A large part of Camden’s culture is family. What better way to honor our culture than share one of my family’s most loved recipes? This recipe comes from my family cook book (below) that my Grandma and Mom created and gifted to everyone in our family for Christmas a few years ago.

My Family Cook Book

This recipe was created by my cousin many years ago. Growing up, they played on many sports teams and one of the traditions was to have a “team dinner” the night before a big game. This gave the team a chance to spend some time together, relax, have fun, and bulk up on some energy. Their mom would usually host these team dinners at her house. After years of trying to come up with something that would feed the mouths of hungry teens, one night she invented “chicken-olies". It’s basically a mix of a chicken parmesan dish and raviolis. This dish got passed along to my Grandma when I started playing sports for my team dinners at her house. Here is how you make it:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb. of boneless skinless chicken tenders

• 2 large eggs

• Milk or cream

• 2-3 tbsp. Vegetable oil*

• 1 qt. marinara/spaghetti sauce (canned or homemade sauce)

• 16 oz. shredded cheese (mix mozzarella & a 3 cheese blend)

• 1 container Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

• Oregano

• 1 25 oz. bag frozen cheese raviolis

• Grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Beat eggs and add a little milk or cream to them (about 1/4 cup)

3. Dip chicken in egg mixture and then in bread crumbs

4. Heat vegetable oil in pan over medium heat (enough to cover bottom)*

5. Fry chicken on both sides until golden brown, set aside to cool a little

6. Cook ravioli according to package directions

7. In a 9x13 pan, put a small layer of spaghetti sauce on the bottom

8. Cut chicken tenders into bite size pieces and place on top of sauce in pan

9. Sprinkle with a little oregano and top with shredded cheese

10. Put ravioli on top of chicken and cheese (let cool a little first)

11. Add remaining sauce on top of raviolis

12. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and bake at 350 for 1/2 to 3/4 hr or until hot and bubbly

Chicken Olies

You can change this up with different variations of raviolis or chicken. It tastes much better with homemade sauce, but canned sauce will work too! I would suggest serving this with a salad and some garlic bread. This has always been a crowd pleaser with my family and hope it gets passed along to yours!