One Pan Chicken Parm

I love a good Chicken Parmesan but... I hate the mess it takes to cook it. With this one pan Chicken Parmesan  I eliminate one of those messy dishes for you. When your both cooking and cleaning trust me... every dish counts!

I took my biggest stainless steel pan and began there. I love this pan because it's oven safe so I'm able to throw it in the oven if need be. However, if you don't have an oven safe pan don't worry! You can just as easily do everything right on the stove top.

What you'll need:

• Chicken breast
• Italian bread crumbs
• 2 eggs beaten
• Your favorite tomato sauce
• Mozzarella cheese
• Fresh chopped parsley
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Either cut chicken into medium sized pieces and pound with a meat pound until thin or slice chicken into thin fillets. Salt and pepper to taste...I also season with garlic and onion powder.
2. Dip each fillet into the beaten egg and then into your Italian bread crumbs.
3. Heat oil on medium high heat and lay fillets down.
4. Cook fillets and flip when the down side becomes a dark golden brown.
5. When chicken is cooked through, lay on a paper toweled plate. Drain any excess oil from pan.
6. Pour tomato sauce into pan on medium heat and return your chicken to the pan.

7. Cook sauce through until it begins to simmer.
8. Add desired amount of cheese onto your chicken breast.

    9. Now you can either put your pan in the oven to broil or just let your cheese melt on the stove top.

   10. Garnish with fresh parsley and enjoy!

I ate this over thin spaghetti that I had left over in the fridge while my boyfriend ate it in a Kaiser Roll. Either way it's a guaranteed delicious meal!

Chicken Sausage Stir Fry

I love fresh vegetables and how vibrant they make any dish! This is one of my favorite stir fry dishes, substituting traditional Italian sausage with chicken Italian sausage. Making these simple substitutions can make all the difference in how much fat and calories your digesting but still leave you completely satisfied.

What you'll need:

• 1 package Chicken Italian sausage
• 5 cloves crushed fresh garlic
• 1 chopped small yellow onion
• 1 crown of broccoli
• 1 package cherry tomatoes
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook Chicken Sausage in oven on 350 for 20 minutes
2. In a saute pan, heat olive oil and crushed garlic
3. Add chopped yellow onion and saute lightly
4. Cut sausage links into one inch medallions and add to pan
5. Add broccoli crowns and saute until crowns turn vibrant green
6. Finish with cherry tomatoes, let heat through a minute. Salt & pepper to taste
7. Eat as is or serve over rice or pasta.

You can add as many types of vegetables to this stir fry as you'd like! The more you fill up on vegetables the merrier!

Enjoy!

Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana

I'm a soup lover... and one of my favorite soups is Zuppa Toscana. It was introduced to me at Olive Garden and this recipe tastes EXACT to that first bowl I ever had. I have played around with this recipe a few times now and I can promise this final recipe will not disappoint.

Let me note, I cooked up this pot of soup while it was 85 degrees out... it was worth it!

Here's what you'll need:

• 1llb ground Italian sausage (mild or hot)
• 3 large Russet baking potatoes with skin on (halved both vertical and horizontal then in 1/4 in slices)
• 1 large yellow onion chopped
• 4 minced fresh garlic cloves
• 2 cups kale (de-veined and chopped)
• 24 oz chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• (If using mild sausage) Cayenne pepper to taste
• Pepper to taste

Directions

• Brown ground sausage with olive oil in large pot
• Add chopped onion and garlic to sausage. Saute until fragrant 
• Season with cayenne pepper and black pepper to taste
• Add chicken broth and water to pot and stir
• Bring to a simmer
• Add potatoes, skin on, to pot
• Cook on medium heat until tomatoes are tender
• Turn to low heat
• Add both Kale and Heavy Cream
• Heat through and serve

Bon Appetit!

Lasagna

My family loves to cook which is, no doubt about it, where I've adapted and inherited that "the kitchen is the heart of the home." For me, being with family is like being on vacation... this is the time where we all indulge in a little comfort food. That being said, last night I got together with my dad and two sisters and what did we make? Lasagna and Triple Chocolate Cake...yum. I normally might feel a little guilty about digging into this ooey gooey cheesy delight but not when my sister and I put so much love into making it.

This lasagna starts with the most delicious home made meat sauce. Now I'm a huge fan of sauces and refuse to use a jarred sauce when I can easily make a sauce of my own... especially when I can utilize all the fresh herbs and vegetables from my dad's garden.

Meat Sauce

1. Brown 1 llb. ground beef, drain fat, and set aside.

2. In a food processor- chop 5 large tomatoes, one large yellow onion, 4 cloves of fresh garlic, handful of fresh parsley, and a handful of fresh basil.

