Baked Breaded Chicken Breasts

This is certainly one of those easily modified recipes. Basically, take some boneless skinless chicken breasts, moisten them, then roll them in seasoned bread crumbs. In this case, I went very healthy and just used egg whites and a bit of balsamic vinegar, but in the past I've used whole eggs and soy sauce, eggs and water, eggs and milk, etc. for the moistening ingredient. Sometimes I soak the chicken in buttermilk first, which I do love. I seasoned the bread crumbs with garlic powder, garlic salt, and parsley tonight. Sometimes I throw in some grated Parmesan cheese for chicken cutlets, other times some cumin and chili powder for Chinese Chicken Salad

You can pound the chicken, bread it and fry it. If you're not good at pounding, slice a still-slightly-frozen chicken breast into thin pieces before breading and frying. Or you can bake the whole boneless skinless chicken breasts at 400 F for about half an hour. If you opt to bake them, spraying the breading with a bit of Pam or olive oil first adds to the crispness factor, which we like.

For 2 chicken breasts (actually two halves of course), mix the following in a pie pan or shallow dish:

• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• pepper to taste

In another pie pan or shallow dish, whisk together:

• 2 egg whites (or 2 whole eggs if you don't care)
• 1 Tbs balsamic vinegar

To make the chicken extra crispy, I dredged the breasts in flour, then dipped in the egg mix, then pressed into the bread crumbs. I put them on a cookie sheet and baked at 400 for about half an hour.

Goes great with roasted beets, beet greens, and baked potatoes.