Why Didn't I Make This Sooner?

 

Every now and then I finally try a recipe that has been in my pile of recipes to try for years, and then I think, "Why in the world did I wait so long to try this recipe? It is awesome!" This is one of those recipes. It has been sitting in a pile of recipes, just waiting to be made. Not only is this recipe easy, but it is also absolutely delicious, and it is a great pantry recipe. I'll bet you already have all (or most) of the ingredients already on hand.

Be sure to read my notes because I made a few small changes (the biggest change being that I added lemon juice).

Chicken Breasts with Herb Basting Sauce

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 clove crushed garlic
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 teaspoon ground sage
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
4 bone-in chicken breast halves, with skin
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a bowl, prepare the basting sauce by combining olive oil, onion, garlic, thyme, rosemary, sage, marjoram, salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce.

Turn chicken breasts in sauce to coat thoroughly. Place skin side up in a shallow baking dish. Cover.

Roast at 425 degrees F, basting occasionally with pan drippings, for about 35 to 56 minutes. Remove to warm platter, spoon pan juices over, and sprinkle with fresh parsley.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by CHRISTYJ. You can find it here.

Notes: I doubled the sauce ingredients (because my family likes a lot of sauce) and added lemon juice as well. So, since I doubled the olive oil from 3 tablespoons to 6 tablespoons, I also used 6 tablespoons of lemon juice (to have equal parts olive oil and lemon juice). I thought the lemon juice added a lot to this recipe. You can skip it and stick with the recipe as originally written, but I really liked the addition of the lemon juice. I also used boneless skinless chicken breasts rather than skin-on, bone-in chicken breasts. This was fantastic. Heads up though, this will stick with you and give you some dragon breath, but it's totally worth it!

 

Above: Some of us put the sauce in little bowls to dip the chicken in and some of us drizzled extra sauce on top of the chicken. So delicious!

So Good, You Will Have It Again, and Again, and Again...

 

I already posted this recipe way back in 2010 (have I really been doing this blog for that long?). You can find that original post here. It is a delicious family favorite recipe. We just had it again tonight and it is so good that I thought I should post it again.

 

Meaty Calzones

Ingredients:

1/2 pound ground round
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp. bottled minced garlic
1/2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1 (10 oz) can refrigerated pizza crust dough
3/4 cup (3 oz.) shredded part-skim mozzarella or reduced fat Cheddar cheese
Cooking spray
1 1/3 cups pasta sauce

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook beef, onion and garlic in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until beef is browned, stirring to crumble. Drain. Return to pan and add Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

Unroll pizza crust onto an ungreased baking sheet. Cut dough into 4 squares. Press each square into a 6 x 5 inch rectangle. Spoon beef mixture evenly into the center of each rectangle; sprinkle evenly with cheese. Bring opposite corners of rectangles together, pinching seams together to seal. Coat tops of calzones with cooking spray.

Bake at 400 degrees for 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Place pasta sauce in a microwave-safe dish; microwave at high 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve calzones with warm pasta sauce on top.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 calzone and 1/3 cup pasta sauce).

Nutrition Information: Calories 374; Fat 9.5 g; Protein 26 g; Carb 43.8 g; Fiber 2.9 g; Chol 45 mg; Iron 3.9 mg; Sodium 994 mg; Calc. 176 mg.

Source: Cooking Light Superfast cookbook. You can find the recipe on the MyRecipes website here.

Notes: These are great. Delicious, filling, and satisfying.