One Pan Pasta

Tried a new one tonight, skillet baked ziti. I got home at 7:15 and had dinner on the table by 8 – not exactly a 30 minute meal, but not far off. I thought it could have used more crushed red pepper and less cream, but overall, it was really easy and had decent depth of flavor for not many ingredients. Charlie didn’t love the pasta (anti-tomato sauce these days), but he liked the sausage and (of course) the cheese. And George liked it too, though he suggested we try spicy sausage rather than sweet next time around – so clearly we both thought it could use a little more of a kick. Definitely a make again – just with a few tweaks.

Even the picky kid ate it!

We had some chicken breasts in the fridge tonight that needed to be cooked or tossed, so I “flipped” through Dinner: A Love Story blog and found this one:

Cornmeal Crusted Chicken

The kid actually asked for seconds, even without any ketchup or other dipping sauce (other than the sauce that was part of the recipe). And the husband said it didn’t have any of the “tackiness” that my breaded chicken sometimes has – probably because it wasn’t breaded!  No flour is needed, or even egg white – the cornmeal is so fine it just sticks to the chicken. I pounded the chicken a lot before I dredged it, so it was thin and juicy with a crisp coating. The sauce was good too – an interesting twist, as it wouldn’t have been what I would have expected.  Next time I’ll cook some rice to serve with it, but this time I just did sauteed spinach on the side, and it felt like a nice, somewhat light meal (except you cook the chicken in oil – but next time hopefully I’ll have more olive oil and I’ll use that to increase the flavor and health factor).