One Pan Tomato Basil Chicken

I came across this recipe on pinterest and despite my lack of fresh garden grown tomatoes, fell in LOVE with it when I made it last night for dinner. As an added bonus, it is a one pan meal and cooks up super quickly.

2 chicken breasts (I sliced mine horizontally so they were thinner to get more even cooking)
salt and pepper to taste
italian seasoning to taste
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 tsp. minced fresh garlic
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
4 Tbsp. cold butter

freshly grated parmesan cheese (totally forgot to add this, but was delicious without it)
pasta

Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and italian seasoning. Heat oil in a pan. Add chicken when oil is hot. Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side. Add chopped tomatoes. Add fresh basil. Add cold butter. Add minced garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Top with grated parmesan cheese and serve over pasta.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Citrus season is fast approaching in the AZ and our neighbors have a lemon tree that hangs over the fence near our pool. The lemons are still green, but they have given us free reign to pick any lemons on our side, so in honor of that, I wanted to share our favorite way ever to use lemons. My kids request these cookies on a regular basis, and it is rare that they last longer than a few hours around this place! Since you roll them in powdered sugar the kids love to help too, which is really fun. I found this recipe on pinterest and you can check it out at the original source with gorgeous photos to boot.

Makes 2-3 dozen small cookies

½ cups butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. baking soda
1-½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Add salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour and mix until just combined. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

*If using a non-stick darker baking tray, reduce baking time by about 2 minutes.