The Pioneer Woman's Chicken Parmigiana, slightly adapted

I'm going to be 100% honest with you--I made this dinner in mid-November. We were having guests for dinner, and one of them doesn't eat red meat.  I found this recipe on "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" and I decided that this would be the perfect solution.  I've made Chicken Parmesan many times, so I didn't really need a recipe.   I will give Ree Drummond credit for inspiring me to make this!

If you've never made Chicken Parmesan (or Parmigiana, as "Ree" calls it), you need marinara sauce.  I stopped buying bottled spaghetti sauce years ago, because I found that making your own sauce is so easy, and I think it tastes much better.  I try to buy San Marzano crushed tomatoes to make my own sauce. They're a little more expensive, but they taste so good. I haven't photographed a tutorial on how to make marinara sauce, but the Pioneer Woman has.  I'll give you the link for that at the end of this recipe. Let's begin:

I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Season flour with salt & pepper. Brown the chicken in olive oil and a little butter, until browned (about 3-5 minutes).  Remove from heat, cover with foil and keep warm (I heat my oven to 200F).  My salted pasta water is already started on the stove, too.

Ree makes the marinara sauce, after the chicken is cooked.  I actually made mine a day ahead. That way I could spend more time visiting with company.  Of course, you can buy bottled marinara sauce.  I think it's cheaper to make my own, and I can control how much sodium goes into it-- and I know what's in it!

These photos aren't my best work.  I had company, it was already night time, and I don't take extra time to shoot photos when I have guests. Most of you understand this!  Earlier in the day, I picked some fresh Italian parsley-- which is still growing strong in my winter garden (of course, I don't ever see snow on the ground).
I simply return the chicken to the sauce-- and here's where I improvised. Instead of adding more Parmesan cheese on top of the chicken, I added fresh mozarella.   When I lifted the lid, to take a photo, the cheese hadn't fully melted.  In the end, it did!

I served this with linguine noodles, cooked al dente and garnished it with fresh parsley. If I had basil, I would have used that-- alas, my basil was finished by October.  This is a fast and simple dinner to make. I think kids would love it, too.  To see how P-Dub made her sauce, you can find it here.

While Ree of the Pioneer Woman is known for her "hearty" food-- heavy cream, butter and all, she does have recipes on her website that are a little less ranch style.  I read her blog, faithfully. I just love her sense of humor and her photographs.  She's made quite a name for herself, and I do have her new cookbook. It's half stories and half recipes.  Most of them are on her blog, but there are a few that are only in her cookbook.

I have some cooking to do, now! Hopefully, I'll catch up in posting what I've made very soon!