Band Celebration

Saturday was the state marching band competition in Thompson's Station, TN and Gibson County High School won first place.  Today was the celebrations to honor the students and I was a proud mom knowing my beautiful daughter was a part of that band and that great accomplishment.  The day started off with an official ceremony for the entire school so the band could present the principal with the traveling cup trophy that will eventually have GCHS and 2011 engraved on it before it travels to the winning school next year.  The ceremony was followed up with snacks and drinks for the band, faculty, and band parents.  At 1pm, the Band Boosters had a party to celebrate the end of marching season. 

This party made me remember why I stopped attending the booster meetings.  The booster parents are like this snotty, rude, clique (with a few exceptions of course) that does not want anyone invading their group unless your child has went to school with their child since kindergarten and even then you are not completely "in" unless you too went to the school system since kindergarten.  Needless to say, not only did my daughter not attend their schools, I did not attend their school either so I am the unacceptable outsider.  At the party today, I was the only person at the front table with plates, forks, napkins and some snack stuff.  Another person was assisting further down the table with several other people.  As I started to run out of plates, I asked if we had more.  The lady standing just feet away from them doing nothing refused to bring them to me and even yelled at me that "there they are, come get them".  So while she stood there and ran her mouth I had to hold up the line to walk across the room get them, open them, and set them out.  People like this completely annoy me; how hard would it have been to say "let me get those".  She seriously didn't even have to take a step to reach them and wouldn't have had to move to get them to me if she'd just passed them down. 

This evening, as I tried to decide what was for supper, I searched the Kraft website to find something to make with the ground beef I knew was in the refrigerator.  It was a nice surpise to check the fridge and find some chicken breasts; supper took a new direction.  I decided to try out a new recipe I had in my inbox waiting to try.  It was great!  It's called Chicken Romano and typical to my style, I adjusted the recipe to my family's preference and what I had on hand. 

Chicken Romano

3 tablespoons salt-free seasoned breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons grated pecorino romano cheese
4 thin-sliced boneless chicken cutlets
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 can (14-1/2 oz. size) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, liquid reserved
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tablespoons sliced pitted kalamata olives
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh basil leaves

Combine breadcrumbs and cheese in shallow dish or pie plate. Dredge the chicken pieces in crumb mixture to coat on both sides. Heat 1- 1/2 tsp. oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add half of chicken and cook until golden and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes each side. Transfer to plate; cover with foil and keep warm. Repeat.

Add drained tomatoes, garlic, olives, vinegar, red pepper and 1/3 cup of tomato liquid. Cook 2 minutes, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and discard garlic. Stir in basil. Spoon sauce over cutlets and serve.

I made the following adjustment:

*I used 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese instead of the salt-free crumbs and Romano cheese.

*1 can Italian tomatoes undrained

*1/2 tsp basil