Easy oven chicken recipe.

Busy, busy, busy.  No different than any of your summer calendars, I am sure.  But honestly, I have no idea what I was thinking.  I signed up the older boys for karate, tennis, and soccer lessons.  Throw in swim lessons and/or swim team practice and all the other summer fun we're trying to schedule and it gets a bit crazy.  Okay, a lot crazy.  Someone check my head.  I think I panicked in trying to keep our oldest busy this entire summer.  It's his first full summer because his school was previously on a year-round schedule but is returning to a traditional calendar year.  And it's completely like me to overdo things.

And of course, even when we have lots more to do, it's not as if the other stuff goes away.  So I thought I'd share one of my secret weapon recipes.  It ensures a hot, home-cooked meal in front of my family no matter how whack-o I went with the activities.  I'm surprised I've never posted it--it is my go-to chicken dish recipe and I scribbled it down from an online site way before I was blogging so I apologize I can't point you to the original source.  Also note that it's a great "food brigade" dish for new mammas and pappas...especially if there is another little one in the house as it is very popular w/ the kidlets.  I made it last week and dropped it off at the home of our newest neighborhood addition.  And I made a big batch for us to enjoy too--we never get tired of it.

Easy Oven Chicken Recipe

*even though I hate to fire up my oven during the height of summer, this one cooks up pretty fast so it's not completely insufferable. 

Ingredients:

• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 C dried bread crumbs (if you use Italian flavored, omit Italian seasoning below)
• 1/3 - 1/2 C grated cheese (Parmesan is our favorite but any cheese is great--cheddar or Monterey is fantastic if you want to swap out everything Italian and make it southwest...)
• 2 Tbs fresh parsley chopped (or any fresh herb that "works" with your flavor profile)
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp garlic salt
• pinch of Italian seasoning (omit if using Italian bread crumbs)
• 2 lbs skinless, boneless, chicken meat, cut into pieces no larger than 2x2 inches (I always have chicken breasts already prepped for this in the freezer)

Directions.

1 Preheat oven to 450°F.

2 In a bowl, combine the minced garlic with the melted butter.  In another bowl mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, fresh herbs, salt, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and pepper.  Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat.

3 Place coated chicken pieces on to a 9x13 baking dish. Try to leave a little room between each piece. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Note that the chicken will get much more browned on the bottom side than on the top.

Note:  If you prefer, you can use yogurt or an egg wash for the "wet" stage, in lieu of the butter.  But I'm not going to lie, the butter is better.

Serves 4-6.

Enjoy!

Sandra

More snow. More soup.

Ten more inches of snow.  Plus winds of 35-50 mph.  Seriously?  Seriously.  The snow is touching the bottom of our mailbox.  So what's a girl to do when she can't control a thing going on outdoors?  Make more soup of course.  Soup makes everything better.

I found a recipe for "make a mama happy chicken noodle soup" on Domestic Reflections and thought it sounded perfect.  It was indeed--though I do mention a tweak or two below. 

Chicken Noodle Soup

• 16 c. chicken broth (4 cartons)
• 1 3 1/2 lb. chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, peeled, thinly sliced (I chopped up a bag of baby carrots)
• 2-3 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (I agree that this is critical--in fact, I added lots more than 1 T, probably closer to the juice of the entire lemon)
• 12 oz. dried wide egg noodles (I used the recommended pappardelle from Trader Joe's
• 1/2 c. finely chopped fresh parsley (I only added this to the adult servings as the boys didn't want "salad" floating in their soup)

Directions

• Combine broth and chicken in a large heavy pot.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover partially and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 20 mins. **I cooked the chicken closer to 40 minutes**.
• Transfer chicken to a large bowl and after chicken has cooled slightly, pull off and discard the skin and bones and shred the meat.
• Return broth to a simmer.  Add carrots and celery.  Simmer until vegetables soften, about 8 mins.
• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and sauté until beginning to wilt, about 5 mins.  Add onions to broth and vegetables. 
• Stir in lemon juice. 
• Add noodles and chicken and simmer until noodles are done (about 5 mins). 
• Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.

I should also note that this recipe makes a ton--we delivered a small pot of it to neighbors and still had plenty for two rounds of soup ourselves.  Good thing, too.  We needed it.

Weekly chicken.

A few weeks ago, my grocery store had a great sale on whole chickens.  I think they were $2 a piece--which is rock-bottom around here.  I bought six.  And every Saturday morning since then, I've pulled one out of the freezer.  After thawing, I use this rub and recipe for rotisserie style chicken (I recommend you make a big batch of the rub).  I let it sit overnight and on Sunday, I roast it in the oven.  I took the picture above when I tried it out in the slow cooker last weekend.  It was still good, but not as tender and perfect as slow roasting in the oven. 

We usually enjoy it for dinner on Sunday evening.  We always seem to be out and about on Sundays, and then...surprise!...it's suddenly 6pm and dinner needs to be on the table to make bedtimes.  You too, right?  So this chicken dish has become a lifesaver.  I mix it up by doing a different side veggie and starch, and everyone is happy.  Plus, there are usually enough leftovers for me to turn into a different meal at least once more later in the week.  We're almost through our stash so I'm on the lookout for another sale to stock up.  Streamlining our everyday meals will be key during the upcoming holiday schedule--and this year, I am on a mission to not be crazed!  You too, right?