Italian Baked Chicken

1/4 c zesty Italian salad dressing
2 c Italian seasoned bread crumbs
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Olive oil cooking spray

Marinade chicken in Italian dressing in refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place bread crumbs in shallow dish.
Take chicken from marinade and coat in bread crumbs.
Arrange the chicken on a cooking rack placed on top of a cookie sheet.
Spray the chicken lightly with the cooking spray and bake until golden brown and centers are no longer pink, about 20 minutes.

This goes great on top of pasta with marinara sauce and sprinkled with shredded parmesan cheese.

Crunchy Cajun Oven Fried Chicken

Ingredients
2 cups original or cheddar french fried onions

1 tbsp cajun seasoning, or to taste

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix french fried onions and cajun seasoning in ziplock bag. Crush onions with rolling pin or your hands.

Place in a shallow dish or pie pan.

Dip chicken in egg, then coat in onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere.

Place chicken on a cooling rack placed on top of a cookie sheet. This allows the oven heat to surround the chicken, keeping the coating crunchy.

Bake for 20 minutes or no longer pink in the center.

Great alternative:  Crunchy Cajun Pork Chops

Follow the recipe above, but substitute pork chops for the chicken.  Baking time and temperature remain the same.

Tangy Citrus Spinach Salad

10 oz package Spinach leaves, washed and dried on papertowels
1 can Mandarin Oranges, drained (and rinsed if packaged in heavy syrup)

Citrus Dressing:
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp olive oil

Whisk together dressing ingredients, pour over spinach and mandarin oranges.

This is a great spring / summer salad and goes very well with Chipotle Spiced Shrimp.