I’m going to try to start sharing a few of my recipes on here. I love the idea of starting my week off with a great, home cooked meal. I have always loved to cook and it really is a creative outlet for me. It’s also the perfect way for me to de-stress after a day of work.

Tonight I made chicken parm. There is nothing better than cooking a simple meal with ingredients you already have in your pantry.

I used my cast-iron skillet for this recipe. This most important tip I can give you about cooking with a cast-iron skillet, is that you always want to properly heat your pan. I set my skillet over medium heat for 5-10 minutes before I’m ready to start cooking. Once the pan is nice and hot, you can then add your oil.

Next, I crushed up the bread to use for the coating on the chicken breast. I mixed the bread crumbs with a little bit of Italian seasoning and parmesan. I wish I knew moe specifically how much of each but I never measure anything!

When I have chicken breast, I like to slice them in half or butterfly them so that they cook a little bit faster.

I made an easy egg and milk mixture and added a little bit of salt and cayenne pepper. We like spicy food in our house. I dipped each piece of chicken in this liquid and then moved them to the bowl of breadcrumbs. Once the chicken was nice and coated, I added some olive oil to my cast-iron began searing the chicken.

In order to cook all the way through, the chicken needed about three minutes on each side. When I could tell that it was done, I moved the chicken to a plate to rest while I cooked down some cherry tomatoes. I dumped about 10 small tomatoes into my cast-iron and let them blister on medium heat for about 7 minutes.

I then added the chicken back into the pan along with half a jar of store bought pasta sauce. While these ingredients got to know each other, I set my broiler.

Finally, I topped everything with some mozzarella and another sprinkle of parmesan and transferred the whole thing to the broiler for about 8 minutes.

In my opinion, the finished results were not only delicious but also very pretty. You know what they say! Our phones always eat first.

Below you can find a list of ingredients and simplified instructions. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, butterflied
• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• Fresh tomatoes
• 1 can of pasta sauce
• 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• Pasta

Directions

1. Preheat skillet on medium heat for 5-10 minutes (cast-iron is best because you can transfer directly from the stove to the broiler)
2. Mix together two eggs and 1/4 cup of milk in a medium bowl, add seasonings to taste
3. In another bowl, add Italian bread crumbs
4. Dip each piece of chicken into the egg/milk mixture and then into the bread crumbs, making sure that the chicken is evenly coated
5. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet
6. Add chicken to the pan and cook for three minutes on each side
7. Transfer chicken to a plate to rest
8. Add fresh tomatoes to the skillet and cook until the skin is beginning to blister
9. Add chicken back to the skillet along with half of the jar of pasta sauce
10. Turn on broiler
11. Top with mozzarella and parmesan and transfer the entire skillet to the broiler for 6-8 minutes. The cheese should become slightly brown.
12. Enjoy as is or over pasta