Much to my mother’s dismay, I did not inherit her love and/or ability to cook dinner…all of the time.  I do cook here and there…”and there” being the key phrase here.  But, when I do cook, I try to go all out.

Tonight, I went all out or at least, all out for me.  I have a favorite dish at T.G.I.F. and for a while I’ve been salivating over the thought of cooking it at home and enjoying it for at least half the price.  My favorite dish there is the pecan crusted chicken and caprese salad.

Last night, we were given some garden grown tomatoes and freshly picked basil from my in-laws.  The light bulb went on in my head immediately.  So, the girls and I (I love saying that) went on a grocery trip and picked up the other ingredients we needed to make my wishes come true.

I will tell you that cooking a meal while tending to a 3-1/2 year old and 7 week old is NOT easy nor do I desire to take on my incredible dinner-making ideas anytime soon again.

So, I’m going to share the “recipe” with you, in case you find yourself salivating over the following pictures:

The above is the finished product.  Screw the presentation, the meal was fantastic.

What you need to make the pecan crusted chicken are finely chopped pecan pieces (1/2 cup), crushed corn flakes (1/2 cup), salt (3/4 tsp.), a cup of milk, two eggs and a cup of flour.

Beat your eggs and combine the beaten eggs and milk in a shallow bowl.  Mix your corn flakes, pecan pieces and salt in a shallow bowl.  Put your cup of flour in another shallow bowl.

Pound your chicken breasts with a kitchen mallet (or a heavy garlic press, like I did).  Put the chicken between a piece of plastic wrap to pound it.  Pound them to about a 1/2 inch thickness.  Dip them in the flour, milk/eggs mixture and then the pecans/corn flakes/salt mixture.

Heat 3/4 cup oil on medium-high heat and cook the chicken about 3 or 4 minutes on each side until the crust is a golden brown.

That’s about it.  It’s so freaking good.  I have been told by Eric that I can make it anytime I want to.  I probably won’t make it again for a while because it’s time consuming and time isn’t something that I have a lot of right now.  But it was so delish!