Chicken Parmesan and Cheesy Garlic Bread

This version of Chicken Parmesan was phenomenal, but I did do some MAJOR adjusting in terms of the ingredient proportions as they seemed way off to me! I know a lot of people are on a budget and it kind of sickened me to have to throw away so much of the breadcrumb/Parmesan cheese mixture--especially since the way the recipe was originally written, it called for an entire container of Parmesan cheese--actually more than that, because his recipe was for two boneless-skinless chicken breasts and I used five and only doubled everything else! When I initially started to measure out my ingredients, my gut was telling me that it seemed like way too much, but I tend to always follow recipes exactly as they are written the first time around and then adjust them to suit my family. Again, the chicken was wonderful...I would just highly suggest following my revisions to avoid wasting!

I chose to serve this Chicken Parmesan with homemade garlic bread--when I say "homemade", I'm not referring to making the actual bread...I cheated and had my husband pick up a loaf of Italian bread. It, too, was delicious, but then again, how can you go wrong with something that calls for 1/2 pound of butter?!? I will definitely be making both of these recipes again!

Chicken Parmesan

5-6 boneless-skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
2 eggs (beaten)
3/4 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 1/2 tablespoons dried basil
1 cup Italian breadcrumbs
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1-2 jars marinara sauce (or your favorite spaghetti sauce) ***depending on how much sauce you like***
3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 lb box spaghetti (you may even want to make a little extra!)

Directions:

Place chicken breasts between sheets of wax paper and pound the chicken until it's about ½ inch thick throughout. In a pie plate combine breadcrumbs, oregano, basil, cayenne pepper, and parmesan cheese. Crack an egg into a bowl and slightly beat. Take a separate plate and pour flour on it. Dredge your chicken breasts first in flour, then in egg and then in the breadcrumb mixture.

Put your chicken breasts in a pan and sauté until browned on both sides. (only cook until browned, do not cook all the way through)

Place chicken into a greased, oven safe dishes and top chicken with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.

Place chicken into the oven and bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Serve on spaghetti topped with the remaining marinara sauce.

Source: Adapted from recipe originally posted by Blog Chef

Cheesy Garlic Bread

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 (1 pound) loaf Italian bread, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 (8 ounce) package shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and mix with garlic powder and dried parsley.

Place Italian bread on a medium baking sheet. Using a basting brush, brush generously with the butter mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven approximately 10 minutes, until lightly toasted. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and any remaining butter mixture. Return to oven approximately 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bread is lightly browned.

Source: Allrecipes

***Here's a picture of the breadcrumb/Parmesan cheese mixture I had left...it was an ungodly amount!***


NOTE: This reheated really well...the chicken remained as moist as the first time around!