Linda Bonita Mexican Chicken

Do you ever come home from work and ponder, "What in the heck should I make for dinner?" Are you ever so desperate for ideas that you ask your spouse/partner, sibling, roommate, or even your children what you should make for dinner? Do you look in your fridge and see MOSTLY condiments? Are you ever bombarded by lack of motivation, lack of funds, or lack of ingredients?

If you answered yes to any of these then this recipe is especially for you!!! With my LOVE!!!

Prep is only about 15 minutes!!! Cook time 45!! Total is 1 hour!! It takes that long to have your significant other run to the closest burger joint and back.

You will need:
(cooking for 4 version)

4 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts (or 2 large ones cut in half)
12-24 oz of any spiciness salsa depending on how much you have or how much sauce you like
2 tbs vegetable or olive oil or butter (whatever you have, noticing a trend here?)
cooking spray is the easiest (but again, whatever you have that's oily)
sour cream (optional)
avocado (optional)
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese/mozzarella cheese (optional)

After you've cleaned and trimmed your chicken...
Do yourself a favor right now and PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 350 F RIGHT NOW!!!! DO IT!!
Now, coat your skillet or large pan with 2 tsp of oil, turn the stove top to high. place the chicken breasts on the pan and set your timer for 5 mins. Now leave it alone!!

In the mean time you can scrounge through the fridge and figure out what else to make. My family happened to have a ton of mushrooms and some Cole slaw mix. Super random I know. But it works. Corn on the cob would go better.

Ok the 5 minutes is up!!! Time to flip the chicken, it should be a darker golden brown. Set the timer for 4 minutes this time. The chicken doesn't NEED to be completely cooked because its going into the oven soon.

Ok now you can shred your cheese if you want it, make your sides, wash your veggies, pick your nose, make out with your spouse/partner, drink your vodka tonic, draw evil pictures of you massacring your boss, ect.

Ok the timer just went off. Now check to make sure the other side of the chicken is nice and golden, if it is continue, if not keep cooking.
You're going to want to coat your Pyrex dish with cooking oil and then place the chicken on it. Then dump the salsa all over it. (I don't recommend putting on the cheese yet, otherwise it will stick to the foil.) By this time the oven should be done preheating. Put foil over the top of the dish. And cook it for 45 minutes. Even if its ALMOST done preheating you can still put it in for the same amount of time, my mom said so!!

Now you have time to set the table, continue making your sides/veggies, kiss your lovie some more, drink your fancy drink, lounge, take a nap, ect.

Ok when it comes out you can put the cheese sour cream and/or sliced avocado on it. Or if your family is like my boyfriend's family and not everyone agrees on the same thing then you can put everything out on the table separately. If your family is on a portion control diet you can pre-serve everything and garnish with the small dollop of sour cream, slice of avocado and a sprig of cilantro. My mom wanted to put paprika and tobasco sauce on it. She's really happy/flattered I made this blog.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I have for the past 14 years. This is something my mom made up in a hurry one night, and it became one of her beautiful specialties.

Bon Appetit!!