Incredibly Yummy

This recipe is thanks to Kelly and Southern Living. I pulled some chicken breasts out the other day for dinner, but couldn't decide what to do with it. So I called Kelly because she always has some good recipes up her sleeve. She sent me several and I chose this one.

It is so amazingly simple, quick and convenient, I literally had to procrastinate in making it. I knew Mark would be home right around 6 o'clock, so I normally start dinner around 5 o'clock. Well, I started this one and realized how quickly it would be put together so I sat down and read a magazine for a little while first! Crazy! And yet it's so good, Mark asked me where I got it! He thought maybe it was something my mom had made, frozen and given to us and all I did was heat it up. Or maybe I had bought it pre-made or something. He was quite impressed when I told him it was all from scratch and all from my kitchen (not to mention all within about 30 minutes)! And it's pretty much all stuff that I normally have around the kitchen. That's my kind of meal!

Enjoy!

Pan-Fried Chicken-and-Ham Parmesan
topped with Sauteed Grape Tomatoes
over Garlic-Herb Butter Pasta
(sounds good, huh?) :)

Chicken -

Ingredients

• 4 (6-oz.) skinned and boned chicken breasts
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 thinly sliced smoked deli ham slices (about 1/4 lb.)
• 4 (1-oz.) fresh mozzarella cheese slices

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Whisk together egg and 2 Tbsp. water. Dredge chicken in flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in breadcrumbs, shaking off excess.

2. Cook chicken in hot oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until golden. Top chicken with ham and cheese.

3. Bake chicken in skillet at 350° for 8 minutes or until cheese is melted. Serve over Garlic-Herb Pasta; top with Sautéed Grape Tomatoes.

Pasta -

Garlic-Herb Pasta: Cook 8 oz. vermicelli according to package directions; drain. Toss with 1/4 cup Garlic-Herb Butter. Season with salt to taste. Makes 4 servings.

Garlic-Herb Butter: Stir together 1/2 cup softened butter; 1 large garlic clove, pressed; 2/3 cup chopped fresh basil; 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley; and 1/4 tsp. salt until well blended. Use immediately, or cover and chill up to 3 days. For longer storage, form into a log or press into ice cube trays, and wrap tightly with plastic wrap; freeze up to 1 month. Makes 1/2 cup.

Tomatoes -

Ingredients

• 1 pt. grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil

Preparation

1. Sauté tomatoes and next 3 ingredients in hot oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat 2 to 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat, and stir in basil.

Super easy, huh? Trust me, it is! So go cook something yummy for dinner!

Quick shopping post...okay, maybe not so quick!

No, this is NOT going to be a money saving blog. However, I do follow several of those blogs and I do love to shop and therefore, I LOVE LOVE LOVE getting good deals! So here is one I got a couple weeks ago that I am just now telling you about. I wasn't going to since it was awhile ago, but I'm still so proud of it!














Obviously it was a Target run, but there are a couple CVS items thrown in there as well. It was one day that Mark was home and I left the kid with him and had a blast shopping kid-free! I went several places, took my time, found awesome deals and had a wonderful time. I came home with my arms full (with my reusable shopping bags, of course) and I think Mark just about had a panic attack! By the way, this was literally one day after he and I had a very thorough discussion about how we need to cut way back on spending. So that explains Mark's near panic attack.

But me? I was so excited I didn't let his expression bother me!

Me: "Look at all this stuff I got!! You're going to be so proud of me!!"
Him (in total shock and disbelief, bordering on anger): "You sure about that?"
Me (all smiles): "Uh-Huh!"

I set everything out and asked him to guess how much I spent.

Any guesses?

Just a hint: The red clearance tag on the corner of the super mega box of Pampers Wipes reads $13.xx.

So what do you think?

$10.77

Yep!

If you want to know how I did it, read on. If not, that's fine too. I won't be offended!

CVS run:
3 Sleepinal and 2 Nasogel - I don't remember what the ticket prices on these were, somewhere around $4-$7 each, but I bought them with ExtraCare Bucks (ECB) and received at least the same about back. Thereby making these items free. If you don't know what ECBs are, go here. And yes, I did have it work out just right on this day and I literally spent zero cents. And as another note: Sleepinal is actually just another way of marketing Benedryl. So while it helps when you can't sleep, it also can work as allergy medicine, drying up drainage, etc.!

Target:
My whole reason for going to Target was because I realized they had their great deal on Pampers diapers going on. [Now just so you aren't confused, Yes I do use cloth diapers however there are times when disposables are best (in my opinion).]

One day, I went to Walmart and Target (twice) with a pen, paper, and calculator. I did all the math and discovered who really has the best deal on diapers. And the award goes to...Target, when they have the deal going on where you get a $10 gift card back when you buy two boxes. This is the best deal out there that I have found. If you know of something that I'm missing, please let me know!

So, I started my Target purchases with two boxes of diapers (which I used three coupons for because apparently Target will take a store coupon and a manufacturers coupone per item) and received my $10 gift card.

Then, the juice (2) and cereal bars (2) were both on sale plus I had significant coupons for each. The J&J First Aid boxes (4) were $.99 each, but I had two coupons for $3 off any two J&J First Aid products, therefore this took $6 off my total purchase even though I only bought $3.96 worth of J&J products. Pretty good deal! The enormous box of wides was on clearance, I think only 30% off, but still a good deal for $13 something, plus I had a coupon. The flowery thing behind the J&J is a swimsuit for Devric that, I'm not sure why, but was on clearance 75% off for only $1.xx. The only thing I bought that was not on sale at all, nor did I have a coupon for was the Target brand mopping cloths. I have a Swiffer Sweeper and I've been trying all the different brands to find the best mopping cloths to go with it. I actually really don't like the Swiffer brand ones, so I'm just trying all the store brands. (More on that to come.)

So that's everything in the picture. The total came to over $30, then off with all the coupons, brought it down to $20.77, used the $10 gift card from the previous transaction and that left me with $10.77 out of pocket (oop).

That picture doesn't even include the super cute stamp that I got for Devric that same day! I had a coupon for $20 off a Staples custom stamp order. I happen to know that someone has ordered us a return address stamp with our new mailing address, but I didn't want to let such a great coupon go to waste. So I went to see what they had for right at $20 and sure enough, I could get a stamp literally for pennies. So I ordered Devric his own! Necessary? Nope! Fun? Yep! So just wait, one day you might get a letter from Devric!

Well, that's that. If nothing else, I hope I can inspire you to look for some great deals!