Parmesan Crusted Chicken

One of the things that has been bothering me quite a bit about my recent addiction to baking is all the fat and calories that I've been packing in. Sure, I have my group of favorite and adored taste-testers, but I can't help but snack on these items myself.

So I am going to try to commit to making some more "meals" rather than desserts. I'm sure that the ratio will still stay about 3:1 dessert to meal, but it's a goal to work towards.

This one is actually an old standby I learned from my dad. Super simple and easy, and it's really delicious.

Start by taking a big mixing bowl and mixing together Italian-style bread crumbs and powdered parmesan cheese. I do about 1 part cheese and 2 parts bread crumbs. Then, because it's my style, I throw in some powered garlic and pepper for taste.

Next I take boneless, skinless chicken breasts and pound them out thin. For me, this helps them bake faster and makes them more palatable since I'm not really a huge fan of meat (I prefer veggies and starch). I  rinse the breasts and without seasoning them any more or coating them in anything (I think this helps cut down on fat content and the like) I just roll them in the crumb mixture.

I transfer the breaded chicken to a baking pan sprayed lightly with oil, then bake them for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. In my oven, anything longer than 20 minutes dries chicken out, so this is why pounding them thin helps.

An easy side dish to accompany this is to take egg noodles and boil them, drain and throw butter on them, and then coat them in the same bread crumb-parmesan mixture (make a fresh batch, don't use the stuff you rolled the raw chicken in). And of course, in our house broccoli is a huge hit.

There you have it. Quick, easy dinner.  Hope you enjoy.

Catching Up with Bread Pudding

So I've actually been baking quite a bit but have been sloppy about the blogging. One dish I made recently was a super easy version of bread pudding. I tend to buy way too much bread for just my daughter and me, and I'm always off to the pond feeding leftovers to the geese and ducks. However, one evening I was in the mood to bake and had a whole loaf of plain white Wonder bread leftover that was slightly stale. I saw something on tv about a bread pudding and thought I should give it a go.

Turns out this is one of the easiest dishes in the world to prepare. From start to finish it literally took about 15 minutes, if that, to assemble and then I just baked and ate. It's true that white sandwich bread is not the best for this recipe, as it turned out even soggier than I expected. Also, the recipe that I adapted from allrecipes.com (I think I used a little less sugar and added craisins) made a pudding that was just a bit sweeter than I would have liked. But I now have a basic starter idea to move forward with and a handful of willing taste testers for future endeavors. I'm definitely going to try some new versions of bread pudding when I have a different kind of bread to try it with. Luckily, I almost never buy white bread anyhow!

Next time you have some leftover bread, I definitely suggest giving this a try just to see what you think.