L is for Lemons

Lemons are great! I use lemons in so many of my recipes. Whether I use the juice or the zest, it is all good. Lemons are so useful, but the most common way that they are used in my house is actually in a baked chicken recipe. This is one of my sister's favorite dishes and the great part is that it is SUPER easy. This is the recipe off the top of my head because I never write it down and I do it differently every time I make this:

Ingredients:
-boneless chicken breasts
-regular breadcrumbs
-parmesan cheese (optional)
-salt & pepper
-meat tenderizer
-meat tenderizer
-parsley
-garlic powder
-dried onion flakes
-juice and pulp of 1/2 of a lemon (save the other half for the end)
-eggs
-milk

Pre-heat oven to 375. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the juice and pulp of the lemon, 2 eggs, and 1/2 cup of milk in a bowl. Set aside. Using a fork, poke holes in the chicken breasts on both sides and then sprinkle the meat tenderizer on both sides. In a 1 gallon sized zip-loc bag mix the following ingredients: 2 cups bread crumbs, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, salt (do not put a lot of salt in because the meat tenderizer is also salty), pepper, parsley, garlic powder, and the onion flakes. Lay a breast in the egg mixture and make sure to completely cover and submerge the chicken with the egg mixture. After the breast is fully wet, transfer the chicken to the bag with your dry mixture. Seal the bag and coat the chicken in the bread crumb mixture. Repeat this until you have done this to all of the chicken breasts. Once coated in the dry mixture, lay the breasts in a glass pan sprayed with cooking spray. Drizzle some lemon juice over the breasts and then spray the tops of the chicken breasts with cooking spray. Cook until crunchy and golden brown on the outside. You may need to flip over the chicken half way through cooking. I often check on the chicken because no matter how hard I try, sometimes it still sticks to the bottom of the pan. This chicken is great served with pasta in a butter sauce or even mashed potatoes.