Healthy Chicken Parmesean

Okay, I know pasta is literally all I post pretty much, but darn it I just love it! The pasta isn't even the best thing about this meal which by the way my husband would like to be quoted was "bitchin'" so there you go...bitchin' chicken. It really was good and healthy too. Whole wheat pasta to accompany this with some seasoned broccoli florets...yessir this is a meal! 

Ingredients

• Pre-made breadcrumbs (packaged kind...plain) *original recipe calls for you to make your own w/ whole wheat bread...waste of time and effort. ;) just kidding...do what you want. 
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 egg whites (I actually did not have eggs! so I went without and only used the milk...worked fine!)
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 (6 ounce) skinless boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 1 jar good-quality marinara sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons (1/2-ounce) shredded Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Original Directions: Place the bread in the bowl of a food processor and process until fine crumbs are formed, about 25 to 30 seconds. Put the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, until golden. (You will wind up with about 1 1/3 cups toasted crumbs.) 

My Way (or the highway): Simply pour some pre-made bread crumbs in a bowl or shallow baking dish (pie plate) and add your seasonings to it (see below).

In a medium bowl, toss the crumbs with oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and milk together. In a third bowl stir together the flour, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken, 1 piece at a time, in flour, shaking off excess, then egg, then bread crumbs, shaking off excess.

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Place breaded breasts in a glass baking dish and spray on each side with cooking spray, about 5 seconds total per side. Bake breasts until cooked though and crumbs are browned, about 15 minutes. Top with marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is bubbling. Serve right away with some pasta! 

Classic Banana Bread with a Twist

So...its been over a month since I posted a recipe on the blog...such sadness. I promise I didn't stop cooking completely, life just became a bit more complicated with working nights and my schedule being bombarded with new things. Loving life right now though. It's a constant state of learning and growth it seems like. I've never felt more like a professional in the field I'm in. It's a great feeling of accomplishment to be finally counseling people rather than simply reading about it. It's a blessing and yet a curse because of the incredible influence I now have on these folks. God has been so good and placed me in an internship that is molding me and shaping me to work with young people in such a new and refreshing way. I'm grateful for that. 

Anyhoo...my hubby has been so great about making dinners on his own and even preparing a few meals here and there for us both when I work late. Recently, realizing that we have literally NO food in our house and are too lazy and cheap to go do anything about it, I decided to get my cooking and baking back in business. What we did have was about 9 frozen bananas just developing frost bite in our freezer. Banana bread is amazing and good basically at any point (breakfast, lunch, dinner). I wanted to try a new recipe out...and adjusted this recipe on the Cooking Light website to incorporate some of my own creativity...always a good thing...maybe.. :)

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar 
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
• 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt or vanilla works fine as well
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cooking spray 

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
3. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with some flour on the bottom of the dish. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

**My additions: I doubled the recipe in a huge bowl. I added the sugar with my dry ingredients and it still turned out fine. After transferring 1/2 the batter into the one bread pan, I added about 3/4 cups of chocolate chips into the remaining batter and place in the other bread pan. The original recipe did not call for cinnamon...I just feel it adds a little something to it. :) Also, I used vanilla instead of plain yogurt because that's what I had on hand!

Pre-oven, ready to get golden brown!

Mixing the wet ingredients 

Wet vs. Dry...but not for long...

Plain banana bread with some butter on it...fresh outta the oven...omygoodness....yummo

chocolate chip banana bread....very yummy....but more dessert like. 

Happy Baking! 

original recipe found at http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/classic-banana-bread-10000000549764/