Chicken Parmigiana

Having a sick child at home changes the course of a day, but not always in a bad way. Today I found myself sitting at home feeding my little one popsicles in the rocking chair - not my original plan, but it slowed my day down in a way that I appreciated these wonderful moments. It was a relaxing day and I got to cook a great dinner for my family.

This is one of my family's favorite recipes. It is a lightened up version of Chicken Parmigiana from Weight Watchers.

Chicken Parmigiana

Ingredients:

Olive Oil Cooking Spray

8 Chicken Breast Tenderloins

2 Large Egg Whites, Lightly Beaten

1/2 c. Dried Bread Crumbs (plain)

1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Olive Oil

1 1/2 c. Spaghetti Sauce

1/2 c. Shredded Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese

1 Tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese

8 oz. Uncooked Spaghetti

Preparation:

Preheat Oven to 350 Degrees. Coat Glass Casserole Baking Pan with Cooking Spray.

Place egg whites in a shallow bowl. Combine bread crumbs with italian seasoning and salt in another shallow bowl. Dip one piece of chicken in egg whites and turn to coat, then dip the piece of chicken in bread crumb mixture, turning thoroughly to coat. Repeat with remaining chicken tenderloins, placing coated chicken on a plate. You could also substitute Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs to lessen the number of steps and ingredients, but that might increase the calories of the dish.

I usually end up with fingers coated in many layers of egg and crumbs that look ready to throw into the frying pan with the chicken! I can't stand that feeling, so I now have a designated wet hand (right) and dry hand (left). It works really well to have one hand dipping the chicken and the other hand coating it. Do you have a tip for keeping your fingers from getting coated too? I'd love to hear from you!

Spray large skillet with cooking spray and add oil; heat over medium high heat. When hot, add chicken and cook until lightly browned, about four minutes per side.

Pour 1/2 c. sauce into prepared baking dish. Place chicken in dish and pour remaining sauce evenly over chicken.

Sprinkle with cheese and bake until hot and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, Prepare 8 ounces Spaghetti according to package.

Side Note: I read a long time ago that when you are cooking spaghetti for a group, you should cook 2 oz per person (which, incidentally, is usually the serving suggestion). I never believed it, until I actually started weighing out my spaghetti and realized it yields the perfect amount. My spaghetti lasts so much longer now that I don't cook a full package everytime and we've lost quite a bit of weight too!

Here is the finished casserole. This dish serves four. One serving is two chicken tenderloins and 1 cup spaghetti. The Weight Watchers pts value is 5 for the chicken, 4 four for the pasta, or you can eat it on a small wheat bun like I did for 6 points. Yum!

Enjoy!