Recipe : Avocado Chicken Parmigiana

We have been bad. Verrrrrrrry bad. It's been it feels like eons since we ate a home-cooked meal at all. And being post-baby and all, I've got a little extra going on in the middle. And the hubby put on a good amount of sympathy weight while I was pregnant. So is eating all those greasy gyros, and pizzas, and burgers really a great idea? Hell no. We decided today to put a stop to it, and I spent the entire morning on Pinterest looking at recipes. There is some delicious looking stuff out there! And even if it's not 100% healthy, it's better than the crap we've been ingesting since being at home with a new baby makes it hard to eat well!

In my super-fun clicking spree I managed to come across a blog called Cuisine Paradise. And on said blog I found a recipe that sounded like a dream! Avocado Chicken Parmigiana. All things I like! So I set out for the store to get the missing ingredients, came back home after spending more than I planned on (as per usual!), and cooked. It turned out DEEEEEEEEEEEE-licious. And I'm definitely not a great cook by any stretch of the imagination, so this makes me quite pleased with myself.

Avocado Chicken Parmigiana

Serves: 4 | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast fillets, halved lengthwise

½ cup plain flour

2 tablespoons fresh milk

2 eggs

1 ½ cups dried bread crumbs

2 tablespoons olive oil/cooking spray

½ cup tomato pasta sauce

2 avocados, sliced

½ cup grated mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Place chicken breast in a clear plastic bag, or between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Using a rolling pin or meat mallet pound until 0.5 cm thick. **I highly recommend using a meat mallet, the rolling pin was quite frustrating and took a while. And broke a couple of my chicken breasts**

2. Place flour and bread crumbs on 2 separate plates and lightly whisk milk and egg together in a shallow dish.

   

3. Coat 1 piece of chicken breast in flour (shake off the excess), dip it into the egg/milk mixture and then coat in bread crumbs using your fingertips to press on and secure.

Feel Free To Take Goofy Pictures As Well

4. Place on prepared baking tray (I used nonstick cooking spray on the pan), and repeat the same process with the remaining chicken breasts.

 

5. Lightly spray or brush the prepared chicken with oil. Bake for 8 minutes in a preheated 400° Fahrenheit oven, flipping the chicken after 4 minutes so it cooks evenly.

6. Remove from oven and spread each chicken breast with 1 heaped tablespoon of pasta sauce (I put a little more on mine since I love pasta sauce) and arrange avocado slices over the sauce heaps. Sprinkle with a decent amount of mozzarella cheese.

7. Return chicken to oven and bake for another 5 to 7 minutes or until golden and chicken is cooked through.

8. Serve with whatever you'd like, we just had a small salad with ours.

Voila!

If it's simple enough for me to make, I'm sure it will be even easier for the rest of the world! I did add a little bit of garlic salt to the marinara for a little flavor boost. All in all, recipe was both easy to make, and easy to devour. Definitely a tasty treat!

Feel free to follow me on Pinterest if you would like! I love finding new people to follow!

First Christmas Cookies of The Year

On December 3rd, I am having 3 of my good friends, their husbands, and their babies over for a small holiday dinner party. We have all known each other since elementary school, and will all have children super close together in age. I decided on my day off today to do a test run on a batch of cookies I wanted to make for this occasion! They are called Peppermint Kisses, and this recipe was taken from Family Circle Magazine. Start to finish it took me maybe 30 minutes to complete them, and they are delicious! If you like peppermint I definitely suggest trying these!

Finished Product??

YUM!

Progresso Lemon Pepper Panko and Chef Chiarello CookBook Review & Giveaway!

Another giveaway?! Really?!?!

The chef’s secret is out – panko is in! A longtime secret of Japanese cuisine, panko is now a pantry staple for creating perfect crispiness in any dish. This October, Lemon Pepper will join the ranks of Progresso’s line of panko bread crumbs, which includes Original and Italian flavors. 