3. To your vegetable puree- add salt and pepper to taste as well as a pinch of red pepper flakes.

4. Add vegetable mix to your sauteed ground beef, as well as a small can of tomato paste, and simmer for about an hour (the longer you simmer the more complex the flavor profiles will become.

Lasagna

1. Boil lasagna pasta sheets, in salted water, for 4 minutes. Lasagna sheets will only be half cooked because we want them to continue cooking in the oven to absorb the sauce.

2. Shred about 2-3 cups of mozzarella cheese.

3. Mix 8 oz ricotta cheese with one egg yolk and a hand full of fresh parsley until nice and creamy.

4. Now begin layering in a casserole dish. Some sauce on the bottom, pasta sheets, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, sauce, pasta, ricotta cheese, mozzarella, sauce, pasta, ricotta cheese, sauce, mozzarella and some more fresh parsley to top it off!

5. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 for about an hour.

6. Uncover the lasagna and broil for about five minutes until cheese bubbles and becomes a golden brown.

7. Let the lasagna rest out of the oven for about 10-15 minutes so it can firm up and set.

8. Serve and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 llb lasagna pasta sheets
• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• one egg
• block of mozzarella cheese (I use part skim)
• bundle of fresh parsely
• hand full of fresh basil
• 1 llb ground beef
• 5 ripe large tomatoes
• 1 yellow onion
• 4 cloves fresh garlic
• 1 can tomato paste
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste

Delicious Baked Chicken Thighs

Now if you want delicious, tender, fall off the bone chicken, then this dish is for you! I can't even express to you how mouth watering good this chicken dish is and honestly it's easy enough for any at-home chef to make. Many people hate chicken on the bone because it can be messy to eat. My boyfriend, Dave, sums it up... he doesn't like to work for his food. I promise to you that you don't have to work to get your chicken off the bone. If I can get Dave to like this then I pretty much guarantee anyone will haha.

Since chicken thighs were on sale this week, .99 cents a llb, I decided to buy a family pack and, despite the heat, bake up my "fall off the bone" chicken. 

1. Wash your chicken thighs and pull off all the skin and fat. I pull this off under running water because it's not the most appealing job. 

2. Lye all your thighs in a metal casserole dish. You can definitely use glass if that's all you have. 

3. Drizzle olive oil over chicken and season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. The following will also go on chicken; 2 cans diced or stewed tomatoes, one chopped yellow onion, 3 cloves minced or crushed fresh garlic, handful of fresh parsley and basil, and a couple stems of rosemary.

5. Cover with tin foil and cook at 375 for 90 minutes.

This is what it looks like going in (before I covered it)...

Cooking it for 90 minutes is what will result in the chicken to fall off the bone. Here it is coming out...

Yum... Now just pick off and discard the rosemary stems.

I served my chicken over brown rice but it would be delicious with pretty much any side.

I debated about showing you my half eaten food but I just had to show you how easy this chicken falls off it's bone. So tender and so... well... delicious. Delicious seems to be the "word" of the day.

Try it, taste it, let me know what you think!

Veggie Spring Rolls

So during my time at News 8 I got to see many, many, Connecticut Style segments. Now, naturally, the cooking segments were really the only segment I paid attention to and that is where I learned how to make these delicious little spring rolls. These aren't the heavy deep fried, Chinese style, spring rolls (which are delicious in their own way) but instead they are raw rice paper spring rolls. Yes... no cooking!

It all starts with the ever so fantastic rice paper for spring rolls. I think I almost jumped up and down when I found these in the international aisle at Shop Rite. Then the second most important ingredient... broccoli or rainbow slaw. From here, you can pretty much put anything in these little suckers. My favorite addition are pumpkin and sunflower seeds. However, I have a few variations... sometimes I'll put honey in with my ingredients, my favorite is putting crumbled feta and a bit of Parmesan peppercorn dressing, and today I even put Thai chili sauce with my veggie and seed mix.

Making these spring rolls couldn't be any easier, which is why I make them pretty much every day for lunch now. I first take a plate and pour enough water so it fills the bottom.I then take my rice paper, which is actually hard and crispy, and let it sit in the water until it becomes soft and translucent. You'll see in the picture below that you can barely even see the paper. After it becomes translucent, just hold the paper onto the plate and let the remaining water drip into the sink or trash.

Now you fill! I place all my ingredients on one half of the paper and then I fold the shallow side to cover my veggies, fold the two sides in, and continue rolling until you have a nice spring roll.

Tada! Now I don't deep fry, but if you wanted to saute your rolls in a pan (I use coconut oil spray) you can definitely do that as well.

Deep in whichever sauce you please or enjoy it alone. Either way they are absolutely delicious and a guilt-free treat!