Baked Parmesan Chicken

What is up with people calling stuff “Oven Fried?” No, honey. Just, no. Do not tease me with hopes of fried chicken and then shoot me down with the word OVEN. You do not fry a chicken in the oven. You don’t. Just no.

Today, I revolt. I will no longer fix something called OVEN FRIED. Don’t mess with my fried food. It’s BAKED. You baked that sucker in the oven. It doesn’t even remotely taste like fried chicken. You can say it does…but you lie. Revelation 21:8 – look it up. Baked chicken does NOT taste like fried chicken. Amen.

But, here’s the thing. I like baked chicken…a lot. However, I don’t want to be misled into thinking that it’s fried. If it’s baked, that’s cool. I like baked stuff. So, today I bring you BAKED Parmesan Chicken…formerly known as “Oven Fried Parmesan Chicken.” As if.

In Cooking Through Stacy’s Stash this week we have the first in a series of 11 cookbooks. These Southern Living Cookbooks were given to me by my Grandmaw when I got married. I have 1981-1991…that’s 11, in case you hate math. I know because I counted them instead of doing math.

There are like a gazillon recipes in each one. I had a hard time choosing what to make until I got on my OVEN FRIED soapbox. They still sell these cookbooks every year. I think it’s just a compilation of all the recipes from the magazine. I don’t have time for reading magazines anymore – but I do have time to flip through a cookbook…and I do quite often. 🙂 We’ll be tackling all 11 of these books before this series is over. WOOOOOO! Excitement lurks around every corner.

I chose this recipe because I love Parmesan Chicken…but, who doesn’t? I served it plain, but you could serve it with pasta and marinara sauce and then sing “That’s amore!”

Honestly, I prefer to bake chicken if I’m cooking it myself – if someone else is doing it, I prefer it fried. Why, you ask? Well, I’m afraid of frying chicken. Every time I do it, something goes wrong. I think frying chicken is a gift from heaven – and so far, I’ve not been given that gift. I’m praying though – the prayers of a righteous wife availeth much.

Burned fried chicken makes me sad.

This recipe called for a ton of cracker crumbs…and I really don’t buy crackers anymore. Sooo, I decided to use ground flax instead. Also, it said butter OR margarine. And really….OR? There really is no contest. It should always be butter. Always. That’s spiritual.

But anyway, after all that talk about butter, I cut it out – I like using egg when I bread something. So, egg it is. I still love you, butter.

I like using flax any time I can throw it in. Flax is so good for you. And it’s pretty tasty too. Who needs prunes? Some of you will get that later. Ahem.

I’m paranoid about raw chicken…so I always check to make sure that my chicken reaches 160 degrees before I’ll take it out of the oven. It still cooks a bit after that, so sometimes I get it out when it’s just a few degrees shy of 160. Don’t cook it too long or it’ll taste like shoe leather.

Verdict? This was very tasty – Annie was a big fan! She had to dip hers in ketchup…but I think that’s just a phase. Hopefully. Maybe. Hmmmmm. I like ketchup too though, so that’s cool. I didn’t miss the cracker crumbs at all. The flax is a keeper!