Whether frying, baking or broiling, this culinary superstar adds a flavorful crunch to create simple, savory recipes. Made from the soft, tender centers of the bread, Progresso Lemon Pepper Panko combines the perfect crunch with effortless flavor to give any dish that extra punch. The large, flaky crumb has a coarser texture than traditional bread crumbs, delivering a lighter, crunchier coating or topping. I have been using panko in place of breadcrumbs in my recipes, and you can most definitely tell the difference, taste and appearance wise!

A chef known for creating delicious dishes with fresh, premium ingredients, Chef Michael Chiarello uses panko as his go-to bread crumb for a crunch that won’t quit. An Emmy-award winning TV chef and cookbook author, Chef Chiarello is the tastemaker behind Bottega Napa Valley Restaurant, NapaStyle and Chiarello Family Vineyards, and appears on The Cooking Channel and Top Chef Masters only on Bravo.

Chef Chiarello is helping cooks everywhere use Progresso’s panko to make flavorful, flawless recipes including Crispy Seafood Salad, Mama Chiarello's Stuffed Eggplant and Turkey Scallopini and Squash Ravioli with Cranberry Brown Butter.  His cookbook Bottega features some drool-worthy recipes that I cannot WAIT to make, such as Potato Gnocchi Ravioli with Egg Yolk and Sage Brown Butter and Roasted Branch of Brussels Sprouts with Fennel Spice. YUM! Don't those sound delicious?!

Visit the Progresso website for additional recipes, tips for cooking with panko, video and a coupon for $1 off any panko flavor.  

Be sure to check out the Progresso's Wine & Dine with Chef Michael Chiarello Sweepstakes. Now through December 31st, participants can enter for the chance to win a trip for two to Napa Valley to attend the Spring Bud Break Party, an annual dinner and wine tasting event taking place on May 7, 2011. In addition to two tickets to the party, the grand prize also includes roundtrip airfare and hotel accommodations. Visit www.progressobroth.com for the sweepstakes rules and entry form.  

The book is not only beautiful, but FULL of delicious gourmet recipes. The Lemon Pepper Panko is delicious, and a welcome addition to Progresso's line of panko! Who doesn't love nice crunchy food?!

The kind people at General Mills and MyBlogSpark provided me with a prize pack containing a package of lemon pepper panko, and an autographed copy of Chef Chiarello's cookbook Bottega to facilitate my review. 

Not only that, but they are also providing another prize pack to one of my lucky readers!

How To Enter:

(mandatory entry, +1) - Become a public follower of my blog (if you're already a follower, just state that in a comment as well)

(2 entries) - Tell me what kind of dish you would create with lemon pepper panko?

(2 entries) - Post my button on your blog, then come back and leave the link where it is posted!

That's 5 chances per person to win this amazing prize pack!

Contest will end on Sunday, November 21st, at 9 PM CST, and is open only to US residents!

Good luck!

DISCLOSURE: The information and giveaway were given to me from General Mills through MyBlogSpark. I was provided with a gift pack for my participation.

Apples Apples EVERYWHERE!

Fall is rapidly descending upon us here in IL! Hoodie weather has arrived!

 
And fall means apples. LOTS of apples.

Me and my mother took my two nieces up to pick some apples at Homestead Orchard in Woodstock, IL yesterday, and they had a great time! Don and Barb are extremely kind and funny, and they had a delicious variety of jams and salsas in their shop! Homestead Orchard is a quiet place in the country to pick 20 varieties of apples, pie cherries, pears, and red raspberries. I'm looking forward to going back in late October to pick my personal faves : Braeburn apples!

We are making pie filling to freeze and turn into pies and cookies in the upcoming weeks, but even with doing that we have a ton of leftover apples!

This is the part where I'm asking for some help! What are your favorite apple recipes?! Aside from apple pie, and Kolacky cookies, we are fresh out of ideas!

I'm so ready for Fall!

(They had a lot of pumpkins too!)

Gluten Free Quick Chili!

I used to hate cooking. I really did. Since getting married, for some reason I love it! It would be a lot easier if my dear sweet husband wasn't such a picky eater. He complains about everything. Drives me batty! He's sleeping right now (he works overnights, but tonight he is off), and dinner is cooking and should be ready by the time he wakes up! I love chili. And spicy foods. So I figured I would share my chili making with you!

