I'm always excited to try out something new and fun for my family for dinner. If you follow along, you know that I'm all about feeding my family well and giving them something they will all enjoy. If you are a mom/wife then you know that this can be a challenging task: feeding your family a healthy meal that they will love. Between picky children and picky men - I have to get creative every so often. Tonight was one of those creative meals.
After spending a long afternoon at the park doing our annual fall pictures and basically letting our toddler run out some of her never-ending energy, we wanted something quick and easy for dinner. NO take out. I truly try to avoid take out whenever necessary. Not only because there are so many things in the take out food that I'm not that comfortable letting my family eat, but cooking at home is so much cheaper. You get to control the quality of ingredients and also control what you are actually giving your family so that you feel good about it.
So let's get to it: what do we need for this twist on a favorite?
You want to dredge the chicken breasts in the beaten eggs, then cover with your bread crumbs. Set aside.
Start heating your oil in a deep skillet. You always want to start with a nice, hot oil when cooking. Once it comes up to temp, gently place your coated chicken breasts in and allow to cook, (depending on the width they will take about 5-6 minutes per side).
You will get a nice, golden color. YUM. Set aside on a paper towel to allow the excess grease come off your cooked chicken.
Now, prepare your Caesar salad. This is really simple: take your lettuce, then pour on your dressing. Do this a little at a time; you don't want to over-dress your lettuce - this makes it soggy. No one likes a soggy salad.
We are basically there at this point. Now comes the option ingredients we discussed above. Again, if you follow along you know that there is a difference in how you eat your meat in my house. One half, (my way, a.k.a. the correct way) eats theirs as presented. The other half, (a.k.a. the testosterone side of the family) must have all meat served in a bun format. So we usually have two different versions of some meals in my kitchen.
As you can see ... my way is the deconstructed way. I simply serve my salad as my side and then my chicken breast is served with some Caesar dressing topped for extra flavor.
Now ... the sandwich version. The Man Version. He took his chicken breast, cut it in half and served it on top of freshly sliced roma tomatoes, Caesar salad and some sprinkling of the shredded Mozzarella cheese on top. All between a nice, soft Hoagie bun.
Either way is truly okay ... in fact there may be some nights I'd prefer mine this way. However it's the holiday season and I really try my best to cut back on the carbs when I can. This is one of those times. So no bun on my plate.
So there you have it. A fun, easy, quick and inexpensive meal. I'll total it all up for you. This fed four people, (sandwich version or deconstructed version).
Now this is a meal that I'm so proud to serve again and again to my family. (much better than take out!)
~Cheers!
Jacqui
After spending a long afternoon at the park doing our annual fall pictures and basically letting our toddler run out some of her never-ending energy, we wanted something quick and easy for dinner. NO take out. I truly try to avoid take out whenever necessary. Not only because there are so many things in the take out food that I'm not that comfortable letting my family eat, but cooking at home is so much cheaper. You get to control the quality of ingredients and also control what you are actually giving your family so that you feel good about it.
So let's get to it: what do we need for this twist on a favorite?
- Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, (butterfly filet your breasts, trim off any extra fat and pound out slightly in a Ziplock bag)
- Bread Crumbs, (I usually have Italian bread crumbs on hand - if you don't - simply toast up some whole wheat bread and add some spices such as garlic powder, Italian seasoning, etc.)
- 2 eggs
- Cooking oil, (I am currently using a blend of Sunflower and Soy Bean oil)
- Romaine lettuce, (roughly cut)
- Lite Caesar Salad dressing
- Roma tomato, (optional)
- Finely shredded Mozzarella cheese, (optional)
- Hoagie buns, (optional)
You want to dredge the chicken breasts in the beaten eggs, then cover with your bread crumbs. Set aside.
Start heating your oil in a deep skillet. You always want to start with a nice, hot oil when cooking. Once it comes up to temp, gently place your coated chicken breasts in and allow to cook, (depending on the width they will take about 5-6 minutes per side).
Now, prepare your Caesar salad. This is really simple: take your lettuce, then pour on your dressing. Do this a little at a time; you don't want to over-dress your lettuce - this makes it soggy. No one likes a soggy salad.
As you can see ... my way is the deconstructed way. I simply serve my salad as my side and then my chicken breast is served with some Caesar dressing topped for extra flavor.
So there you have it. A fun, easy, quick and inexpensive meal. I'll total it all up for you. This fed four people, (sandwich version or deconstructed version).
- Chicken breasts: $5.70
- Hoagie buns: $1.50
- Romaine lettuce: $1.25
- Lite Caesar dressing: $1.60
- One Roma tomato: $.45
- Total: $10.50 (I already had the oil and shredded cheese on hand, along with the eggs and bread crumbs - again, cheap way to sub bread crumbs: toast bread and crumble)
Now this is a meal that I'm so proud to serve again and again to my family. (much better than take out!)
~Cheers!
Jacqui
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