Christmas Villages Online

I love to cook but hardly do it anymore since starting to work for myself, because I have NO TIME! Especially around the holidays when things get crazy and the last thing you want to is spend lots of time cooking. You want to get your Christmas Village set up, so who’s got time for cooking anything?!

I found that I was stopping by the meat counter at the supermarket and buying a lot of their pre-seasoned chicken breasts – my favorite was the Italian Chicken with mozarella and parmesan cheese, some marinara sauce, and a kind of bread-crumb coating. It’s pretty good, but expensive. And I like my food just a little spicier than Mr. & Mrs. America, so I made my own variation of it at home, and it really kicks hiney!

You can buy a family size package of skinless chicken breasts at Costco or similar for pretty cheap. You get a ton of meat, and you can prepare a big batch very quickly. And even better, it keeps beautifully and just tastes better after marinating for a day or so.  If you’re having company over and don’t want to slave over  a hot stove, then serve this up with some nice crusty Italian or Garlic bread and a big salad and they’ll never know you had better things to do!

This is so quick & easy and festive, it would also be great as a Christmas Eve dinner.

Ingredients:

• Big package of chicken breasts; if whole (they’ll be really big & look like a butterfly), cut in half
• Spicy Italian Seasoning Mix, in the plastic grinder container. It’s a great mix of herbs and spices that you grind right onto the meat. I use the Preferred/Select stuff that Fred Meyer sells, but I believe its a Kroger brand
• Garlic powder
• One jar of Classico Pasta Sauce, the Spicy Red Pepper is FABULOUS but they have other flavors
• Parmesan cheese (either the dried variety or fresh grated)
• Grated Mozarella cheese

In a large fry pan, heat enough oil over medium heat to brown the chicken nicely. I find people have different tastes on how to brown, so I don’t tell you use 2 T or whatever. Before putting the chicken in, sprinkle on the Italian Seasoning Mix, garlic powder, and some salt & pepper. Pat on the Parmesan cheese to form a kind of coating.

Put the chicken in the pan and let it brown thoroughly. You don’t want the oil too hot because you’ll burn the cheese. I find about 5 minutes on each side gives it a nice color, and starts the cooking process off nicely. Lower the heat and pour on the jar of pasta sauce. Cover each piece of chicken and let it run down the sides. Simmer so that the sauce just barely bubbles, covered, for about 20 minutes. Turn the breasts over partway to make sure each piece is surrounded in sauce.  Chicken is done when it gets to about 165 degrees if you have a thermometer.

If needed, uncover the chicken and turn the heat up a bit high and boil off the excess water to reduce the sauce. It has fresh tomatoes, so it can be a bit watery. keep an eye on it!

Reduce heat. Sprinkle the grated Mozarella on each piece and cover for a minute to let the cheese melt. Serve with a nice fresh loaf of Italian bread and a big salad and you’ll be a hit! Hearty without being a gutbuster. The red sauce officially makes it a Holiday Recipe in my book.

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