Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinahhhhhh!

This is a bit of a departure from the usual recipes I share. Sometimes you want to (or have to) fix a quick and easy meal that will impress people. There's some expense up front for the fixins, but you'll have enough for several meals.

Chicken Parmesan Dinner

Here's what you'll need:
a box of frozen chicken tender fillets
a box of frozen mozzarella sticks
a box of penne pasta (or whatever you prefer)
a jar of spaghetti sauce
a bag of shredded mozzerella
a loaf of Italian bread

plus a few odds and ends from the pantry like grated parmesan cheese, garlic powder, oregano and basil (or Italian seasoning), and butter or margerine

Remember, this is quick too. Make note of the various cooking times listed on the packages, but this is the basic order. You won't be frantic, but if you work calmly and steadily, the timing works out very nicely.

1. preheat the oven to 450 degrees
2. get two cookie sheets, spray one lightly with no-stick and arrange a couple of chicken fillets per person
3. pop that pan into the oven, it'll be in there for about 20 minutes
4. start a big pot of water on the stove to boil
5. on the second cookie sheet, put a couple of mozzarella sticks per person
6. spread slices of the bread with butter, then sprinkle with garlic powder, basil, oregano and parmesan cheese
7. put on the tray with the cheese sticks and then pop it into the oven for about ten minutes and while you've got the oven open, flip the chicken
8. pour the sauce into a pan on the stove and start heating it up, stirring occasionally
9. when the water boils, pour in a good teaspoon of salt and then the pasta (a half pound feeds three or four, depending on how hungry you are)
10. pull the chicken out, add a tablespoon of sauce or so over the top of each, then a good pinch of shredded mozzarella, put it back into the oven
11. get the bread and cheese sticks out of the oven, turn it off but leave the chicken in there to melt the cheese
12. drain the pasta, pull out the chicken
13. serve up each plate with chicken, mozzarella sticks, pasta and sauce and bread on the side

For wine, you're on your own. This dinner, from start to serve, takes about 35 minutes. Plus, you'll have plenty of leftover frozen chicken and mozzarella sticks.