Thursday, October 8, 2009

Who loves to cut calories?

Well I certainly do, and last night I was able to make one of my favorite dishes minus several hundred calories! The bf actually liked the low fat version better. I'm also a bit obsessed with this recipe because it contains several of the foods that Dr. Oz considers "super foods."

I hope you all enjoy my healthier version of Chicken Parmesan.

Healthier Chicken Parmesan
For the Sauce:
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 small onion minced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon of each: Italian seasoning, basil, oregano, granulated garlic
1 teaspoon each: Emeril's Essence, Crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful fresh parsley finely chopped

Preheat oven to 300. In a large dutch oven heat the olive oil over med. low heat. Add the onion, garlic, and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook until the onions are soft. Add the tomato paste and allow to melt a bit. Do not throw away the tomato paste can yet. Add the diced tomatoes. Fill the tomato paste can with water and add to the pot. Stir well. Add another can of water. Add the salt, pepper, granulated garlic, Italian seasoning, oregano, basil and essence. Cover and allow to cook for 10 minutes or so. Stir and add the parmesan cheese. Reduce heat to low and allow to simmer as you prepare the chicken.

For the Chicken:
1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup bread crumbs with Italian seasoning
2 eggs
splash of milk
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of the following: Emeril's essence, granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

While the sauce is simmering prepare the chicken. First, with a meat mallet, pound out the chicken breasts so that they are thin (they should look like a chicken cutlet). Next in three separate dishes prepare the breading. In one dish add the flour and 1 tablespoon of the essence and garlic plus salt and pepper to taste. In the next dish as the eggs and milk, with salt and pepper to taste, whisk well. In the final dish add the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and the additional seasonings with salt and pepper to taste. I like to take Rachael Ray's advice and make an assembly line. First bread the chicken in the flour mixture. Dust off excess and dip in the egg mixture. Finally dip in the bread crumbs and transfer to a cookie sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Once you have coated all of the chicken breasts spray the top of each with nonstick cooking spray.

Bake at 400 for 20 to 30 minutes, turning once halfway through.

Putting it together:
While the chicken bakes and the sauce simmers prepare some pasta. Once the chicken is done, mix the pasta sauce with the pasta. Place on a plate and top with the chicken. Top the chicken with some additional sauce and a bit of cheese (Italian blend works well). The sauce will melt the cheese.

I served this with salad.

This is a really pretty meal, I wish I had taken pics of it to show with the post. Enjoy!

4 comments:

Beth Dunn said...

This sounds delicious!!! I love saving calories. Yum yum xoxo

SC

Freck said...

Oh oh! I do I do! The best part? It still tastes just as delish! This recipe looks awesome :)

Leslie @ A Blonde Ambition said...

I'm doing kind of a modified version of Weight Watchers and this would totally be a good recipe to add to my folder!

Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE chicken parm... cant' wait to try this