This…is…GOOD. Seriously good. Even the kids love it, which is hard to accomplish.

It isn’t hard to make, but you have to make sure to get the good ingredients, not the cheap stuff. The good ingredients are what makes this common meal taste uncommonly good.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4-6 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
• 28 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes (or 2-14 oz cans) – PLEASE don’t disrespect the chicken by buying regular tomatoes! Spring for the fire-roasted ones and you can thank me later!
• 1 small chopped yellow onion
• 2-3 cloves minced garlic
• fresh basil leaves (I think I used 4)
• Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1 ball fresh whole-milk mozzarella  – This is another ingredient you need to splurge on. The cheap processed stuff doesn’t melt right and won’t taste as good. It’s in the deli case at my grocery store, not with the regular cheeses.
• 2 eggs, mixed with a little milk for breading purposes
• grated Parmesan cheese
• flour

Coat 2 separate skillets with oil (I used olive oil for veggies and canola oil for chicken) and heat both over medium heat. In the veggie skillet, saute the onion and garlic with a little salt and pepper until they are tender and slightly golden.

While the veggies are going, set up a breading station for the chicken in 3 shallow dishes.

Dish 1 – flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. Dish 2 – egg and milk mixture. Dish 3 – breadcrumbs mixed with a handful of Parmesan cheese. Dredge the chicken breasts IN ORDER in these dishes, then fry in the other skillet you’ve been heating up.

(If you’re nervous about having 2 skillets going at once and having to keep an eye on them both, you can fry the chicken breasts first and transfer them to a warm oven until you’re ready for them.)

While the chicken is going, add the can(s) of fire-roasted tomatoes to the onion and garlic pan, then stir in the chopped basil leaves.

Now it’s time to preheat the oven to 350 and grease a casserole dish. Place the cooked chicken in an even layer in the bottom of the dish, then pour the tomato mixture over the top. Slice the mozzarella ball and place the slices over the chicken pieces.

The mozzarella is a little hard to cut, but it helps if you put it in the freezer a few minutes first to firm it up.

Bake at 350 just until the cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes.

If you have too much tomato “sauce”, you can boil some pasta and serve the extra over it as a side dish. And if you have too much mozzarella, you can bread it and fry in the leftover oil for homemade mozzarella sticks.

This is not hard to make, but if you use the fire-roasted tomatoes and the fresh mozzarella, you will impress whoever you’re cooking for! They will think you slaved in the kitchen all day!

Now for the fun part – a GIVEAWAY!!! Up for grabs is (1) my favorite large-size coffee cup (well, not MINE, but a new one just like it), (2) k-cups in 2 different coffee flavors (Southern Bread Pudding and Caramel Truffle Sundae – YUM!), (3) a set of 3 Pioneer Woman dish towels, and (4) a pretty green mason jar that you can use as a vase, a storage container, a drinking glass, or anything else you can think of!

All you have to do to enter is to follow my blog – that’s it! You have to have a WordPress account to follow it, but it’s free and takes about 30 seconds to set one up if you don’t already have one. The winner will be picked at random on March 31 and notified by the next day. Good luck, and thanks for reading!

Thanks y’all!

–  Nikki

**Giveaway is closed – Congratulations to winner Ashley Smith!**

 

What do you do when you’re stuck indoors in a Louisiana flood? Decorate for Easter!

“He is not here, for He has risen!” Matthew 28:6

This time of year my bank account is still trying to catch up from Christmas and BOTH of my kids’ January birthdays, so I have to keep it cheap when decorating my home for Easter. One of my favorite places to go is World Market. I have one about an hour away from my town, but if there isn’t one close to you, not to worry – they have a website: http://www.worldmarket.com.

These giant cardboard eggs come in a set of 3 at World Market, and they are so cute! They also open, so you can put candy in them. I usually use them as a centerpiece on my breakfast table in a basket with some straw, but this year I just set them out on my coffee table.

This cute little bunny dish also came from World Market, and although it is meant to hold eggs, I filled mine with Easter m&m’s, because who wouldn’t rather have m&m’s?!? I cross stitched the “Easter Blessings” picture, and the “Happy Easter” picture was a free printable I found on Pinterest (eighteen25.com). You could also just Google Easter printables and print out any you’d like for free, then just grab a cheap frame from the store.

This lantern stays out year-round at my house, so to make it more festive I filled it with plastic eggs we’ve accumulated over the years.

Everything I decorated with was either free or less than $10, which made my bank account breathe a sigh of relief. Happy Easter everyone, and remember why we celebrate this holiday!

“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in Me will never die.” John 11:25-26

Thanks y’all!

– Nikki