Chicken Parmesan

I'm calling this a two-fer. You can serve it over pasta, or eat it as a sandwich. Personally, I much prefer the sandwich. Nice, crispy chicken with ooey-gooey melty cheese on a lightly toasted bun. Don't judge, but I'm just not a fan of pasta. I realize that's not normal, but I think I was damaged but my grandmother, who thought that pasta should be cooked until you couldn't cook it any more. It was horribly mushy and was always accompanied by a big glass of milk. I am also not a fan of milk. When I wouldn't drink my milk at dinner, it got put into the fridge for me to have in the morning... yuck! So on that note, pasta is not one of my go-to meals. That obviously helps with the carb intake, which is a good thing.

INGREDIENTS:

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 eggs

1C. Italian flavored bread crumbs

1C. grated Parmesan cheese

1/2C. vegetable oil - for frying

1 jar spaghetti sauce

6 slices mozzarella cheese

Rinse and pat the chicken to get rid of any excess water. Trim any fat from your chicken and cut them in half width-wise.

You will need a meat mallot

(a frying pan will work too)
and plastic wrap
Cut yourself a nice long piece of plastic wrap

and place a piece of chicken about 1/3 from the right-side edge

fold the wrap over the chicken

With the flat side of the meat mallot

beat the crap out of the chicken until it's about 1/2" thick. If you've never done this before, start out lightly until you get the hang of it. I usually start in the middle of the piece of chicken and work my way out. If you beat on it too hard, it will turn to chicken mush.

Continue until all of your chicken is pounded out.

Set aside
In a pie plate, add eggs

and beat with a fork until it looks like scrambled eggs

In another pie plate, combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese

Now, get a cookie sheet and a cooling rack. I wrap the cookie sheet with aluminum foil to save on clean up later. Place the cooking rack on top of the cookie sheet

Now set up an assembly line: chicken, eggs, crumbs, cooling rack with cookie sheet

Using tongs, take a piece of chicken and dip it in the eggs, turning so it's coated on both sides. Then place it in the crumbs and make sure it's well coated with crumbs on both sides. Then place on the cooling rack.

Continue until all of the chicken is coated

Then place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

This will help the coating stick to the chicken.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan at about medium to medium high heat. I started mine at 7, then reduced it to 6.

Add 3 pieces of chicken to the hot oil

and cook for about 5 minutes.
Emeril Lagasse used to say those knobs on your stove are not decoration. If the chicken is spattering a lot, turn the knob down a notch. Yeah, I said it. I typed it, then realized it afterwards. Homage to Emeril!
When the chicken is well browned on the one side, turn it over

and cook for another 4-5 minutes. Drain on a paper towel lined plate

Continue until all of the chicken is cooked.
Put the spaghetti sauce in a 9x13" casserole dish

Then place the chicken on top of the sauce

then place a slice of mozzarella cheese over each piece of chicken

Put in into the preheated oven for about 12-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling

Here is where you'd serve it over your pasta of choice.
Here is where I toasted a sub roll, cut a piece of chicken in half, put a little sauce on it and ate it up...YUM!

So, tell me which you prefer, over pasta or as a sandwich. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

Summer Vegetable Gratin

The idea for me to start a food blog came to me by one of my co-workers. Because she did, I bring her in her own small taste of everything I make. She also forwards recipes that she finds to me that I might be interested in making. Maybe she's interested in eating it? I'm not sure which way that goes, but this is a recipe that she sent to me that just sounded very fitting for this time of year when everyone needs that new recipe for their abundant crop of zucchini and summer squash and their just picked tomatoes.

INGREDIENTS:
6T extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1lb zucchini, ends trimmed and sliced crosswise into 1/4" thick slices
1lb yellow summer squash, ends trimmed and sliced crosswise into 1/4" thick slices
2 tsp salt
1-1/2lbs ripe tomatoes (3-4 large), sliced 1/4" thick (see TIP)
2 medium onions, halved lengthwise and sliced thin (about 3 cups)
3/4 tsp black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dry thyme
1C. seasoned bread crumbs or panko
1C grated parmesan cheese
1 large shallot, minced

TIP: I have found that the tomatoes-on-the-vine at the grocery store are usually less expensive than the Roma or Beefsteak tomatoes. I pull them off the vine so I'm not paying for that too!

Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and heat oven to 400°. Brush a 9x13" casserole dish with 1T olive oil

Toss zucchini and summer squash slices with 1 tsp salt in a large bowl.

then transfer to a colander set over a bowl

Let stand until zucchini and squash release about 3T of liquid, about 45 minutes.
Place tomato slices in a single layer on double paper towels

and sprinkle evenly with 1/2 tsp salt. Let stand 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat 1T olive oil in a 12" non-stick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions

1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened and dark golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Careful you don't burn them. Turn the heat down if they are cooking too fast. You want then to caramelize and they need the time to do that.

Set them aside.
In a small bowl, combine garlic, 3T olive oil, 1/2 tsp black pepper and the thyme in a small bowl. I crush the thyme between my fingers to try to get them to not be so stick-like in my food. It's more of a powder and I can hide it from my husband, who is not a fan of thyme.
Oops, no pic, sorry!
In a large bowl, toss the zucchini and squash with half of the garlic oil mixture

then arrange in greased baking dish

Arrange caramelized onions in an even layer over the squash.

I found the easiest way to do this was with tongs!
Place a double layer of paper towels over the tomatoes and press firmly to dry the tomatoes, then slightly overlap them on top of the onion layer

spoon remaining garlic oil mixture evenly over the tomatoes.

Bake until vegetables are tender and tomatoes start to brown on the edges, about 40-45 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium-sized bowl, combine the bread crumbs, 1T olive oil, Parmesan cheese and shallots. Set aside until casserole is done.
Remove casserole from oven and increase temperature to 450°. Sprinkle bread crumb mixture evenly over the top of the tomatoes.

Once the temperature has reached 450°, return the casserole to the oven and bake until bubbling and cheese is lightly browned, about 5-10 minutes.

Let stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.
Mmmmm.....
Enjoy and thanks for reading!

Stuffed Green Peppers

This is one of my favorites, and it's so easy to make with ingredients you probably already have. You can substitute red or yellow peppers if your family prefers, I just like this with the green ones. Make sure you get large ones so you can really smoosh the stuffing into them.
Here's a TIP: make sure that your husband, or any family member that cooks in your house knows that you will be using the ground beef that you know is in the freezer before you go to take it out and defrost it and it's not there. I actually ended up using 1/2lb ground beef and 1lb of meatball/meatloaf mix for these. I'm sure you could also use ground chicken or turkey too.

INGREDIENTS: ** see bottom of blog for European conversions
2C. water
1C. uncooked white rice
3 large green bell peppers
1-1/2lbs. lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1T Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 (28oz) jar spaghetti sauce
2C. shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese

Cut the peppers in half and remove the core and seeds. Place into a 13x9" baking pan lined with foil.

Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Set the rice aside.
Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
In a large saucepan over medium heat, brown the ground beef.

With a slotted spoon, drain the ground beef to a plate covered with a paper towl

Remove the remaining oil from the pan, return the pan to the heat, and add the cooked beef, onion

rice

cumin, chili powder, cayenne, garlic powder, salt, pepper and worcestershire.

Now add the jar of spaghetti sauce

and mix it all up with a big, heavy spoon

Simmer it on the stove over low heat for about 10 minutes to get all the flavors happy.
Remove it from the heat and add half of the cheese and mix thoroughly.
Spoon the mixture into the peppers.

There's going to be a lot of mixture, so I fill all of them as much as I can while holding the pepper, then I put them into the pan and smoosh as much of the remaining filling that I can evenly onto the top of the peppers.
Bake uncovered in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
Remove them from the oven

and top with remaining cheese

Return them to the oven for 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted. Mine took 7 minutes.

Because you don't pre-cook the peppers, they come out with a slight crunch to them and are not soggy at all.
Enjoy and thanks for reading!

UPDATE:
I was asked to convert the measurements for a friend of mine in The Netherlands. Hope this is right :)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 litre water
180g uncooked white rice
3 large green bell peppers
675g lean ground beef
1 onion, diced
2ml cumin
2ml chili powder
1-2ml cayenne pepper
2ml garlic powder
15ml Worcestershire sauce
2ml salt
1ml ground black pepper
1 (830ml) jar spaghetti sauce
225g shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese