Parmesan Chicken + Oven Strategies

My friend Suzanne gave me this easy recipe. Here goes: 4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts; 1 stick butter, melted; 1 tube Ritz crackers, crushed; 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese; salt and pepper. Mix crackers, cheese, S&P. Dip chicken in butter, then dry mixture. Place on baking pan lined with Pam-sprayed foil (if you want easy clean-up). Bake about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

I love it when recipes don't specify how much S&P or other spices. And I love most recipes with butter. I'm not so crazy about recipes involving raw chicken because my fear of salmonella makes me feel like I'm handling radioactive material. I swear, how did we survive childhood?

Sad kitchen slant: Things you bake (roast sounds better) in the oven are the best. I have a very small oven, but I know it well. We're bosom buddies. It's a plain old electric, and in my humble opinion (IMHO for you techies), there's no big diff between gas and electric ovens. I get the whole gas stovetop thing - embrace it even and one day hope to have it, but seriously, a box heated to a certain temp is the same no matter what generates the heat. Please - I need a physicist to back me here!

I know that if the frozen pizza directions say 10 minutes at 450, I'm better off to do 12 at 425. I watch it closely. That's the key to good pizza and cookies. You gotta watch it. That's why you need a computer in your kitchen. Believe me. It's the best $800 you'll ever spend. You'll recoup it in burnt food in 3 months. But that's just me.

Another case in point. I made banana nut bread the other day. I cut the recipe into one-fourth. Except for the walnuts. I put two cups instead of 1/2. I realized this when I noticed my batter was a little, how should I say, heavy? Instead of 45 minutes at 350, I did 1 hour at 325, checked it when the timer went off, and it was perfectly springy in the middle. Nuts are good for you, and my BNBread is good. I'll stand behind it. Still searching for the perfect recipe. Let me know if you have it.

I have dirty, salmonella-infected dishes to tend to, so will close. Embrace your kitchen.