We try to eat at home for the most part, which means I "try" to meal plan on a weekly basis. So, since I have a plethora (love that word) of chicken in my freezer, I have officially declared this week Chicken Week! I put a lot of creativity and thought into that title if you can't tell.

I've gathered up all of my favorite chicken recipes, and a couple of new ones, to cook up and pass along to you throughout the week. So enjoy! And let me know what you think!

Last night we had Lemon Chicken Breast inspired by my personal kitchen hero, Ina Garten. Of course I didn't take a picture of what I made, but let's just say that it was as beautiful as this (one can dream):

I tweaked it just a little bit to fit the ingredients I had on hand, and of course Hungry Man, Hungry Boy #1, and Hungry Boy #2 were clueless and singing my name as they devoured it. Okay, maybe they weren't singing my name. It might have been more like a mouth-full-of-food Thanks Mom! from the 2 year old, but none-the-less they liked it.

Here's my version:

Lemon Chicken Breast
(adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa: How Easy Is That?)

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons minced garlic (9 cloves)
1/3 cup cooking wine
1/2 tablespoon grated lemon zest (1 lemon)
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme (if you have fresh, hey use it, but if you are a wannabe like me and don't have fresh laying around, just use dried)
Salt and Pepper
4 good sized chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
1 lemon, cut into eighths Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a small saucepan, warm the olive oil over medium-low heat, and then add the garlic; cooking just for a minute. By the way, this smells AMAZING. Now, take the pan off the heat and add your cooking wine, zest, lemon juice, herbs, and a teaspoon of salt. Stir and pour into an 8 X 8 baking dish (9 X 9 will work too).

Place the chicken breasts over the sauce, and then brush the chicken with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Then place the lemon wedges around the breasts.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the chicken's internal temp has reached 165 degrees. Remove from oven, and cover with some foil so the chicken can rest for 10 minutes. Enjoy the amazing aroma for sure!

Serve over some Basmati Rice or pasta of your choice, and then please don't forget to spoon some of that yummy sauce from the baking dish over it. So good!

Here's what you can look forward to this week (in no specific order):

Pesto Tortellini with Grilled Chicken 
Creamy White Chicken Chili 
Fancy Chicken
Chicken Tortilla Soup 
Crockpot BBQ Chicken

What's your favorite chicken recipe? 


Never Chickened Out,