A Few Favorites

Things are pretty quiet around here, a welcome calm. That means not much to report. But it also means I have time to share a few of our favorites....

First, some fave photos. These are a year or so old and I had to snag them from a copy written website (the photographer takes pictures for the local paper but also posts them on his own site), but they are totally worth sharing. John's favorite part of these photos is actually the progression of facial expressions on the girl behind the glass. My favorite part is that Tom is one of John's best friends AND Tom is the one who ended up with 2 minutes in the box for interference. Obviously, John (in the yellow) was the one with the momentum...




Next, a favorite recipe. I got the basic idea for a generic cookbook I bought at Costco a few years ago. The idea was actually for kids chicken nuggets, but I've sort of morphed it into my own variation on Chicken Parmesan. Generally I basically "eyeball" the entire process, but I suppose something more specific would probably be helpful.

You'll need 3 bowls, a small cookie sheet and an oven heated to 425 degrees.

In the first bowl, beat 2 eggs and ~1/2 cup of milk (you can skip the milk if you're out).
In the second, mix ~1 cup of flour and ~ 1 tbsp of dried italian seasonings.
In the final bowl, mix ~ 2 cups italian bread crumbs, ~1 tbsp dried italian bread crumbs and ~ 1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. If you don't have italian bread crumbs, you can use plain and boost the dried herbs. The original recipe called for crushed croutons which tasted great, but took a lot of effort to crush (still the preferred alternative if you need to work out some frustrations).

Although you can use chicken breasts, I find them awfully dry. We prefer to use boneless, skinless chicken thighs. This recipe is good for about a pound (4 or 5 thighs).

Working one at a time, dip the chicken in the seasoned flour, followed by the egg, followed by the seasoned bread crumbs. Lately I've started double dipping - back in the egg and bread crumbs. You end up with crisper coating and better flavor, so I think its worth the effort, but its not necessary. Place the breaded chicken pieces on the cookied sheet sprayed with Pam.

Because the thighs are fairly thin, the chicken cooks incredibly fast, so its ok to pack them in tight next to each other on the cookie sheet. Once all the chicken is all breaded, sprinkle with a shredded Parmesan.

Now, just bake for 15 minutes.

Generally, once I put the chicken in the oven, I start the water boiling for some spaghetti and warm pre-made pasta sauce. By the time the alarm dings, the pasta and sauce are ready to go too.

Left overs are great and I recently discovered that a piece of the chicken sandwiched in some french bread with just a little pasta sauce makes an awesome sandwich for lunch the following day.

Talk about simple pleasures. Happens to be what we had for dinner tonight.