Healthier Chicken Parmesan

Book:  I started reading “Big Little Lies” by Liane Moriarity.  Someone had posted it on my Facebook feed.  It is fiction, and it is hilarious!  The book is PERFECT for this time of year, too!  The moms are all at the school for the first day of kindergarten.  I’m not a huge fiction fan, but this is really funny.  Great beach book and great reviews on GoodReads.

In other news, here are the cookies I made for our Vacation Bible School party.  The theme was related to Mount Everest, so I made 48 of these mountain cookies!

Recipe: We love a lot of Italian style dishes and this is one that we made to be a little healthier.  Olive Garden’s Chicken Parmesan has 1,050 calories, 52 grams of fat, 15 grams of saturated fat and 3000 mg of sodium!

This version well… doesn’t have all that.  🙂  This version has 251 calories, 9.5 grams of fat, and 31.5 grams of protein.

Feel free to make your own breadcrumbs from leftover bread.  I toast my bread in the oven, remove the crusts and throw it into the food processor.  Instant breadcrumbs!  Or purchase them.  Whole Wheat, panko or seasoned breadcrumbs will work.  If you use your own homemade breadcrumbs or panko crumbs, then be sure to add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning to the crumbs.

Freezer Friendly?  You bet!  Simply dip the chicken in the breading and place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet or in a foil 9×13 pan.  Once frozen – about 1 hour later – put into a plastic freezer bag or cover with foil and plastic wrap.  When you want dinner, pop into the oven from frozen or thawed out!

Healthier Chicken Parmesan

 

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: Mary Ellen P. Riley / Whisk Together

Serves: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breast, cut in half lengthwise for 8 breasts
• ¾ cup seasoned breadcrumbs (or as noted make your own and add 1 tsp. Italian seasoning)
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 Tb olive oil
• ¾ cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup marinara or homemade sauce
• fresh basil, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Prep a rimmed cookie sheet or large bar pan with baking spray or parchment paper.
3. In a shallow dish, mix the breadcrumbs and cheese together.
4. Brush olive oil on both sides of chicken breast and dip into breadcrumbs.
5. Bake 20 minutes.
6. Flip chicken over and bake another 5-10 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Add 1 T of sauce (or more) and 1.5 T of mozzarella cheese to each chicken.
8. Put back into the oven until cheese has melted - about 5 minutes.
9. Sprinkle with basil and serve over spaghetti, spaghetti squash, brown rice pasta or zoodles.

Notes

When dipping raw chicken or anything raw, I find it easiest to make sure to use my left hand (non-dominant) to handle the raw meat. This way my dominant hand (right hand) can go about sprinkling salt, turning on the oven, etc. Usually dipping or trimming meat requires dexterity in the dominant hand and I leave the other hand to handle the messy stuff.

Recipe from Skinnytaste

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