Menu Monday - Dinner

I am going to try my hand at Menu Mondays that some bloggers do. I have no idea at how consistent I will be at this but I am going to try it.

So on tonight’s menu is one of my favorite meals to make because all my kids love it, it is over all healthy, and it is really easy to make. Oh yeah and did I mention, it is not pizza or hamburgers, it is real food - yes real adult food you can make for company. I found the idea in a magazine several years ago but I have made it my own only keeping the over all idea of the dish. Okay I have kept you wondering long enough. The dish is in our house called "Cheesy Chicken."

The Ingredient List (No real quantities because it depends on how many you are feeding and frankly unless I am baking bread, I don’t measure)

• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (Breast is best but thighs are fine.)
• Seasonings (I use some salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, whatever strikes my fancy when I am making it.)
• Olive Oil (or canola if you find out that you ran out and it never made it on the shopping list)
• Canned chopped tomatoes with garlic, basil & oregano (Italian style)
• Mozzarella cheese

Okay so what you do is...

Get the baby entertained by playing with the kiddos.

In a skillet, drizzle enough oil to lightly coat the bottom of the pan and turn it on to about med-high.

Season the chicken on both sides and place in the hot pan.

Brown for about one minute on each side.

Remind the kiddos that they are on baby duty and redirect the baby to play with the kiddos. (Sometimes baby goes in her chair with her own cooking supplies but tonight she was being cranky and the kids were able to keep her happy.)

Turn down heat to medium.

Pour in entire can of tomatoes including juice over the top of the chicken. One normal sized 12 oz can will cover 3 pieces of chicken and cover the pan with a lid.

Check on the kids because they have become way too quiet.

Start grating about 1 to 2 ounces of cheese per piece of chicken or you can slice a piece per chicken but it takes longer to melt and does not really get that gooey cheesiness. 2 ounces will completely cover, 1 ounce is like a sprinkling.

The chicken from this point only takes 10 to 15 minutes to cook usually, sometimes a little longer, if the pieces are thick, so you need to check it and make sure they are cooked.

When chicken is done, sprinkle (or thoroughly smother) the cheese over the top and recover. Also, turn off the heat.

While the cheese is melting, you can finish making sure everything else is ready. (Make sure you time everything so the chicken will not be over done waiting for the rest of the meal to be ready.)

I serve this with either light pasta with pesto, or brown rice. It is also very good with spaghetti squash. Make sure you have a veggie too. (Now we all say, “Yes Mommy." :p )

By the time you are done, if kids were not involved this meal takes about a half hour to make, with the usually kid wrangling involved I would say no more than 45 minutes.

Happy eating!