the review: not chicken thighs and spaghetti squash

We are batting three for five this week. We did not make Philly cheese steaks on Tuesday due to a very important Woodland Council Meeting (a.k.a. school presentation). Tonight, we somehow went from having 6 kids home for dinner to only 2. Making anything out of a Mario Batali cookbook (Braised Chicken with Sweet Onions and Spaghetti Squash with Soft Herbs and Robiola, in this case) seemed excessive. Add that to the fact that the day's agenda for the two remaining kids included a preschool Valentine’s Day party with assorted sugar and no naps, and simple won the dinner contest.

I loosely followed this recipe for chicken breasts with roasted garlic. Rather than doubling up on the garlic, I used one head for two pieces. This was mainly because I sliced my finger open with the knife will preparing the garlic and decided that one head was plenty. We (and by "we", I mean the kids' insisted and their mother declined the argument) also went with plain noodles for the little kids (who did not like last night’s homemade macaroni and cheese since it was not orange) and some broccoli.

I’m not entirely sure why this recipe calls for cooking boneless, skinless chicken breasts for an entire hour at 400°. Mine were cooked through at 30 minutes. I think the garlic could use a little extra time if you are going to use it to spread on toast, but it was fine for seasoning the chicken.

Overall, the chicken was pretty good. Not memorable, but not bad. I had mine with leftover mac and cheese. Nothing to write home about but nothing to sneeze at either. A decent, quick way to cook chicken breasts in a pinch.