Chrissy Teigen's Lemon Garlic Bacon Chicken

I will be the first to admit that I am lacking skills in the kitchen.  Fortunately for me, I am blessed with an amazing cook, my mother, who fulfills all of my tummy's desires.  However, as I near my 25th birthday (EEK!) it's hit me that I really need to get my butt in the kitchen and start COOKING!  And I when I say "cooking" I mean: going to the store and buying the meat, vegetables, and other ingredients...NOT emptying the contents of a box or prepackaged frozen meal into a pot and calling it a day.

So for my Mom's birthday late last month, I decided to surprise her with a full, home-cooked meal when she came home from work.  For weeks prior, I searched high and low for easy, no-brainer recipes that a newbie, such as myself, could not mess up.

I've been an avid follower of SI swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen's food blog So Delushious, so naturally, her food blog was my first stop.  I came across this super easy, delicious recipe for Lemon Garlic Bacon Chicken and I knew that it was something that my whole family would thoroughly enjoy.  The only modification that I made to Chrissy's recipe was that I added more bacon...who doesn't love bacon?!

I also prepared chicken gravy to serve with the chicken, and for side dishes, I whipped up some delicious green beans suggested by Chrissy, as well as Alton Brown's creamy garlic mashed potatoes.

Ready for the oven!

The end result =]

Green beans

Creamy garlic mashed potatoes

Dinner is served!  Happy birthday, Mommy =]

If I can do it, you can do it too =] my whole family was full, happy, and impressed!  Thank you Chrissy for helping me make my Mom's birthday truly memorable!