Italian Chicken

This recipe is easy peasy. Between this post and my previous one (Salmon Baked in Foil), one might conclude that I am turning into a lazy cook. This chicken takes about 4 minutes to prepare, with minimal chopping and manual labor. I assure you, however, I am not lazy. I promise to make an incredibly time intensive and tedious dinner this evening.

For a weeknight meal, however, you will love this. Despite the extremely easy preparation and minimal ingredients, this recipe has the look and taste of something far more gourmet than it is.

Recipe:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (obviously more or less depending on servings)
• 1 bottle light italian dressing
• 1 package Lipton onion soup mix
• Paprika
• 2 cups Cremini Mushrooms, stems removed
• 3 medium tomatoes, sliced and seeded

I only took the one picture of the final product, because there are so few steps in this process. Plus, I've come to conclude that my photographs really don't add any positive appeal to my recipes. I need to take a class.

Preheat the oven to 350. Place the chicken in a baking dish, and pour the italian dressing and soup mix over them. Flip the chicken a couple times to fully coat. Generously salt and pepper. Let the chicken marinate at room temperature for about 15-20 minutes. Then, sprinkle the chicken with paprika (about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon total), cover the dish with foil, and place in the oven. Bake for 35 minutes.

Take the dish out of the oven, uncover, and add the tomatoes and mushrooms. Bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes. To make this even easier, you could use cherry tomatoes and not do any chopping or seeding. Those would be delicious, but I only had vine tomatoes so I used those. Here is the same picture, again, I just wanted to remind you how good it is. Oh yeah, and I added a bay leaf. I just caught that floating in the middle of the picture.