Chicken Parmigiana

Do you know who the Pioneer Woman is? Oh, if you don't, stop reading right now and go to her website, www.thepioneerwoman.com. Seriously. You'll be glad you did. I love her. My favorite discovery on there was "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels." If you have several hours (ha!), read the whole saga in one go. If not, it will no doubt keep you coming back for more.

Anyway, PW has some great recipes on her site. One of those is Chicken Parmigiana. Now, I personally like Eggplant Parmigiana better than Chicken, but my hubby is kind of anti-eggplant. Anything that resembles squash makes him shudder a little. So I found PW's recipe and it looks great, it just wasn't quite what I was in the mood for. Sounded a little plain for me. Plus it called for red wine, and we're LDS, so no alcohol lying around over here. So I embellished. I just used what I had in the kitchen at the time, so really feel free to omit things or change things around. That's what recipes are for, right? But do check out her recipe; I'm going to try it one of these days for sure.

Chicken Parmigiana
Serves 2

2 medium to large chicken breasts, pounded flat
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup butter and garlic flavored croutons (wait for it...)
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 egg
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
8 oz (ish? Hubby cooked the pasta when I wasn't looking) whole wheat angel hair pasta
1 jar Paul Newman brand marina sauce (seriously. try it.)
1/2 cup canned or fresh diced tomatoes
1/2 tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese

*Tip: To avoid splashing salmonella germs all over your kitchen while pounding the chicken (gross!), put the chicken breasts either in a gallon ziploc bag or between a few sheets of plastic wrap. I prefer the bag. Then pound away and revel in the fact that you will NOT have to bleach everything in your kitchen. Hallelujah.

Pound the chicken flat. Place the croutons in a small ziploc bag and crush. On a plate, combine flour, crouton crumbs, and bread crumbs. Whisk egg in a shallow bowl.

Meanwhile, heat butter and olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Dip chicken in flour mixture, then egg mixture, then back in the flour mixture. Place in skillet and let it turn nice and brown on each side. If your chicken isn't cooked through all the way in the pan once both sides are browned (It depends on the thickness of the breast. Use a meat thermometer. Since we're avoiding salmonella today, your chicken needs to reach 165 degrees to be considered safe), put it on a cookie sheet, cover it in Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and stick it in a 350 degree oven until done. If it does get done in the skillet, add some cheese on it and put it in the oven for just a couple minutes anyway, just to melt the cheese.

While your chicken is finishing in the oven, cook your pasta to al dente. Using that same buttery nonstick skillet, add that jar of marina sauce, the tomatoes, basil, garlic, and chili powder. Let cook on medium low heat for about 5 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. Go ahead and dump some Parmesan cheese in there, too.

Once the pasta is done, here's how plating goes: pasta, sprinkle some Parmesan, spoon some sauce (about 1/2 cup), place chicken breast on top, and drizzle about 1/4 cup more sauce on top. Dig in.

FROSTING!

Ok, so you know how that little "About Me" section to the right over there says that I like to cook healthy food for my family?

I lied.

I love to cook. Really I do. But healthy food all the time? How boring! I know, I know, if you use fresh and organic ingredients, healty food is just as delicious as its more deadly counterparts, but come on! Sometimes, you have to splurge.

Seriously, let's just say that the food you eat did not influence your health in any way. No heart problems, no high cholesterol, no diabetes, no drooping energy levels, no obesity, nothing. Let's just say that you can eat what you want without it hurting you. At all.

Now that we've established that glorious phenomenon, if you were given a choice between two plates of food - one piled high with french fries and a double cheeseburger (the kind with BBQ sauce and onion rings on it, praise heaven), the other consisting of celery, carrot sticks, hummus, a salad with no dressing, and maybe an apple - which would you choose?

DUH! Bring on the greasy cheeseburger and don't skimp on those onion rings under the bun! I like hummus as well as the next girl, but come on! There's a reason Americans are the most obese people in the world. We invented the cheeseburger! Heaven on a plate! Seriously.

Sadly, we must be cautious of the foods we consume. I think the epitome of the obesity epidemic in America can be summed up by changes on Sesame Street. Remember Cookie Monster? His favorite food - and all we viewers ever saw him consume - was, obviously, cookies. Now what does he say about his former obsession? "Cookies are a sometimes food."

Makes me want to cry.

Now, since you're not here for my food rantings, but for actual recipes, here is a recipe for a *sniff* "sometimes" food: Buttercream Frosting. Yum.

I got this recipe from http://www.bakerella.com/ - a fabulous site with some really cute baking ideas and recipes. I am, by no means, a baker at all, so the cake that I put under this delicious frosting was a box cake. Heinous, I know. Who has time for homemade cake AND frosting? On just a normal day? Not me.

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 lb 10x powdered sugar

1-3 tsp milk, half and half, or cream

Using a mixer, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Add sugar gradually, making sure that sugar and butter cream together before you add more. Add milk one teaspoon at a time until you get the right texture (I only used about 1 1/2 tsp). Add food coloring for desired color.

*WARNING!* For real, this frosting just about killed me. I have hypoglycemia, and eating this cake with this amazing frosting put me over the edge to not okay-ness. Really. So proceed with caution. Extreme yumminess awaits.