Quick and Easy Chicken Parmesan

Over the years I've made many chicken parmesan dishes, yet none have really been a keeper (except for my parmesan chicken casserole which is by far thee most popular recipe on this blog). I never would have thought a recipe this simple would become my go-to parmesan chicken recipe.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breast
3/4 cup panko
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 cup marinara sauce
cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

In a shallow dish, combine, panko, oregano, basil, and Parmesan. Place melted butter in a second shallow dish. Set aside.

Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally so you have 8 thin chicken breasts. Dip the chicken breast in the butter then coat it in the panko mixture. Place on cookie sheet and repeat with the rest of the chicken.

Lightly spray a little cooking spray on the top of the chicken breasts. Bake for 20 minutes. Flip chicken over and bake for another 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove from oven and spoon 1 tablespoon of sauce over each chicken breast and then sprinkle with mozzarella, dividing the cheese equally between the breasts.

Bake for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Chicken Recipes:
Baked Garlic Chicken
Orange Chicken with Fried Rice
Parmesan-Seared Chicken
Pizza Inspired Chicken 
Potless Chicken Pot Pies
Provincial Chicken

Pizza Inspired Chicken

I don't think I've ever met anyone who loves pizza more than my husband. I swear, he could happily eat it every day. But he only likes it one way: with pepperoni, which for me gets pretty boring. So I decided to try something a little different, keeping my fingers crossed that Eric would like it. He absoultely loved it. (I like it too.) It's definitely going into our meal rotation.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup flour
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt
pepper
1 cup pizza sauce
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
10 pepperonis, chopped

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking dish with cooking spray.

In a shallow dish, combine flour with salt and pepper. In a bowl, beat egg and milk together. In a second shallow dish, combine breadcrumbs, basil, oregano, and parsley.

Dredge the chicken breast in the flour. Dip the breasts in the egg mixture and shake off excess liquid. Coat the chicken in breadcrumbs and place in baking dish.

Bake for 50 minutes or until chicken is thoroughly cooked. Remove from oven, pour pizza sauce over the chicken. Sprinkle with mozzarella, Parmesan, and pepperoni pieces. Turn oven to broil and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes or until cheese bubbles.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Pizza Recipes:
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Cauliflower Pizza Crust
Homemade Pizza Rolls
Ricotta, Basil, and Sun-dried Tomato Pizza 
The Pizza Quiche
Pizza Zucchini Boats

Parmesan Chicken Casserole

I'll keep this short and sweet: If you love chicken parmesan, you're going to love this dish. Chicken, pasta, tomatos, cheese, what's not to love?

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1/2 to 1 cup chicken broth
6 ounces pasta
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
pinch of black pepper
1/2 cup mozzarella
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded

Directions:
Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Over medium-high heat, heat oil in a large skillet (oven safe if you have one). Cook garlic, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, and salt until fragrant, approximately 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes--liquid and all--the water, 1/2 cup chicken broth, and pasta to the pan. Stir to combine. Brinng to a vigorous simmer, cover pan, and simmer (you may need to reduce the heat) until the pasta is tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir mixture frequently.

Once the pasta is cooked, remove the cover and stir in the parmesan cheese, pepper, and chicken. If the mixture is dry, add another 1/2 cup of chicken broth (I had to do this). Now, if your skillet is oven safe, sprinkle the top of the casserole with the mozzarella. If your skillet isn't oven safe (mine wasn't) tranfer the mixture to an 8x8-inch baking dish and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake for 5 or 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and bubbles have formed around the edges of the pan.

I made bread sticks to go with this casserole and we have spiced rum brown butter cookies for dessert!

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Casserole Recipes:
Alfredo Green Bean Casserole
Black Bean and Sausage Stovetop Casserole
Cheesy Sausage and Potato Casserole
Cheesy Tomato Zucchini Bake 
Pumpkin Penne Casserole
Sausage and Bean Casserole
The Ultimate Comfort Food Casserole

Tomatoes Stuffed with Chicken, Herbs, and Cheese

Eric and I moved into our new place--a flat in a 1880s Victorian--about a week ago and we're both completely in love with it. It has a beautiful bay window, a fireplace, French doors, and hardwood floors. Not to mention a huge dining room. Plus, it's so close to Eric's work that he can walk. The kitchen is on the small side, but it's still bigger than any kitchen I've ever had. While we were unpacking, we lived off of leftover pizza, rotisserie chicken, and leftover cake from our wedding shower. But tonight I cooked our first meal in our place!

The other day my mom came to visit, check out the new digs, and go mother-of-the-bride dress shopping.  She also brought us a bunch of tomatoes and cherry tomatoes from her garden. The cherry tomatoes will be made into sun-dried tomatoes. But what to do with the bag of beefsteaks and early girls? Well, we had a little bit of the rotisserie chicken left over so I made tomatoes stuffed with chicken and herbs. It was so good that I can't wait to experiment with other stuffed tomato recipes.

Ingredients:
4 tomatoes (I used 2 beefsteak, 2 early girls)
kosher salt
4 tablespoons minced onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pieces of bacon (I used turkey bacon)
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or cubed 
1/2 cup Italian herb breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 tablespoon dried basil
1/2 cup Italian blend shredded cheese (or mozzarella)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Cut off the top of the tomatoes. Scoop out the innards with a spoon. You can either reserve them for another use or discard them. Lightly sprinkle the insides with salt and set them upside down on a paper towel to extract juices.

While the tomatoes drain, cook the bacon; set aside. Reserve a little bit of bacon grease and saute the onions and garlic in it until they are golden brown. In a medium bowl, mix together the chicken, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, basil, garlic, and onions.

Place the tomatoes on the cookie sheet and divide the chicken mixture between the four tomatoes. Next, divide the cheese between the tomatoes, sprinkling it on top. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle it on top of the cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are cooked and the cheese is melted.

We made roasted potatoes to go with our stuffed tomatoes. However, instead of roasting them under the broiler like we usually do, I cooked them at 400 degrees for an hour. After 40 minutes I put the tomatoes in with the potatoes.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

The Pizza Quiche

So I have a confession. I didn't actually make this dish. But I did email it to Eric's mom--I get points for that, right? I just haven't had the time or motivation to cook lately. But I wanted to share this recipe because this may just be my new favorite quiche, and if you've had my spicy sausage spinach quiche or Edye's ham and broccoli quiche, you know that's saying a lot. 

This is a slight variation of this recipe.

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce can crescent rolls or store-bought pastry crust
1 medium red pepper, diced
1 tablesppon olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup frozen or canned spinach, thawed, drained, and chopped
5 eggs, slightly scrambled
1/4 cup sliced pepperonis, cut into strips
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Divide the crescent roll dough into eight triangles and line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie pan with the dough.

Saute the red pepper in the oil until tender. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute; remove from heat. In a bowl combine the eggs, cheese, spinach, pepperoni, milk, and spices. Stir in red peppers and garlic. Pour the mixture into the pie pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center of the quiche comes out clean. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

~Krissy