This is what we had for dinner tonight – Chicken Parmesan. Lightly breaded chicken breasts over pasta, served with Italian salad, and roasted garlic loaf bread. It was so good, and so quick and easy to make. I am going to give you my quick and easy tips so you can enjoy this meal too.

First, you will need some boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin. I usually buy my chicken breasts from Market Day from my daughter’s school. We like their chicken breasts the best. They are individually wrapped, just the right size, and just the right thickness – I do not have to pound these thin. I just pull them out of their package and use them.

You will also need a package of spaghetti (Barilla is my choice) and some spaghetti sauce. Today I was lucky enough to have a container of ground meat sauce that my dad made for me. Can’t get any quicker than that. But, you can use your own homemade sauce or your favorite store brand. If you want meat sauce, just cook up some ground beef with fresh garlic and other seasonings and mix it in the store brand sauce. I plan to give you a homemade sauce recipe, but that is for another time. Tonight’s menu is quick and easy.

Since we are having pasta with this chicken, I prefer a very light breading on my chicken. The way I make it is similar to the way I make my breaded zucchini, except no eggs are used. Even quicker!

I served it with an Italian salad that I made with my own seasonings, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Then, we also had a loaf of roasted garlic bread, which I picked up from the bakery department at Costco. They have really good fresh baked bread. Two of our favorites are roasted garlic and rosemary with olive oil.

Ok, here’s how you whip it together.

You will need:

Boneless, skinless, chicken breasts pounded thin

Olive Oil

Flour

Garlic Salt

Shredded Mozzarella or other shredded Italian blend

Package of Spaghetti

Spaghetti Sauce

To bread the chicken breasts, I use a mixture of flour and garlic salt and give them a light coating. I usually use one heaping TBSP of flour per chicken breast. Tonight I made three breasts, so I placed three heaping TBSP of flour onto a flat plate and then sprinkled some garlic salt on it. I then mixed it with a fork and coated both sides of each breast with the flour mixture. Just put each breast on the plate and use the fork to press the flour mixture onto each side of the chicken. The chicken is wet enough to hold a light coating of the flour.

Next, heat a few TBSP of olive oil in a frying pan and fry each breast for 3-4 minutes on each side. They should have a nice golden brown color.

Transfer the chicken to a baking dish and cover with foil. Bake them for 30 minutes at 350 F. Covering them with foil while baking makes them very tender.

Remove the foil after 30 minutes and top with shredded cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

While the chicken is baking, cook the pasta per the package instructions and heat the sauce in a pan on the stove. When the pasta is cooked, pour the sauce over it and mix, saving a bit of the sauce to top the chicken breasts.

To serve, place a serving of pasta on a dinner plate. Top with chicken and a spoonful of sauce.

So good! Enjoy it with a salad and a loaf of delicious bread. Buon Appetito!