Easy, Delicious Chicken Dinner

This chicken dish is so easy to make and then chicken stays unbelievably moist.  I made green bean casserole and roasted red potatoes on the side.

I did the potatoes first as they will take the longest.  I cleaned and chopped the red skin potatoes into bite size pieces.  I tossed them with a dash of olive oil, italian seasoning, paprika, garlic salt and pepper.

I placed them on sheet pan and baked them for nearly an hour, flipping occasionally in a 350* oven.

Once that was in, I made the green bean casserole.  I use the recipe on the side of the French's fried onion can however I add slightly different seasoning for added flavor (minced onion, garlic salt and worcestershire sauce).

**Note, I actually prepared the green bean casserole the night before and then stuck in the the fridge.  I like the flavors to all blend together overnight.

I baked according to the package instructions.

Then I made the chicken.

For the chicken you will need:

2 chicken breasts

2-3 oz of dijon mustard

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

3 oz panko bread crumbs

dash of garlic salt

dash of pepper

dash italian seasoning

1-2 oz grated parmesan or shredded cheese

Heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Combine the bottom 5 ingredients to make a bread crumb mixture and place in a shallow dish or plate, set aside.  After cleaning the chicken, brush on the dijon mustard and then coat the chicken with the bread crumb mixture.  Place the coated chicken breasts in the heated oil.  Brown on each side (5 or so minutes each side).

Once each side is browned, cover pan in foil and place in a preheated oven of 350* and bake for 20-25 minutes.

They all came out of the oven around the same time and I plated them up!

Other than a little prepping, this meal is really easy to make and turns out great every time!

Three Cheese Stuffed Manicotti

 This is such an easy recipe to put together, especially if you have a few left over ingredients that you want to get rid of.  However, do note that the assembly can get a little messy.

Ingredients:

8 oz Cream Cheese
8-10 oz Ricotta Cheese (I just used what I had left of the Ricotta and Cottage Cheese, approx 8-10 oz)
8-10 oz Cottage Cheese
Manicotti pasta
Sauce of your choice
Italian Seasoning
Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle on top

Step 1: Combine the cream cheese, ricotta cheese and cottage cheese.  Blend until smooth.

Step 2: Mix in italian seasoning and stir until combined.  Put mixture into a gallon size ziplock baggie and set aside.  Meanwhile, boil pasta according to box instructions.

Step 3: Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 11"x13" dish.  Once pasta is cooked, rinse in cold water so it can be handled.

Step 4: Cut a corner off the baggie and pipe cheese mixture into manicotti.  Fill half way and then turn pasta over and fill the other half from the other side.

Step 5: Place each filled manicotti in dish.

Step 6: Cover filled pasta with sauce and then sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

Step 7: Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melted.

Step 8: Serve and enjoy!  We thought a nice glass of red wine went perfectly :)

** One thing though....I would love to know from anyone who has an answer on how to maintain the tubular shape of the pasta better while filling it.  So many of them would tear slightly as we were filling them after they had flattened out from being cooked.  Any feedback would be appreciated as that is really the only hiccup that I haven't been able to correct in a very easy, delicious recipe!  Thanks!