Italian Chicken & Mash Potatoes Recipe

This meal contains a lot of calories. If you are counting them, please note that the butter and cream cheese are the caloric culprits! Maybe you can substitute lower calorie ingredients, but it will probably not taste as good. Sorry! Some of us skip the part of calorie counting! (But for those who do count them, I included a healthy hint at the end of the article.)

I never really measured the ingredients I use since the tastiness of this dish is a matter of personal choice. Just increase or decrease the amount of everything on how much you like that particular ingredient and how many more people will be eating. Of course, you can include extra for leftovers if you like. This meal reheats really well! To make a meal for two, this is my suggestion.

Ingredients:

1. 2 boneless skinned chicken breasts, sliced.
2. 2 large eggs
3. 1 container Italian bread crumbs on a flat plate
4. 2 sticks of butter

To slice the chicken easily, you can cut it while it is slightly frozen. That way you get nice perfect slices. It can be a bit cold on your bare hands, so I suggest using something to hold onto the chicken. Plus it is a bit slippery and you do not want to cut yourself! You can slice into strips, nuggets or little bites, but I think nuggets or small bites is best.

Next, put two full sticks in a large frying pan, and just let it melt on medium heat. Be sure to watch them as every stove is different and you only want them to melt. Chop the onion in whichever way you like -- diced, rings or , my personal favorite for this dish, long slices. Be sure the onion is broken up well so that each chicken chunk will be served with a crispy onion bit which will add to the deliciousness of both the chicken and the potatoes that we will prepare a bit later!

Add the chopped onion to the melted butter and stir occasionally. Increase the heat if needed to sauté the onions, but be sure to not overcook as you will be cooking the chicken in this mixture!

Whisk the eggs until they're mixed well, adding a dash of milk if you like. You can either pour the whisked eggs onto the sliced chicken or dip the individual chicken slices into eggs. Just be sure the chicken is coated well with the eggs.

Take the egg-coated chicken and roll in the bread crumbs. Once coated with bread crumbs, drop it into the butter and onions, moving onions out of the way as need. They will sizzle quickly, so keep an eye on it, turning the chicken to cook evenly. You want both the chicken and the onions to get nice and crispy.

While the chicken is cooking, you can add seasonings if you like, but I use the Italian bread crumbs that come already seasoned. But if you prefer more salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, etc. this is the time to add it.

Once the chicken is crispy on all sides, place in a serving dish that has sides. After all the chicken is cooked, cover with the cooked onions and drizzle the butter over the top. The chicken is now ready to serve!

WARNING: KEEP FAMILY AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED OR THEY WILL EAT THE NUGGETS ONE BY ONE UNTIL DINNER BASICALLY DOES NOT EXIST!

This is a simple way to make delicious mashed potatoes. If you have a favorite mashed potatoes recipe, you can stick with that if you prefer. Some people leave the skins on and just wash them with a scrubby while other people peel them. Either way works well with this method.

Ingredients:

1. Several potatoes of your choice
2. 1 stick of cream cheese
3. 1 stick of butter

Boil the potatoes until a fork can easily puncture all the way in but do not overcook for the best mashing consistency. Chop them in to pieces that will be easy to mash. Place the cream cheese and butter in the bottom of a mixing bowl. You may want to also chop them up a bit for easier mixing. It is important to put the butter and cream cheese in the bottom of the bowl. You can use a electric mixer if you prefer, but I was brought up to do it the old-fashioned way with a potato masher and elbow grease.

As your mixer mixes or you mash the potatoes in with the butter and cream cheese, you can add a dash or two of any seasonings such as salt, pepper or garlic depending on your personal tastes. Keep mashing until you get the potatoes to a good consistency so that they are not too runny or too stiff.

For a healthier option, just skip sautéing the onions and place the breaded chicken and onions on a grill. Placing the onions on top of the chicken as the grill will add awesome flavor to the chicken without the cholesterol and calories that the butter adds.

Maybe skip the mashed potato side and just wrap a baking potato in foil and place in the hot coals about a half hour before you put the chicken on. That way you can have a baked potato along with your meal.

You could also wrap foil around bits of breaded chicken and onion with some butter or butter substitute and add a couple of ice cubes to keep things moist and grill them up! This option is not quite as healthy but not as decadent as the original method.