Recipes

Having lived in Southern California for the last seven years, I had forgot both how beautiful a snow storm can be, but also its ability to completely trap you at home.   I volunteered to cook dinner tonight and was planning to go and buy some beautiful New England seafood for delicious seafood stew but instead found myself stuck inside needing to create something to feed the army of folks in our house.  That’s where the idea for this simple chicken Parmesan came from, which I baked instead of fried to lighten it up.  Anytime I bread anything, I always mix in my own spices  to the bread crumbs to add flavor, usually inspired by the type of food I am cooking.  For this meal I added Italian spices and some salty, delicious Parmesan cheese.  I had my chicken parm with a large green salad but most people had theirs with pasta.  If you have a high fiber or whole wheat pasta around, you could have this with a half a cup and it would still only be a 7.5 point meal.

Weight Watchers Chicken Parmesan
Points: 5 Weight Watchers PointsPlus
Servings: 6
Serving Size: 1 piece of chicken with sauce and cheese
Nutritional Info: 267 calories, 5 g of fat, 18.9 g carbohydrates, 2.3 g dietary fiber, 34.5 g of protein

Ingredients
1.5 lbs of chicken breast tenders (about 4 oz each)
1 cup of whole wheat bread crumbs
1/2 cup egg beaters
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
1 tbsp oregano
1 tbsp garlic powder
6 tbsp Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup of your favorite low point spaghetti sauce (I like Eden Organic)
1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella or part skim fresh mozzarella (I prefer the fresh but didn’t have any on hand)

Instructions
1.Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a shallow bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, basil, oregano, garlic powder, 3 tbsp of Parmesan, salt and pepper.  Mix together well.

3. In another shallow bowl, pour in the egg beaters.

4.  Take out your chicken tenders and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Then dip the chicken into the egg beaters and  let the excess egg drip off.  Then roll gently to coat in the bread crumbs.  Place onto a baking sheet coated with non stick cooking spray.

5.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until chicken is cooked through.   The top with sauce, mozzarella cheese, and remaining Parmesan cheese and return to oven until the cheese is melted.