Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken

Last night I made what I think I'll have to call my new favorite meal. It was so incredibly simple yet it tasted surprisingly gourmet!

Bill and I have a meal that we've dubbed "Old Faithful" -- chicken (shaken in seasoned breadcrumbs), StoveTop stuffing, and French-cut green beans (seasoned with dried onions). This is the go-to meal for those evenings when I'm staring blankly into the pantry for what seems like hours, trying to come up with ANYTHING to make for dinner.
Well, this meal might have just taken over the Old Faithful slot. Now you know I mean business.

I found this chicken recipe on allrecipes.com: "Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken". It got such great reviews on that site that I decided to try it as written rather than my typical semi-following of a recipe. I only changed a couple, insignificant things (noted in the recipe).

I served this on a bed of linguine that was simply tossed in prepared Classico basil pesto and with a side of my baked garlic-parmesan asparagus (recipe here).

Without further delay...

Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken
(adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (I had to add a little more oil but I'm not sure how much - keep the bottle handy)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (original recipes calls for only 1 clove)
  
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 5 skinless, boneless THIN-CUT chicken breasts (original recipe calls for 6 regular breasts - I like using the thin ones for breaded baked chicken better though)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with foil (I sprayed a little Pam on mine).
2. In a bowl, blend the olive oil and garlic. In a separate bowl, mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, and pepper. Dip each chicken breast in the oil mixture, then in the bread crumb mixture. Arrange the coated chicken breasts on the prepared baking sheet, and top with some shredded Parmesan or mozzarella.
3. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear.

(Don't mind the little bit I cut from the one piece, haha. I have this paranoia where I can't serve chicken unless I've cut into a piece to ensure that it's really done.)

While chicken is baking, boil a small pot of water and cook about 6 ounces of linguine or angel hair pasta. Drain. Toss with about 2-3 tablespoons of pesto.


Serve with a veggie side. I'll definitely be putting this one in the regular rotation!!