Mac and Cheese with Parmesan Chicken

I had my first food fail last night. It's not my first ever fail, but my first in a while. It was crock pot mac and cheese and it was so unappetizing. It smelled so gross when I walked into the apartment and when I lifted the lid, I saw a burnt circle of gelatinous elbow macaroni and cheese. When I threw it away today (yes, I was lazy enough to let it sit in there overnight), I gagged at the smell and texture. The worst part, I spent time to find the recipe and then make it all that morning before work. To come home close to dinner time, knowing you still have to make the protein part of the meal, it's very disheartening to then have to make a new dinner before youth group starts. Plus, I really craved mac and cheese! I wanted to have it. So I found this super simple recipe online. I felt like a stinking idiot for not knowing the basics to make something so simple. So here is the macaroni and cheese and Jamie Oliver's Parmesan Chicken. He may be a bit of a pretentious jerk and doesn't understand how a system works, but he makes good, easy, and cheap food.

Mac and Cheese
Ingredients:
Elbow macaroni
cheddar cheese
milk
butter

Directions:
Cook the macaroni like the package says. It's easy.
Drain the pasta and mix in some butter (how ever much you like) and a handful of cheese.
The cheese will be stringy , so mix in a little milk to make it a bit more saucy.

Parmesan Chicken
Ingredients:
1 chicken breast
2 springs of parsley
Club crackers
2 Tablespoons of butter
1 clove of garlic
flour
1 beaten egg

Directions:
Put the crackers, parsley, butter, and garlic in a food processor. Keep adding crackers until it looks like a breading and not a ball of butter with stuff on it.
Put a handful of flour on a plate, the beaten egg in a bowl, and the breading on another plate.
Pound your chicken thin.
Dredge the chicken in the flour, dip it in the egg, and cover it in the breading.
Heat up olive oil in a pan.
When the pan is hot, put your chicken in. Cook until done, about 5-6 minutes per side.
When done, slice up and serve.




It was a good dinner. Took about an hour overall because my chicken was still a little thick. Otherwise it was good. We were in a rush to get back to church, so the photo is my dinner half eaten. It was good and easy. The only problem I ran into was keeping the breading on the chicken. I don't know how to fix that.
Next up, bread bowls. Erin Ulrich is coming down tomorrow so we'll be having a girly dinner of baked potato soup in a bread bowl. The soup is already on my blog and I'm excited for it. It's nice to have friends.