BJs Fave Dinner!

So yesterday morning my husband came home from work (yes he works 3rd shift, so he arrives home from work in the early AM) and he said right away, can we have that Italian chicken for dinner.  And being the amazing housewife/working mama that I am I said "of course".  So immediately I took the chicken out of the freezer in preparation! 

If you're significant other is anything like mine, he/she doesn't eat a whole lot of anything so repetition is the key in terms of meals.  I kind of have this cycle with him, so he doesn't get bored of the same foods that we eat over and over and over again!  He loves chicken, but only chicken breast.  He loves potatoes, any which way you can slice it, dice it, mash it,  i think you get my point.  One of the only vegetables he will ever eat is broccoli - and the fact that he prefers is raw, is difficult in terms of meal planning.  He will however eat a salad loaded with some of his fave raw veg, as long as there is a generous serving of fat free ranch on the side!  He loves pizza and pasta, c'mon who doesn't?!  Oh, and Tacos.  But not tacos in the way that you are thinking of tacos, oh no.  His version of the taco is cooked ground turkey meat with taco seasoning atop a bed of crunched tortilla chips and lettuce smothered (and I mean smothered) in ketchup!  Honestly, don't knock it til you try it, this kid has a good sense of what tastes good haha cause ketchup on this taco salad concoction, is yummy!! My preference is actually Catalina/French dressing (cause of the base is ketchup just a little less dense) but its all the same.  Okay so now that I have reviewed the few things my husband will eat, onto one of the more "advanced" meals...

Italian Chicken (i wish i had taken some pictures)
Basically I take the thawed frozen chicken breasts and slice them vertically so that they are thinner and take less time to cook.  I coat the bottom of my non-stick frying pan with olive oil and place all the chicken into the pan so that there isn't even a centimeter of space between the sliced breasts (this is essential to the preparation of this meal).  Once the chicken is in the pan I sprinkle some salt, pepper and Italian seasoning over the top and let cook for meh, 10 minutes or so on high heat.  What will happen is all the moisture from the chicken will seep out into the pan creating a kind of "broth".  The broth that its soaking/cooking in will more or less steam the chicken to a succulent tenderness.  Once the chicken starts to look cooked on the edges you flip them over sprinkle more seasonings on the back and wait until all the liquid as evaporated.  This is where the oil comes in handy.  Oil won't cook away like the liquid will so for the last few minutes the moist chicken will cook in the oil creating a little bit of a pan seared texture on the outside, which I really enjoy!  So immediately after the chicken is cooked to my liking I remove it from the pan and add 1/2 a bag of frozen broccoli, easy peasy lemon squeezy!  Add about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of water to kind of steam the broccoli and then again the oil will start to pan sear the broccoli once the water has evaporated.  Not yesterday I did something a little different than usual.  Once the water had dissipated  I added about 2 tbsp of butter.  Because I didn't clean the pan between the chicken and the broccoli there was still a lot of seasoning left in the pan with oil.  this created kind of a little butter/seasoning coating for the broccoli.  I then added cooked angel hair spaghetti (I prefer to use Barilla Omega-3 pasta).  To that I added an additional 2 tbsp butter and tossed to make a sort of pasta primavera!  Served the chicken with the pasta on the side and BJ looooved it!  I had some myself and it was pretty tasty.  I added Parmesan cheese to the pasta and it was scrumptious! :)

I'm not the best at writing out recipes for exact measurements and that sort of thing, I tend to just throw things together, but I think they end up being pretty delicious!  And minus the butter, the meal was generally healthy :) Next time (which will be soon) I will take some pictures and post, cause it was a pretty meal at that!