Garlic Chicken with Brown Sugar

Ok, so last night, even though we had left over pizza in the refrigerator, I decided to make something new for dinner. 

My husband wasn't feeling so great so after work he went to rest, while I hung out with our 7 month old son.  After feeding Alex his dinner, I put some toys on the high chair for him to play with, and quickly grabbed my phone to search my Pinterest recipes!

I decided on something with very little ingredients, and of course something fast!

I decided on Garlic Chicken with brown sugar. Sounded extremely simple: olive oil, minced garlic, brown sugar, and of course the chicken. So here is the recipe and of course a picture to go along with the end results.  

Ingredients:

*  4 boneless skinless chicken breasts.  

     - I had 5 left over chicken tenderloins so I used those. And added 2 chicken breasts.

* 4 garlic cloves

     - Honestly, I don't know where to even find fresh garlic cloves, and would definitely not know how to "mince" it myself. So I choose convenience and buy the pre-minced garlic in the jar.
* 4 tablespoons of brown sugar

     - who would have known that brown sugar caramelizes when it hits heat?? I surely didn't know!!

*  3 teaspoons olive oil

     - I used more because I just didn't know what the heck I was doing and it looked like the mixture was      drying up!!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 500°F and lightly grease a casserole dish.
   - Ok, well this just seemed like a high temperature, and since I'm not experienced in the kitchen, I did not go to 500°F. I went to 450°. My chicken was frozen so I cooked it for 25 minutes at 350°F BEFORE I added the oil/garlic/brown sugar mixture. Then I cooked for another 20-25 minutes at 450° AFTER I added the mixture .
2. In small sauté pan, sauté garlic with the oil until tender.
   - This was the first time I really had to sauté anything besides onions. It seemed to me that the heat was drying up the mixture so, I added a little more olive oil. More seasoned cookers may be just fine with what the recipe calls for.
3. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar.
   - Just a FYI, brown sugar really gets hard fast when placed into heat! 
4. Place chicken breasts in a prepared baking dish and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture.
   -  Just from experience, line the baking dish with foil because it gets really messy -- and burns!!
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes
     
    
   I served with rice & green beans.  
    
   Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-garlic-chicken-5478#ixzz1rBav4n9A