Wednesday, December 14, 2011

AMAZING: Cracker & Cheese Chicken



Alright, I'll admit it... chicken is not my favorite food! Which is kind of a problem in our house because everyone else really likes chicken! I don't know why, how or when this happened to me, I just know I don't particularly care for chicken. I'll eat it but I'm not happy about it!




In my quest to figure out how to stop eating out so much (mainly because it is expensive but also because my waistline grew a little too much), I've been looking at "Freezer Meals", now I must say these women that do this are way amazing! The thought of making 52 meals all at once terrified me, so I decided to just do a few at a time and see how it goes. Anyway, I've got to get back to this amazing chicken! Since my family does like chicken so much I've been looking for a good recipe to freeze. I ran across this blog "What's Cookin, Chicago" and they had this mouth watering looking picture of a meal I was sure would please my family. Imagine my disgust when I realized it was chicken! I still "pinned" it and decided to try it for dinner last night.




Seriously, the best most yummy chicken I've had, like, EVER! It smelled so good I forgot to take pictures of it last night when it came out of the oven so you get a snapshot of my lunch! Yes, I had two pieces left for lunch but only because I told the girls that they couldn't have anymore!
OK, OK, OK... I know you've been waiting for it so here is the recipe (which I've tweaked just a little bit).


Cracker & Cheese Chicken
Ingredients for Breading
32 buttery crackers (I used Ritz), crushed
8oz Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
2 stalks scallions, diced (I actually just cut mine with a pair of kitchen scissors)
1 garlic clove, minced
Pinch of coarse salt (I use Kosher Salt)
Pinch of pepper

Ingredients for Wet
4 TBLs Butter, melted (YES BUTTER - Just do it!)

Chicken Prep

4 chicken breasts (about 6oz a piece), flattened
When I have to "pound out chicken" I put a piece of saran wrap on the counter place the chicken on it and then fold it over... this way I don't end up with chicken splattered all over me!

Directions
Dip the chicken in the butter, coat it with the breading, pushing down slightly to get the breading to adhere. Don't worry if it seems like it falls off we'll take care of that in the end!

You can choose to line a baking sheet with foil however, I just put this directly in a baking dish.

When you are done, press the remain breading on top of each of the chicken breasts and drizzle the remaining butter over the chicken.

Bake all of this @ 350 for 20-25 minutes. Note that if you do not flatten your chicken breasts you will need to cook it longer and it will cause your chicken to be dry. I know some people think that pounding out the chicken is optional... trust me it isn't... Just DO IT!