Lightened Chicken Parmesan
After fifteen years of marriage, my husband and I have figured out our roles in our kitchen. He takes the lead when it comes to breakfast. He’s a fabulous short order cook every weekday morning, whipping up scrambled eggs, egg sandwiches, toast, you-name-it for himself, our kids and even our babysitter. Weekend mornings, he makes whole grain pancakes – lots of them – and freezes extra so that he can defrost them during the week. I take over as Head Chef for Dinner, doing most of the cooking on Sunday for all of our weeknight meals. So, when my husband said that he wanted to make Chicken Parmesan for dinner (something he hadn’t made in a very long time), I asked him if we could find a lightened recipe – and make it together for A Better Bag of Groceries.
I love, love, love finding recipes and cooking with the Ipad! You just google “healthy chicken parmesan” and voila, up comes a recipe from Skinnytaste.com!
Ingredients:
- 4 (8 oz) chicken breast halves, sliced in half to make 8 (NuVal score of 39)
- 3/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs (NuVal score of 25 for 4C Whole Wheat)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (NuVal score of 23 for Bel Giosio Parmesan)
- 2 tbsp butter, melted (or olive oil) (NuVal score of 2 for butter, NuVal score of 11 for olive oil)
- 3/4 cup reduced fat mozzarella cheese (I always use regular mozzarella instead of reduced fat, even when the recipe calls for reduced fat. I find that the Nuval score is the same – or really close – for reduced fat and regular. For example, both the regular and reduced fat Kraft mozzarella score a 22 on the NuVal scale.)
- 1 cup marinara (NuVal score of 63 for Amy’s Organic Low Sodium Marinara Sauce)
- cooking spray
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450°. Spray a large baking sheet lightly with spray.
Combine breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese in a bowl. Lightly brush the olive oil onto the chicken, then dip into breadcrumb mixture. Place on baking sheet and repeat with the remaining chicken.
Lightly spray a little more oil on top and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Turn chicken over, bake another 5 minutes. Remove from oven, spoon 1 tbsp sauce over each piece of chicken and top each with 1 1/2 tbsp of shredded mozzarella cheese.
We served it with whole grain pasta, of course! NuVal score of 91!
My husband was happy to have one of his long-time comfort-food favorites back on our menu board. Our kids tried chicken parmesan for the first time (and loved it). And I approved of this nutritious recipe and easy recipe. I definitely recommend this one from SkinnyTaste!
Posted by: Melissa 4 comments
Posted in: Dinner Recipes
Tags: Chicken Parmesan, Weight Watchers
on Jan 21st, 2013 at 9:17 am
Will try this recipe soon. Looks good. After 29 yrs of marriage am still trying to get my husband to take the lead in the kitchen(LOL) He went for groceries yesterday…it is a start.
on Jan 21st, 2013 at 12:44 pm
My husband usually mans the grill. That’s about it. This recipe sounds like something my whole family would enjoy. thanks!!
on Jan 21st, 2013 at 1:09 pm
When I got married, I told my hubby that I would cook a hot breakfast any morning he’d like it — any flavor pop tart.
Glad to know about that high-scoring marinara sauce!
on Jan 22nd, 2013 at 11:11 am
Those look amazing!! I am jealous your husband cooks! Mine did the first couple of years of marriage and now he no longer steps in the kitchen except to put his dirty dish’s in the sink.