Nice and Easy Summer Chicken "Pleasey"

OK. So long time no blog. I know. No excuses this time. What can I say? I've been busy and we've been eating out WAY too much. When picking up toys last night I was alarmed at the number of Happy Meal toys we have acquired over the last couple of months. Shame on the Mama!

I thought today I'd show you a very easy meal that is pretty healthy and a very easy weeknight meal, or even a nice lunch. I'm using my favorite stand-by; frozen boneless chicken breasts. This is something I almost always have in the freezer! We're also fans of easy salads in the summer time, so I'm almost never without some romaine lettuce and salad dressing.

Ingredients: 

Romaine Lettuce

Red Onion

Sweet grape tomatoes

A nice Italian dressing. I love this Kraft Tuscan Italian I tried recently.

Ground black pepper, kosher salt, garlic powder and I like a little Mrs. Dash original blend.

And about 4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Don't skimp on the brand here. Tyson is a great one and these are very affordable for any budget.

Preparation : 

All right. Let's do this. It's so easy you won't believe it. Start with setting your oven on about 375 degrees and let it preheat.

Now put the frozen chicken breasts into a glass pyrex or similar casserole dish and pour on the dressing. You will use maybe 1/2 the bottle. 

Next you will just slide that dish into your preheated oven on the middle rack for 35-40 minutes. You'll want the temperature to be at just under 160 degrees when you pull them out because they continue to bake in the pan once they are out of the oven. Ultimately they need to be at 160 degrees when you slice them up. * NOTE: I sincerely hope that your oven is cleaner than mine is. I tried to crop out some of the embarrassing evidence that my oven cleaning schedule is farther behind than my blog schedule!

While your chiken is baking, it's time for salad prep. It's so easy though. This is not a salad that needs a million veggies in it. I've put my favorite here, but you can add whatever you have on hand that you like. Start with some Romaine lettuce.

Arrange your chopped lettuce and veggies on a dinner plate in a circle. Leave a blank spot in the middle. This is where your hot chicken will go. This is also a good time to add the Mrs. Dash and garlic powder. Think "sprinkle" here. Don't use more than about 1/4-1/2 tsp. It just enhances the flavor. You don't want to over power the chicken seasoning.

Now you are ready to slice up that yummy chicken breast. See how all the lovely herbs from that Tuscan dressing clings to the breast?

All that is left is to slide your chicken slices on to the center of your salad and sprinkle with your salt and pepper. Serve it up quickly and bask in your complements. Your family or your guests will feel as though they are dining out. You can even drizzle a little of the dressing on the salad as well.