Faux Chicken Parmesan
Do you guys every go through phases where you just don’t want anything to do with certain foods? Lately, that’s how I’ve been feeling about meat. I just have not been craving it!
While at Target over the weekend, I picked up a box of Morning Star Chick Patties. I think I’ve contemplated buying these dozens of times before, but never sealed the deal.
Over the weekend, I cooked one of these patties up in the oven and had it on a Pepperidge Farm 7 grain deli flat.
No sauce. No veggies. Just the faux meat and bun.
It was glorious. It seriously reminded me of the chicken pattie sandwiches from high school. I know that sounds disgusting, but in this instance it’s actually a very very good thing.
Then, the other night I had a VISION: Faux Chicken Parmesan… Healthified, no less:
Shut the front door!!!!
First up, grab a spaghetti squash and halve it…
I swear, every time I try and halve a squash I have flashes of severing a finger. I think to myself, “is this it?” Is this the day that I lose a finger in the name of squash??
Once it’s halved, scoop out the seeds, and pop this puppy onto a cookie sheet into a 415 degree over for 30 minutes. I ‘m no fan of mooshy squashoodles.
Next, I grabbed some leftover pasta sauce from the freezer. This was Nature’s Basket Roasted Garlic:
Why do I get such joy from stock piling individual servings of goods in the freezer? It’s uncanny really.
I defrosted the sauce a bit in the microwave, then tossed in a pan and added a hodge podge of seasonings including: red pepper flakes, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, parsley.
Once the squash was done, I pulled it out of the oven and used a fork to scrape out the innards. Then popped 1 chicken pattie and some broccoli into the oven to do their thang.
Once the pattie was cooked through, I combined all my delicious and oh-so-easy ingredients:
Faux-chicken-parmesan MASTERPIECE.
I am in love with these patties… seriously, if you haven’t tried them DO IT. Just make sure you cook them in the oven (and not the microwave) and you’ll get a crispy delicious bit of faux-meat-heaven.
Mmmm hmmmmmmmmmmm….
This WILL be making frequent appearance in my tax season dinner diet. For sure.
Stats on 1 serving faux chicken parmesan (1/2 squash, 1 pattie, 1/2 cup sauce): 274 calories, 44carbs, 7g fat, 12g protein, 8g fiber
Lest we not forget….. the winner of my Luna Bar giveaway is…….
Meagan! Yay!!! Email me with your mailing adddres and I’ll get the bars to you ASAP!
Shrimp & Mac & Cheese
WOW guys. WOW.
Drooling yet??
For the big game this past weekend, I was looking for a something a little different to take to the family party… Something a little healthified but that still packed a little somethin somethin. During my search, I stumbled upon the the Mac and Cheese Light recipe from the September 2010 Cooking Lite, and it looked like the perfect fit! You can never have too much cheese on super bowl Sunday, I always say.
What really drew me to this particular recipe was that it started off with the “secret weapon” – a puree consisting of one whole LARGE onion and 9 cloves of garlic.
Hello lover.
Clearly this was destiny.
First up, I put a big ole pot of water on the stove to boil, then tossed a large Vidalia onion and 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic into a bowl with 1/2 cup water.
I covered this guy with plastic wrap and nuked in the microwaved for 10 minutes. Prepare to smell like onions and garlic for the remainder of the day. Don’t worry. I won’t judge you.
After 10 minutes, you dump this onion garlic goodness out into a blender and pulse until smooth. It should look like grits, ya’ll:
By now the water should be boiling, so drop in 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni and cook until al dente.
1
Meanwhile season up you onion garlic puree with:
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Salt and pepper to taste (I used A LOT)
Once the pasta is done, drain and set aside. Then heat your onion garlic puree up in a pot (large enough to hold the sauce and the pasta), and once hot and bubbly slowly whisk in 2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese.
It should be gloriously thick.
Once the cheese is all melted in, take it off the heat and whisk in 2/3 cup fat free plain greek yogurt, then add in the cooked pasta. Once everything is combined, pour the mac and cheese into a casserole dish greased with cooking spray.
Sprinkle the top with
- 1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
Baked at 425 for 15 minutes:
Cheesy deliciousness:
Just to balance things out, I also made a big arse salad for the game:
No joke. Big. Arse.
Of course I finangled one serving of the mac and cheese to take home with me after the game, and I decided to spice it up a bit for dinner tonight.
I LIBERALLY seasoned up 4 jumbo shrimp with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper and sautéed them up on a pan:
I also roasted up some broccoli that I had liberally seasoned with S&P … and I also microwaved the mac and cheese. Don’t judge.
VOILA!
That is a seriously grown up healthified mac and cheese masterpiece!!!
I havent had roasted broccoli in months!! I practically lived off of roasted veggies last summer, and I had somehow forgotten how friggin delicious they are!
The mac and cheese by itself was a little too mild for my tastes – so, at the super bowl party I topped it off with some Frank’s Red hot. But for tonight’s dinner this spicy cayenne shrimp added plenty of kick:
Can’t get over how delicious!
Get in my beeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese (no shrimp): 275 calories, 30g carbs, 10g fat, 17g protein, 3g fiber
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese WITH shrimp: 322 calories, 30g carbs, 11g fat, 26g protein, 3g fiber
Mac & Cheese Ingredients List (serves 8 )
- 1 large Vidalia onion
- 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups reduced fat cheddar
- 2/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
Shrimp & Mac & Cheese
WOW guys. WOW.
Drooling yet??
For the big game this past weekend, I was looking for a something a little different to take to the family party… Something a little healthified but that still packed a little somethin somethin. During my search, I stumbled upon the the Mac and Cheese Light recipe from the September 2010 Cooking Lite, and it looked like the perfect fit! You can never have too much cheese on super bowl Sunday, I always say.
What really drew me to this particular recipe was that it started off with the “secret weapon” – a puree consisting of one whole LARGE onion and 9 cloves of garlic.
Hello lover.
Clearly this was destiny.
First up, I put a big ole pot of water on the stove to boil, then tossed a large Vidalia onion and 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic into a bowl with 1/2 cup water.
I covered this guy with plastic wrap and nuked in the microwaved for 10 minutes. Prepare to smell like onions and garlic for the remainder of the day. Don’t worry. I won’t judge you.
After 10 minutes, you dump this onion garlic goodness out into a blender and pulse until smooth. It should look like grits, ya’ll:
By now the water should be boiling, so drop in 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni and cook until al dente.
1
Meanwhile season up you onion garlic puree with:
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- Salt and pepper to taste (I used A LOT)
Once the pasta is done, drain and set aside. Then heat your onion garlic puree up in a pot (large enough to hold the sauce and the pasta), and once hot and bubbly slowly whisk in 2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese.
It should be gloriously thick.
Once the cheese is all melted in, take it off the heat and whisk in 2/3 cup fat free plain greek yogurt, then add in the cooked pasta. Once everything is combined, pour the mac and cheese into a casserole dish greased with cooking spray.
Sprinkle the top with
- 1/2 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
Baked at 425 for 15 minutes:
Cheesy deliciousness:
Just to balance things out, I also made a big arse salad for the game:
No joke. Big. Arse.
Of course I finangled one serving of the mac and cheese to take home with me after the game, and I decided to spice it up a bit for dinner tonight.
I LIBERALLY seasoned up 4 jumbo shrimp with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper and sautéed them up on a pan:
I also roasted up some broccoli that I had liberally seasoned with S&P … and I also microwaved the mac and cheese. Don’t judge.
VOILA!
That is a seriously grown up healthified mac and cheese masterpiece!!!
I havent had roasted broccoli in months!! I practically lived off of roasted veggies last summer, and I had somehow forgotten how friggin delicious they are!
The mac and cheese by itself was a little too mild for my tastes – so, at the super bowl party I topped it off with some Frank’s Red hot. But for tonight’s dinner this spicy cayenne shrimp added plenty of kick:
Can’t get over how delicious!
Get in my beeeeeeeeeeeelllllllllllllllllllllllllllllly!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese (no shrimp): 275 calories, 30g carbs, 10g fat, 17g protein, 3g fiber
Stats on 1 serving mac and cheese WITH shrimp: 322 calories, 30g carbs, 11g fat, 26g protein, 3g fiber
Mac & Cheese Ingredients List (serves 8 )
- 1 large Vidalia onion
- 9 cloves roughly chopped garlic
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 Ounces Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni
- 1 tsp dried mustard
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cups reduced fat cheddar
- 2/3 cup fat free Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sprinkling of dried parsley
