Lemon Basil Chicken

Mark this recipe under the category of "shit I came up with by looking at what I already had available in my kitchen." It has been snowy and extremely cold this week in Denver and besides making the drive to and from work, I haven't been stopping anywhere along the way (I usually run errands on my way home from work) because I'm trying to reduce the possibility of getting into an accident. Also, it's ridic cold and I don't want to get out of my car more often than is completely necessary.

Note: not an actual photo of what Denver looks like right now

I had defrosted some chicken from the freezer and hadn't prepped/marinated it in anything and was about to just bake in plain but I just couldn't bring myself to do that. I opened the fridge and looked at what was in there and then hit up the spice rack/cabinet. The following was what I was able to come up with. I was pleasantly very surprised at how well this turned out.

Lemon Basil Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut fat off chicken and place in a glass dish. Cover with lemon juice. Sprinkle on garlic salt, basil and cheese. Bake for 30 minutes.

Fiesta Chicken

There are two things I almost always have in my fridge - salsa and cheese. I'm not sure why - well, actually, I guess I do know why - because salsa and cheese are awesome. Especially cheese.

But I digress. Anyway, I had chicken and was trying to figure out what I could do to make it delicious. I did my typical fact finding mission by looking through the fridge to see what was in there for me to use. It was hard to miss the gallon of salsa verde (green salsa) and 5 pound bag of shredded Mexican cheese.

I figured it taste great on chicken tacos, so why not just bake with them? It was super easy and ended up tasting great. As mentioned previously, I used salsa verde and Mexican cheese, but you can use any salsa/cheese combination (I'll definitely be experimenting with these). Go nuts. And enjoy another super easy, why-didn't-I-think-of-that? dinner!

Fiesta Chicken

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup shredded cheese

Cut fat off of the chicken. Combine chicken with salsa in a large zip locking bag. Shake until chicken is completely covered. Let sit in fridge for 30-45 minutes (or longer).
Preheat oven to 350. Place chicken in a glass dish and sprinkle cheese on top. Bake for 20-40 minutes, depending on size of chicken.

Caesar Chicken

I mentioned before how one of my favorite ways to prepare chicken is to marinate it in dressing. This recipe is probably one of the easiest and it one of my absolute favorites. The chicken and Caesar dressing really compliment each other and the cheese on top just adds a little bit of awesome.

No, this post was NOT sponsored by Kraft

 

Caesar Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup Caesar dressing
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

Cut fat off of the chicken. Place in a large zip locking bag with dressing. Shake until chicken is completely covered with dressing. Let sit in fridge for 30-45 minutes (or longer).

Preheat oven to 350.

Place chicken in a glass dish. Top with desired amount of Parmesan cheese. Place in oven and cook for 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken.

Pizza Chicken

This is a super easy and totally customizable dinner option. I've made it simply with just sauce and cheese and it was great. In this version I decided to add some vegetables (because they were in my fridge and I didn't want them to go bad).

I decided to make this recently because I didn't feel like going to the store and didn't want to order out. Also, I've been trying really hard to cook at home more often. Also, I hate wasting food so I wanted to use the leftovers in our fridge. I call it "re-purposing" and it's quite possibly my favorite thing to do (hey, when you are fearful of cooking you gotta try to take the edge off by making it "fun"). 

What I found: marinara sauce left over from cheesy bread we had ordered, half a tomato, 8 stalks (plus or minus 2) of cooked asparagus and mozzarella cheese.

Pizza Chicken

2 chicken breasts
1/4 cup marinara or pizza / tomato sauce
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
vegetables (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash chicken and cut off fat. Place into a glass dish. Cover with desired amount of sauce. Add vegetables (if you want). Covered with the desired amount of cheese. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breast.

Asian Toasted Sesame Chicken

One of my favorite and probably the most simple ways to spruce up chicken is to simply marinate it in salad dressing. Sometimes I'll top it with cheese, sometimes I won't. There are a ton of variations that I've tried and will try that I'll surely share with you in the future.

This variation came about as I was just walking through the aisle at the supermarket looking at the dressings. I saw the whatever dressing and was thought it sounded good and different from what I usually make (which usually leans towards Irish or Italian). That and stir frying is quite terrifying of a concept to me as well as ridiculously time-consuming.

While I was getting ready to prepare the chicken I was like, "dang (okay, let's be serious, I probably did not use the word 'dang' in my head), it would be really awesome if I had sesame seeds. I should have gotten some!" Then in a stroke of brilliance I realized I should check my spice rack (I usually only use the cinnamon, garlic, basil and garlic salt) and lo and behold, I actually did have some. If you don't have any, I'm sure your chicken will be just as good. I don't think it added any flavor, it was just a nice touch, but I could be totally wrong cause I really don't know anything about cooking, which I mentioned previously.

Asian Toasted Sesame Chicken

2 chicken breasts

1/4 cup Asian Toasted Seasame (or something similar) dressing

1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds

Wash the chicken and remove any excess fat. Pour dressing into a large plastic zip locking bag. Place chicken in bag, shake a bunch until the chicken is covered and then let it sit in the fridge for 30-45 minutes (or longer, it doesn't matter). 

Preheat oven to 350. 

Remove chicken from bag and place into a glass baking dish. Top with sesame seeds. Bake for 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the chicken breasts.