken Fajita Night!

Good evening internet :)
So I am currently spending 6 weeks with two of my friends in Virginia, and so I decided that the LEAST I could do was make them a few nice dinners! (Mainly just an excuse to add some more blog posts for you all)
After making Dino Nuggets twice this week, I thought they were due for some real chicken...

ENTER: Chicken Fajitas!

Or tacos. Or burritos. I'm not entirely certain of the technical difference, but in MY eyes, these are fajitas, so you can just deal with that.


This is a good, easy, flavorful meal that always goes over well (or at least that's what they told me!) Enjoy!


Ingredients:

• 4 Limes 
• Olive oil
• Garlic (About 4 cloves... or more. If you read more posts, you'll know I often take liberty with garlic!)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon cilantro
• Chicken (~4 breasts yields about 8 fajitas)
• Soft tortillas (white, wheat, corn, whatever floats your boat)
• Cheese
• Toppings (Whatever you like! We used lettuce, tomatoes, and sour cream)

Directions:

First you have to make the marinade for the chicken:

To make the marinade, whisk together the lime juice with an equal amount of olive oil. Once whisked, crush/mince the garlic and add to the marinade, and follow with the cumin and cilantro. 

Slice the chicken into strips and let it soak in the marinade. 

And try to marinade the chicken enough in advance that they really get a chance to spend quality time together. About 4 hours of marinating time is good!

Done marinating? Time to go!

Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Saute the chicken strips in the skillet until they are cooked through and browned on the outside. 

*NOTE*: DON'T OVERLOAD THE SKILLET! To avoid this, you may have to do this in batches.  If you do it in batches, use water to deglaze the skillet in between batches or else the little pieces of chicken and garlic that stick will burn before you are done!

You're more or less done at this point. But here's my favorite part!

Lay some of the chicken strips on the tortillas, sprinkle on the cheese, and stick it under the broiler until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is slightly crunchy.

Mmmmm... melted cheese :)

Add your toppings, and you're good to go!! Enjoy!

Chicken and Corn Chowder

Welcome back summer? It is a delightfully warm night tonight, compared to how the last few have been, don't you think? (Well, you in New England. Those of you not sitting pretty in the Northeast, I have no idea how your weather has been. Just pretend you're here!)
I planned this meal a few nights ago when it was chilly! And I mean, it was really brisk. I even had to break out the bunny slippers, and that means business.
So the type of dinner doesn't exactly match with the weather - this is more of a fall/winter stick to your ribs type chowder, but it was delicious none-the-less!

(And if you're pinching pennies like I persistently seem to be, it was also a very inexpensive dinner! Less than $10 per serving!)


So if you're feeling chilly, winter-y, or just corny, sit back and enjoy my chicken and corn chowder!


Ingredients (serves about 8)
Of course there were only four of us. And it more or less all got eaten. But that's my family for you. Shh...

• Bacon (8 strips, chopped roughly)
• 2 small onions (or 1 large. I'm not picky with proportions) diced
• 4 and 1/2 tablespoons flour
• 4 and 1/2 cups milk (we kept it light and used 1% milk, but you can use whole if you want it a little thicker)
• About 22 oz chicken stock
• 4 ears of corn (slice the corn off the cob and keep the corn and cob separate)
• 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
• 3 springs fresh thyme
• 1 rotisserie chicken  (take the chicken breasts and shred them with a fork... or chop them if you want it more chicken noodle soup style)
• Salt and pepper as desired

Directions:

1. Brown the bacon in a large pot, and cook on medium high until brown (maybe 5 minutes or so) 
2. Enjoy the delightful smell of cooking bacon
3. Add the onions and cook until soft (you can also use this time to drain out some bacon fat if you want)
4. Add the flour and stir constantly until the flour turns golden brown (DO NOT BURN THIS! a) smells bad, b) might ruin the dinner)
5. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly.
6. Whisk in the milk
7. Add the corn COBS (not the corn), the thyme, and the diced potatoes.
8. Simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring regularly to move the cobs around and add flavor
9. After 15 minutes, remove the cobs and the thyme, and add the corn and the chicken.
10. Heat until the chicken and corn are heated through, maybe about 5 minutes.

Brown the bacon and soften the onions...

After adding the thyme, potatoes, and corn cobs 

Serve with some oyster crackers! (Not those thin stupid hexagonal ones. You need the puffy, New England/Cape Cod oyster crackers!) Add salt and pepper as you like it!

I think I could just eat these for dinner, and be happy.

And there you go, from my kitchen to yours, a yummy, easy, sort of healthy, not so expensive, dinner.

Enjoy!