I am a “Real Mom” home cook.  I am not trained in any form of cooking or baking.  I have two children and a spouse that like to be fed each day and I try to accommodate them the best I can.  We have dance lessons, cello lessons, Science Olympics, Lego Robotics and library groups each week.  I am not a mom who stays in my kitchen each day cooking gourmet meals for my family.  I am busy.  I work part time to full time out of my home depending on the time of year.  Some days it is 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm and I realize everyone is hungry and I need to get dinner on the table now!

But, I am still trying to keep things interesting for my family by cooking different meals each night of the week and blogging on it each weekday.  I have been doing this now for 2 years.  My family’s tastes have definitely been challenged at times but we have all grown in what we will eat and try to eat.  We are all pretty much fearless tasters now.  Before our meals were strictly pasta, meat and vegetable.  No variations.  But, now even proclaimed vegetable hater that I am will eat my veggies, in most cases!

My resolutions for 2015 are to learn to take better food pictures and serve more vegetables to my children each day.  I am usually snapping a picture of the dish as I am serving the meal to my children.  No light box, no special camera, no formal plating just a quick picture before someone starts eating.  But, I need to figure out how to let you really see how good some of these dishes really are!

These are our adventures in food and life for 2015!

This dinner came about in part because I had chicken thawing in the refrigerator that I had to use and while looking through Pinterest for an easy meal I came across Cheesy Pesto Chicken.  It was so easy I had to try it and luckily for me I had a jar of Pesto Sauce sitting in the pantry.

Verdict:

This was delicious.  The chicken was tender and flavorful.  We used a bit of the pesto from the bottom of the pan to place over the potatoes.  It made those even better!

This was a great dish to serve to my mostly gluten-free son because there was no gluten in any of the products used.  So, I only had to cook one whole meal.

I served this dinner with a side of green beans and a side salad.

Ingredients:

Chicken:

• 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast, pounded down to 1/2″ overall
• 2/3 cup prepared Pesto
• 1 cup mozzarella
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Potatoes:

• 2 lbs. red potatoes
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• powdered garlic
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken in an 8×8 baking dish.
2. Pour pesto over chicken. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes.
3. Remove dish from oven and remove aluminum foil.  Sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan cheese over the chicken.  Return dish to oven for 15 minutes or until cheese has melted and is slightly beginning to brown.  Be careful not to over cook chicken.
4. Remove from oven and allow to sit 5 minutes before serving.

Potatoes:

1. Scrub potatoes and remove any spots from them.  Boil in a pot of water until fork tender.
2. Drain potatoes.
3. Place potatoes on a greased, rimmed baking sheet.
4. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
5. With the bottom of a large drinking glass careful press down on each potato to flatten.
6. Drizzle each potato with melted butter.  Sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper.
7. Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove pan from oven.
8. Sprinkle each potato with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Return pan to oven for approximately 10-15 minutes.  Cheese will turn brown and crispy.
9. Allow potatoes to sit 3-5 minutes before serving.