Perfect Simple Chicken Breast- Any Recipe Every Time

Chicken, always moist, tender, juicy, flavorful and delicious, right?

Wait, what's that you say? Dry, chewy, rubbery and flavorless? Those days are over my friends. Chicken is at the very top and bottom of my favorite food list and I bet most of you agree with me. One of the most common questions I get from friends, family and on my blog is, how the heck do you cook chicken?! There are a million great and not so great recipes that call for chicken breast, cubed, shredded, diced, ext. I have found that most people just boil chicken when a recipe generically calls for basic chicken breast. Oh people, please don't boil your chicken, for me, it is one of the worst tasting things and textures around.

I have a very simple, quick solution that will give you moist, flavorful chicken EVERY TIME. Whether you want to top it on a salad, use it in enchiladas, soup, pasta, the center of a sandwich, whatever recipe calls for plain chicken. This is the simplest way to get moist, no fail chicken. Keep in mind, this recipe is not meant to be the star of the show but should be used as a component of another recipe.

The trick is putting the tin-foil tent immediately over the chicken and letting it rest for at least 30 minutes, this allows all of the juices to settle into the chicken and also insures that the chicken is cooked all the way through.

Ingredients

4 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (if you want to use bone-in, it will be cheaper and taste even better)

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sea Salt or Kosher Salt

Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Tin Foil (won't work without it)

Preheat oven to 350

Place the chicken breast on a non stick sheet pan. Drizzle chicken with olive oil and massage into chicken (it's about 2 teaspoons per breast but no need to measure just make sure entire breast has a nice thin coat of EVOO). Next, generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place chicken in the oven with the rack in the center and bake for exactly 33 minutes. Remove chicken from oven and immediately make a tin-foil tent over the and pan (two pieces of tin foil covering the chicken and sealing shut over the edges of the pan, making sure no steam is escaping) and let the chicken rest for at least 3o minutes, up to 1 hour. Very important- Do not pierce or "test" the chicken breast when you pull it out of the oven, leave it alone, the tin foil tent with finish cooking the chicken if it is not quite done yet. Also, make sure you wait the full 30 minutes. The longer you wait the more time your chicken has to relax and absorb all of the juices back into it.

Want to step it up? What type of dish is your chicken going into?? In addition to the salt and pepper, add the following to your chicken before baking.

Asian- Sprinkle with powdered ginger and garlic powder

Mexican- Sprinkle with cumin and garlic powder.

Italian- Sprinkle with Italian seasoning, or dried Rosemary &/or dried Basil. Garlic is great with Italian as well.

Indian- Sprinkle with your favorite curry powder.

You can also use your favorite marinade with this recipe. Marinate chicken and cook as instructed above.

Here is an example of cubed, do whatever you need to do with it, it's very versatile.

Summer Roasted Vegetable Pizza with Goat Cheese & White Balsamic Honey Glazed Onions

It feels great to be back! After being sick and having no appetite for almost a month (awful), then packing, moving, vacationing for 3 weeks and moving unpacking to Omaha for the summer, I am finally in my kitchen again and can't wait to cook and create all summer long. Phew!

Onto my new recipe . . . . Many of you can probably tell that I have a thing for Pizza- oh how I love gourmet pizza, it is quite possibly my favorite food. This is a new recipe creation and it's right at the top of my favorite pizza list. The sweetness from the Balsamic and Honey Glazed Onions and roasted vegetables with creamy tang from the goat cheese is well, a blissful combination. For the crust, use my honey whole wheat pizza dough recipe and don't forget to top it all off with fresh basil.

I also made a Simple Summer Salad with White Balsamic and Honey Vinaigrette that really pairs well with the pizza. My vegetables were from the farmers market- mmm, you just can't beat the taste of farmers market vegetables! You can use the vinaigrette on any salad- there is nothing like a fresh homemade vinaigrette to kick off your summer!

Summer Roasted Vegetable Pizza with Goat Cheese and White Balsamic Honey Glazed Onions

Roasted Vegetables

1 small to medium green zucchini squash, cut into 1/2 inch slices.

1 small to medium yellow squash, cut into 1/2 inch slices.

1 small to medium red bell pepper (1/2 of a large), cut into long thin slices and then cut in half.

1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Additional toppings

1 cup favorite marinara or pizza sauce

About 10 fresh basil leaves, rolled together and cut into thin ribbons.

1 vine ripe tomato, cut into big thin slices (leave tomato whole and start from the non stem side cutting slices as thin as you can).

6 ounces goat cheese

White Balsamic Honey Glazed Onions

1 red onion, cut thin.

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 Tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

Prepare Honey Whole Wheat Pizza dough as instructed.

Do all of your prep work and cut vegetables as instructed in the recipe ingredients.

Preheat oven to 400.

On a jelly roll plan place zucchini, yellow squash and bell peppers. With your hands, toss vegetables with 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper.

Place in oven for 10 minutes, remove, toss lightly and set aside.

While vegetables are in the oven, make the onions.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large non-stick skillet. Add onions and saute for 5 minutes being careful not to burn or brown. Add vinegar and honey, stirring constantly for about 1 minute. Reduce heat and continue to saute until most of the liquid is absorbed and onions are tender. Set aside for pizza.

Roll out pizza dough, place on heated pizza stone (or just a pan if that's what you have) and assemble pizza-

Spread sauce evenly over the dough.

Sprinkle 2/3 of the goat cheese over sauce, reserve remaining 1/3 of cheese.

Evenly distribute roasted vegetables, tomato and balsamic onions over pizza.

Sprinkle with remaining goat cheese.

Bake at 400 for 12 to 15 minutes.

Remove pizza from oven and sprinkle with fresh basil. Serve hot with a salad like the recipe bellow.

Simple Summer Salad with White Balsamic & Honey Vinaigrette

Mixed Greens

Vine ripened tomato

English cucumber

Toasted Silvered Almonds (or to make your own you need raw silvered almonds and sea salt)

Balsamic and Honey Vinaigrette

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 TBS white balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Juice from 1 lemon

2 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon red onion (if you are making the pizza, just take a little before you cook them)

1/3 cup, flat leaf Italian parsley, roughly chopped and set aside.

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper.

Mix all ingredients in a blender except for the parsley. Taste when well blended and adjust salt and pepper if needed. Once ready to serve, add parsley and shake up. If you are not a big parsley fan, add less, I love it, so I add a really big handful or two. I love the freshness it adds.

Pour and toss onto salad dressing just before serving. Be careful not to use too much- depending on the size of your salad you will need a different amount of dressing. My family of 4 gets a couple of salads out of 1 recipe. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week.