Cooking

Lately, I've been taking up the chore of cooking for my family while I am stuck at home job hunting, so I've been using the time to experiment a bit with dishes I like. Last night, dinner came out GREAT so I figured I'd share what I did with my friends. Chicken Parmesan Ingredients: 1 package of spaghetti/linguini noodles 1 large jar of spaghetti sauce 4-6 cleaned, uncooked boneless chicken breasts 1 box Shake 'n' Bake Parmesan Garlic mix 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese Parmesan cheese to taste A pinch of salt About 2 tsp. olive oil Hot water Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F). On the stove on high heat, boil about 4 quarts of hot water on the stove, add salt and oil (so the pasta doesn't stick together). 2. While the pasta water is heating up, clean and rinse your chicken breasts. Follow instructions on the Shake 'n' Bake packaging to coat the chicken breasts with the parmesan garlic breading. 3. Bake in oven for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, coat each breast with mozzarella cheese and place back in oven for about 6-7 more minutes until cheese is bubbly and browning. 4. When your pasta water at a rolling boil, take your noodles, break them in half and add them to the water (this helps it cook evenly). Stir continuously for about 12 minutes until the pasta is tender to taste. 5. When done, drain pasta and place in a large bowl. Stir in spaghetti sauce until pasta is well-coated. 6. Place about 1 1/2 cups of pasta on each of four plates. Top with one chicken breast. Add parmesan cheese as desired. Enjoy! Cook time: About 45 minutes to an hour Serves: 4 Dessert: Andrew's YAF-Style Pudding Cups Ingredients: 1 small container of blackberries 1 small container of raspberries 1 small container of blueberries 4 leaves fresh mint 6 packets of Jell-o vanilla pudding singles 3 cups milk Chocolate sauce 4 half-glasses or tumblers Directions: 1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, pour milk and pudding packets together, and stir rapidly until evenly mixed (it will look like watery vanilla pudding). Pour even amounts immediately into each of the tumblers or half-glasses. (NOTE: You must pour the mixture before it starts to set up - about 5 minutes - or it's a pain in the butt.) 2. Wash and dry sixteen each of the raspberries and blackberries and all of the blueberries and mint leaves. 3. Once the pudding has set up a bit so the berries don't sink into the surface much, arrange the berries atop the pudding. Feel free to be creative here, but I arranged mine like a compass: blackberries at the north, south, east, and west points; blackberries at the north-east, north-west, south-east, and south-west points, and a small handful of blueberries in the middle. 4. Top the berries with one of the mint leaves. 5. Cover with plastic wrap or tinfoil, and place the tumblers in the fridge for at least 20 minutes to chill. You can serve the pudding immediately if you want, but I think it's better cold. Enjoy! Cook time: 10 minutes plus refrigerator time Serves: 4