Cheddar Cheddar Chicken Dinner

Preheat your oven to 400 F and spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish with non-stick spray. Set aside. Cover a baking sheet pan with foil and also spray it with non-stick spray. Set that aside as well.

Add Brussels sprouts to the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Toss them around to evenly coat, then spread them out into an even layer. Set aside.

Cut each chicken breast into thirds. Set aside.

Depending on what stresses you need to release that day you can either:
a. Add all of the Ritz crackers into a large Ziplock bag, seal the bag and beat the crap out of it with a rolling pin; or
b. Use a food processor to grind all the crackers.

Add the milk, cheese, and crackers into 3 separate dishes. Add salt and pepper to the cracker crumbs, shaking the dish to combine. Line up the bowls assembly line style.

Dip each piece of chicken into the milk, next into the cheese and then the into the crackers. You’ll want to press the cheese onto each side of the chicken and press the chicken down into the crackers. Then put each piece of chicken into the casserole dish.

Once you’ve finished dipping, pressing and adding each piece of chicken into the casserole dish, sprinkle dried parsley or Italian seasoning over the top. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes. During the first round of baking the chicken, I put the pan of Brussels sprouts into the oven. They need to roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so.

After 35 minutes, remove the foil from the chicken dish, put it back into the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the chicken is golden brown.

While the chicken is cooking for the last 15 minutes, add the cream of chicken soup, sour cream and butter into a small pot over medium to medium high heat. Stir occasionally until the butter is melted and the mixture is heated through.

Serve the chicken with the sauce drizzled on top and the Brussels sprouts on the side. Depending on how much you love balsamic vinegar, you can add balsamic glaze (store-bought or homemade) to the top of the sprouts.

Recipe adapted from Jamie Cooks It Up! who also adapted it from What’s Cookin’ Chicago on Pinterest.