This is an adapted recipe from the Celiac Sprue Association website. I however, did not make this batch gluten free, as I didn't have gluten free tomato sauce in the house! Gluten Free tomato sauce is super easy to find if you need to use it :)

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1/3 cup milk

1 medium onion (I used a white one), chopped

1 14.5 oz can tomato sauce

1 16 oz. can of kidney beans

1 T. chili powder

That above ^ is the recipe directly from the website linked above. The following are what I add to my chili.

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

I like my food to be colorful, I'm sure just using one kind of pepper would be delish too!

1 can diced green chiles

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 T. crushed red pepper

1 or 2 green zucchini

This time, I added some frozen corn into the mix. And I always double or triple the amount of chili powder used.

 (See how colorful? Fun!!)

Directions:

-Saute onion and ground beef in a large skillet until browned.

-Drain the excess oil

-Add the remaining ingredients (I usually put the remaining ingredients in a large pot and then move the meat and onions into it. With all the added ingredients, it's a bit much for any skillet!)

-Simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour

-Enjoy!!

Twee Poppets Tuesday Tag-Along, May 11, 2010

I've decided to participate in Tuesday Tag Along again! I found so many great blogs last time I couldn't resist!

We took Riley to the vet for his 1 year appointment today! He was such a good boy. He sat, let them do the blood draw, and do all of his vaccines and boosters without a fuss! Even the vet was impressed. So mommy and daddy went and bought him a new toy. He's very excited and not paying attention to either of us now!

I'm actually cooking a meal tonight. I'm making my Gluten free chili again! Perhaps I will take some picts and throw the recipe up here once it is done!

Big exciting blog changes are coming soon! Thanks to Strosgirl Designs!

I look forward to finding new blogs to follow!

What's For Dinner?

What's For Dinner?

3-Bean Ravioli Minestrone Soup

Courtesy of: The Gooseberry Patch Very Merry Christmas Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 T. Olive Oil

1 Onion, Chopped

2 Carrots, Chopped

2 Celery Ribs, Chopped

2 Cloves Of Garlic, Minced

3 (14 oz.) Cans Of Chicken Broth

9-oz. Package Of Frozen Baby Lima Beans, Thawed

16-oz. Can Of Light Red Kidney Beans, Rinsed & Drained

16-oz. Can Of Garbanzo Beans, Rinsed & Drained

2 (14.5 oz.) Cans Of Diced Tomatoes

2 t. Italian Seasoning (I make my own by combining oregano, garlic salt, and garlic powder)

1 t. Pepper

1/2 t. Salt

7-oz. Package Of Mini Ravioli (I use cheese tortellini)

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

(I like my onions more than chopped!)

Directions:

Combine First 13 ingredients in a large stockpot. 

Cover & Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add Ravioli and cook 10 additional minutes, or until tender.

Serve with shredded fresh Parmesan cheese.

Makes 14 cups.

And The Finished Product??

Yum Yum!

 

Recipe Success

So yesterday a small group of my friends came over (One of them brought us the entire video of our wedding!) just to hang out. I decided to cook dinner, and it came out fantastic. I have now passed the recipe onto them, so I figured I would share it here. I'm not sure where I got it from, but it's a very good recipe! (If it is yours, let me know so I can give credit where credit is due!)

Broccoli Cheddar Quiche

Ingredients:

1 deep dish frozen pie shell (not pre-bake kind)

3 eggs

1 cup plus one handful extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup milk

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Half bag of frozen broccoli or 1 large head of broccoli

1 half red onion, diced

2 tablespoons self-rising flour

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 375. Cook broccoli and onion in a pot of boiling water until tender. Drain, dice and set aside. In the pie shell, layer cheese on bottom. Add a layer of broccoli and onion and alternate layers of cheese and broccoli and onion mixture until the shell is full.

In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, butter, milk, salt, pepper, handful of cheese and flour. Pour over top of quiche.

Bake for 35-45 minutes until center is cooked and the top is golden brown.