Quick Chicken Parmesan

I looove Chicken Parmesan. It's one of my favourite Italian dishes. Here is my quick version.

Ingredients

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
salt
pepper
1 tsp. basil
1/4 tablespoon garlic powder
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
Box of spaghetti noodles
Jar of marinara sauce (I love Emerils, its to die for!)

1. Place chicken breasts between two sheets of wax paper and beat with wooden mallet. I don't have one so I used a wine bottle. (While you are messing with the chicken, preheat your oven to 350, and start your water boiling for the noodles)

2. Beat egg in one bowl. Add bread crumbs, spices and parmesan cheese in another. Stir well.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in saucepan over medium/high heat. Make an assembly line like pictured above. Dip breasts in egg, making sure they are completely covered. Dredge in bread crumb mixture, completely coating chicken. Then place in saucepan.

 

 

4. Cook until lightly browned, then flip over and cook other side until lightly browned. Remove from heat. Chicken will not be completely cooked, you are just searing it to hold in the juices.

 

5. Pour marinara sauce into casserole dish. Nestle chicken into the sauce. Cover with mozzarella. Cook at 350 for 20 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and chicken is cooked through.

 

 



Taco Ring

So I was going to post a cute heart nail tutorial today...but we had a fail haha! I saw these cute heart nails on Pinterest and I was going to do a version of them. I got all my supplies out and began to paint my nails. When it came time to paint the hearts on I realized I didn't have toothpicks. The only thing I had close to a toothpick was a shish kabob skewer. Well obviously skewers are much bigger than toothpicks and my nails ended up looking like a bird took a big pink poop on them. Yeah, just in case you thought I'm this great artist...NOT.

I didn't have time to round up another project so instead I'm going to post a recipe for a yummy taco ring I made last night. It's Valentinsy right? Spicy taco meat? Ok maybe not so much but whatev!


Ingredients

1lb ground beef
1 pack taco seasoning
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 packages crescent rolls
All the fixin's like lettuce, tomato sour cream, onions ect.

 

 

1. Brown and drain ground beef. Add taco seasoning and 2 tablespoons water to the meat. Mix well. Add 1-2 cups of cheese. Mix again and set aside.

 

 



2. Arrange triangles of dough into a star pattern like so. I usually end up having one or two triangles left over which I just roll up and throw on the pan beside the ring.

 



3. Spoon the beef mixture around the widest portions of the ring.

4. Flip the triangles over and smush into the ring like so.

5. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until browned. Top with lettuce, tomato, whatever you like on your tacos!

"Healthy" Hamburger Helper

So I used to buy Hamburger Helper quite often. It was a quick, easy meal the hubs could make while I was working or at my night class. The past few years we have been trying to eat more healthy, and stay away from preservatives and additives. Have you ever read the ingredient list on a box of Hamburger Helper? Wow! Its packed with sodium, preservatives  and additives. Yuck! Taking inspiration from several similar recipes, I came up with my own healthy version of Hamburger Helper. It is easy to put together and refridgerate, so all Mr. Browning has to do is pop it in the oven.

Ingredients

1 box of elbow macaroni

1lb. ground beef

Half an onion

1 can tomato sauce

1/2 cup water

1/2 tbsp. garlic powder

1/2 tbsp salt

1 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. paprika

1/2 tsp. cumin

Grated cheese

1. Brown the ground beef. Chop the onion and add to the beef. (My onions are a bit big, our onion hater was over at his girlfriend's so I was rather liberal with them.) Drain.

2. Boil macaroni. Don't overcook, make sure they are a little firm. I also like to add a splash of olive oil to my boiling noodles to keep them from sticking. Drain.

3. Add tomato sauce, water and spices to beef mixture. Let simmer for 10 minutes or so.

4. Add macaroni to to beef mixture. You may want to use only 3/4 of the noodles, a whole box makes quite a lot! Stir together and then pour into cassarole dish.

5. Grate cheese over the top and cover with foil.

6. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Take foil off and cook another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Enjoy!