pinspired recipe: chicken parmesan casserole is to die for

For whatever reason, I totally crave all things spaghetti/pizza/etc on the weekends. I try to feed the cravings with mini english muffin pizzas, but sometimes I need more.

Let me just tell you right now... this Chicken Parmesan Casserole that I found on Pinterest is the freakin' bomb diggity.

Making it is SO EASY. 

You need: 

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• some red pepper flakes, depending on how much spice you'd like to add
• 4-6 chicken breasts [to cover the bottom of your baking dish]
• 2-3 cups of marinara sauce, depending on how much sauce you'd like
• 2 cups of low fat mozzarella cheese
• parmesan cheese
• 3.5 oz of garlic or italian seasoned croutons
• basil. I used dried basil, so I just sprinkled a bunch across the whole plate

You DO: 

• Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Spread the garlic and red paper flakes and olive oil across the bottom of a 13x9 baking sheet
• Cover the sheet with your chicken, but don't overlap. 
• Put the marinara sauce on top of the chicken, then sprinkle the basil. 
• Put half of your mozzarella cheese on top, then sprinkle some parmesan cheese [I didn't use a whole lot because I'm not a big parmesan fan, but use what you'd like!]
• Put down a layer of croutons
• Throw the rest of the cheese on top, and bake for 40 minutes.

Seriously, the easiest. So easy, that when it came out, I didn't think twice about digging right in. I forgot this was something I was supposed to be showing off.

Yeah, the cheese on top was a little burnt because my oven hates cheesy things, but it was still amazing!

The croutons stayed a little crispy, but also soaked up some of the sauce and cheese which made it the perfect texture. [This may seem weird, but my mouth is super sensitive. Anything hard like croutons or cereal that hasn't been soaked in milk tears my gums up. Not fun.]

Considering most people have a lot of those ingredients on hand on any given day, it's a pretty solid option for a weeknight dinner... and I will absolutely be making it many more times. 

love,
elizabethany

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