Winner winner chicken dinner!

So, my kitchen was in a total revolt yesterday. Of course, it happened because I was in a cooking kind of mood. I had plans for mozzarella chicken, rolls, and no bake cookies. I had a time restraint because husband had to be to work in an hour. It all went straight to hell.

I'm telling ya, one teeny tiny kitchen fire and Husbandy Face (who's a cook in a big kitchen) was up in my cooking business like I had burnt half the house down. 

Was it my fault there was some tiny piece of trapped food that caught flame? No. Who kept her cool and grabbed the baking soda and had it out in about 30 seconds? This lady right here. We're talking about a flame less than two inches high, I'll remind you. Still, he hovered. Which started to get really, really annoying. So I sent him to the store because I "really" wanted a rootbeer. 

While he was gone, I loaded my chicken in the oven, put on my water to boil, and cruised my cookbooks. I had no bake cookies on the brain, but it's always fun to check if there is something else that sounds yummy. Fifteen minutes later when hubs got home, still no water boiling. Uh-oh. I opened the oven, no blast of heat. Crap. It was time to start panicking about why my stove was not working. 

It took some unplugging and plugging back in, a quick google for stove troubleshooting, and a run outside to the breaker box, but I was back in business. I set the timer on my microwave for the chicken, got my water heating up again, and went back to puttering. Husband had about twenty minutes to get to work at this point and he comes into the kitchen. The laundry, including his work clothes, wasn't dry. When the breaker flipped on the stove, it flipped on the dryer too. Oops. So not only did he not have time for a meal, he was going to work in damp clothes.

Oh, and also, my microwave went dead. Gah! 

So despite all the hassle, I got my yummy chicken and pasta done, and it was nom nom nom. If you're looking for quick and (usually) easy, this is a dinner recipe for you. It's like Chicken Parmesan without the breading. Allow me to share the recipe. :)

Mozzarella Chicken

Ingredients: 

Chicken breasts

FRESH (or buffalo, depending on where you live. Same thing, different names.) Mozzarella

One jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce. (One is enough for four large chicken breasts. I suggest Alby's organic sauces. Nom.)

Pasta of your choice. 

You'll want to brown the outsides of the breasts, just 4 or 5 minutes on each side. I salted and peppered them first. Hopefully your stove doesn't decide to hate you and this goes smoothly.

While they are browning, slice your cheese. Yes, this stuff is soft and squishy, so it's hard to slice, but it doesn't have to be pretty.

Once the chicken breasts are browned, put them in a large baking dish and top them with the mozzarella. 

Pour your sauce over all of it, covering the chicken breasts completely. Use the whole jar, because you will use the sauce on top of your pasta once it comes out of the oven.

Throw it in the oven at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes, again depending on the size of your chicken. Mine was giant sized, so it took the full 30. I would just temp it or, cut into one and check it to see if you need more time.

While the chicken is in the oven, boil your water (again, good luck with your stove!) and cook your pasta.

Plate everything, and enjoy...hopefully not by yourself because your husband had to go to work before dinner was done. Ha! I saved his portion in the fridge, which he didn't eat last night when he got home! I think he was worried it wasn't going to taste good after all the madness. His loss, my lunch time gain.

Easy peasy recipe, right? It's delicious too. This would be a good one to take to someone in need of a dinner, or make the night before if you're always short on time like I am. Thanks once again to my mama for coming up with this yumminess.

Hope you enjoy!

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