Cheddar Baked Chicken

So, a couple weeks ago I asked Derek to grab a block of cheddar cheese while he was out for something that I was making and he came back with a huge block. So, we just decided we would make a lot of grilled cheese sandwiches to use it up. Anywayss, yesterday for dinner I was planning on making the Pioneer Woman's Pantry Pasta for Two until I looked in the fridge and remembered the block of cheese that was still pretty huge and I thought I had maybe heard of people doing cheddar baked chicken so I just decided to give it a try. It turned out sooo good! I don't like to promote myself or toot my own horn but Derek and I both agreed it was some of the best chicken we have ever had and he said I need to write down the recipe because he wants it again (such a nice compliment :)) So I decided that before I write the recipe into my custom cookbook (thanks again Steph!) I will post it on here since a few people have asked for it anyways.

One disclaimer before I start... I didn't measure much but I will try to estimate how much of everything I used.

So first I guess is what you need.... here it is..

2 chicken breasts (sliced lengthwise to make 4 total thinner pieces because I think it's easier to work with)
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 to 1-1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 to 3/4 cup crunched caesar croutons (that's what I had, you could use breadcrumbs, cereal or whatever)
1 teaspoon ground pepper or less... or more depending on how much you like.

These next two ingredients can be substituted for what you have in the pantry, I had these so I added them..
~1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I just shook and mixed until it looked like there was a good amount
1/2 teaspoon rosemary (it smelled good)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Prepare a baking dish (I used an 8x8 pan) by melting 2 tablespoons of butter in the bottom

Beat one egg and mix in milk in a small bowl.

In a little bigger of a bowl mix together shredded cheese, crunched croutons (or whatever you use), pepper, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. I found it best to just use my hands and make sure everything looked pretty evenly dispersed.

Take each chicken breast piece (you should have 4) and coat it in the first bowl of egg and milk and then dip it in the cheese mixture making sure it coated good on both sides then place it into the baking dish. Do this with the remaining pieces of chicken. My pieces fit pretty snug in my 8x8 dish so if you were going to do more than you'd want a bigger dish. Then, you just pop it in the over for 35-45 minutes or until the top is nice and golden and the chicken is cooked through.

Then, you enjoy :) Hopefully you like it as much as we did :)