Earlier this week I made a really easy dinner. I think it ended up looking pretty good, but it barely took any time to make. I had enough for a very generous portion for dinner and lunch the next day!

Here are the ingredients for the chicken:

• 2 Chicken breasts
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• Juice of one Lemon (optional)
• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2 tsp Thyme
• 1/2 tsp Dried Basil
• 2 tbsp Pesto
• 1/2 cup sliced Grape Tomatoes
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese

First you’re going to take the 2 chicken breasts and pound them so they are less than an inch thick and an even thickness throughout. This will help them cook more evenly and quickly. I honestly didn’t have a meat tenderizer or pounder to use, so I just put the chicken on a cutting board, covered it in plastic wrap and pounded the chicken through the plastic with my pesto jar! It worked fine.

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Next combine the olive oil, salt/pepper, thyme, basil, garlic powder, and lemon juice (which is optional depending on whether you like lemony chicken) and rub it all over the chicken, then place chicken into a 10 or 12 inch frying pan. I used a 12 inch cast iron.

You’re going to want to cook the chicken for about 6-8 minutes on medium/high heat on each side. I usually don’t cook more than 7 minutes per side before I think it’s done. While the chicken is cooking start on the green beans. You will need:

• About 8oz Green Beans
• 3 Shallots
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• One small hand full of roughly chopped almonds

I was pretty lazy and I just boiled/simmered my green beans. I put them in a pan with water, brought them to a boil, them let them simmer for about 5 minutes.

Next, chop up your almonds and put them in a pan to toast as well, for just a few minutes on med/high heat.

Finally, slice up your shallots and heat up the vegetable oil in a smaller pan until it’s hot enough to fry. Put in the shallots and fry them until they are cooked to your liking. This will go fast!

When you’re slicing up the first shallot it will look like a lot. Although after it fries down you’ll see you need 2 or 3 to have enough to go with all the green beans. See what I mean?

When the beans are cooked, the nuts are toasted, and the shallots are fried, just combine them! I also salted them a bit because I’m a salt fiend.

Meanwhile your chicken should be done, you can take it out and put it on a plate. It looks delicious just by itself.

Then all you need to do is spoon about 1 tbsp of pesto on each, and split the cheese and tomatoes between each chicken breast.

This was really good in my opinion and it made a great lunch for the next day as well! It packed perfectly.

I’m definitely going to make this again sometime, but for now, I’m going to enjoy it while it’s hot!