Chicken Parmigiano

This is super easy.  It is a Rachel Ray recipe, from her book 30 Minute Meals The Original. The recipe is called Zesty Chicken Cutlets Parmigiana and Quick Marinara Sauce, on page 128. As such I can't give the exact recipe here.  Here is what I do.  I don't exactly follow the recipe anyway. 
Bread chicken in bread crumbs, salt (don't under salt), pepper, red pepper, Flat Leaf Parsley, and Parmigiana cheese.
In a skillet (actually, I use a griddle) spread a little olive oil and two cloves of garlic, minced.  Heat the oil until the garlic "speaks."  Remove the garlic.  Add breaded chicken breasts, brown on each side.  Spray a baking dish with Pam.  Place the chicken pieces in the baking dish and cover with sauce.  My kids don't like the sauce on their chicken so I omit this part for them and just bake the chicken with the cheese on top.  (Sauce follows)  Slice fresh Mozzarella cheese and place on top of each chicken piece.  Bake until chicken is done. 
Sauce
In a sauce pan drizzle a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.  Add two garlic cloves, minced and a sprinkle of red pepper.  Heat until garlic speaks.  Add a large can of tomatoes.  Add the following (fresh if you have them on hand, it really is better that way, but I only had parsley, dried works) Basil, Oregano, and Flat Leaf Parsley.  Add a little salt.
Heat on simmer while the rest of dinner is cooking.

Boil a large pot of water (surely I don't have to explain) for pasta.
Cook Pasta until al dente. Drain. Toss with remaining sauce.

Warm in the oven a loaf of Italian Bread.

Delicious.

Taco Soup and Mexican Cornbread

The kids are not home tonight, so its just Jerry and I.  The kids don't like soup and we love it.  So this is a perfect opportunity to have soup.  Taco Soup is super easy.  The Mexican Cornbread, well I kind of made it up.





Taco Soup
1 can Chicken Broth (I used homemade, in a jar)
1 can Beef Broth (again with the homemade bit)  I am trying not to buy so much canned and processed food from the store and it wasn't hard.  Just took time and beef bones!
1 can pinto beans (again with the homemade)
1 can corn, I used frozen
1 can Ro-Tel Tomatoes
1 pkg. Ranch Dip Mix
1 pkg. Taco Seasoning Mix
1 lb. ground beef, browned and drained
Throw it all in a pot and cook until hot, then let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  To serve top with grated cheese and sour cream, guacamole if desired.  Serve with tortilla chips or cornbread.

See, doesn't that look fun!

Mexican Cornbread
Confession time:  I think I really messed this up because I wanted to be cute and fun and cook it in a cast iron skillet on the stove. Jerry likes cornbread, which is why I make it, isn't that your reason.   I didn't go back and read the directions I had seen for doing that the other day.  So, I scorched it on the bottom and the top was not done.  Ugh.  Oh, well.  I sprayed Pam in my normal cake pan for cooking cornbread, and just dumped the skillet upside down into the pan.  Pulled off the scorched bottom and placed it back in the oven.  Bother.  It didn't look pretty, but it is edible.  Disasters happen, get over it.  Smile and move, be a smover!
Now for the recipe
Follow the directions on your cornbread mix or cornmeal.  It doesn't matter which, and cornmeal is not much harder than the mix.
Then add
1/2 cup of corn (I just kept some out of the soup) drained and rinsed
1 can of green chiles, chopped, drained and rinsed
Bake according to directions.

Yummy.
Now for those who can't get the seasoning mixes or don't want to use them, I will list the spices here that are on the packages, not the other stuff, like "other spices" or "sodium biditrate"and other things you can't say or whatever.  (Yes, I made that up.)
Taco Seasoning Mix
Chili Peppers
Corn Masa
Salt
Dried Onion
Dried Garlic
Paprika
Cocoa Powder (seriously, its in there, interesting though, huh?)

Ranch Dip Mix
Dried Onion
Dried Garlic
Buttermilk
"other spices"--guessing, parsley, dill, maybe basil, or thyme

One more side note:  Ro-tel tomatoes are just tomatoes canned with green chiles.
Now back to my quilt making project!