I have to admit to you, dear readers, that there was a time when I was intimidated by the task of baking chicken. It seems so simple – put it in the oven until it’s done, right?

Here is an amazingly flavorful chicken recipe from my friend Ashley. We loved the freshness of the basil with the sweet sun dried tomato and the tang of the creamy goat cheese. This is the perfect upscale weeknight dinner!

A healthy dinner for a spring weeknight with fresh herbs from the garden. The marinade makes this chicken extra tender. The blend of fresh herbs makes it irresistible!

This meal was the unplanned love-child of a rushed trip to the grocery store and a night of cleaning out the fridge. When I asked the hubs what we should call it, he said something like “Good Garden Pasta Surprise.” I said, “Um, no.”

“Vish ish awshoum!”

These are the words that came out of my husband’s mouth tonight as he ate his slice of pizza.

Have I mentioned that my husband hates pizza?

Well, my husband – he hates pizza. He has been known to call pizza “the torture food.” As in… “Honey, why don’t we order pizza tonight?” … “Oh great, the torture food.”

Just the smell of fresh basil makes me weak in the knees. Luckily, it’s not a treat reserved only for summertime in our house. For my birthday a couple years ago, my sweet hubby got my an AeroGarden. This thing is amazing – we grow enough basil to have pesto about every other week! I’m planning on doing a more detailed post about this nifty gadget, but for now, here is my pesto recipe.

Here’s a little number I made up on the go for a delicious and healthy weeknight supper. So you’ve seen Italian stuffed peppers, well what would an “American” version look like? Something like this. A creamy filling of chicken and rice crowned with a gooey dollop of white American cheese. It’s definitely a different combination of flavors, but they come together beautifully.

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As a southern girl, it is my right – nay, my duty – to use copious amounts of cheese in my cooking. For me, this is not a problem. At all. Not only is my favorite food macaroni and cheese, but I really am a very big fan of cheese all-around, as you can tell from the sheer number of posts on this blog that involve cheese.

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Have I ever mentioned that my brothers are a little bit silly? Yeah, they used to sing “Chicky-Chicky-Parm, Chicky-Chicky-Parm” whenever my mom would make us Chicken Parmesan. And they always did it with this incredibly catchy but annoying rhythm to it. So now I’m cursed because what I think of every time I have Chicken Parmesan!!

Here is an easy and “lighter” (i.e. not fried) version of this dish that you can make in the crock pot. It even came out pretty crispy on the top. Don’t ya just love it when things are easy AND delicious?!

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