Baked Chicken Parmesan

I love chicken parmesan. I had quite the torrid love affair with it when I worked as a server at the Olive Garden during college. Back then, I had a 50% discount, so I took advantage of it every chance I could. My favorite dish was the chicken parm (that is what us restaurant folk call it) sandwich served up with seasoned fries. OG no longer serves up this favorite of mine. Sigh. Ah, to be in my early 20's surrounded by fried foods. I would still eat like that if I could. While I am no rabbit food girl, I do try to eat in moderation.

Now, that my man has joined Weight Watchers along with his work colleagues, I have been recruited to cook up some WW recipes. So far, it has been pretty neat cooking these meals. I feel challenged and rejuvenated! Somehow,  I have managed to pick recipes that everyone in the house will eat. Like this Baked Chicken Parmesan from Gina's Skinny recipes.

If you have a chance, please go over and visit her site. I just discovered it recently from my husband's colleague who raved about it. It is all that and a bag of fat-free chips. I love how the meals are not all about rabbit food. That would be a serious bummer not only for me, but for my husband as well. He hates 98% of veggies.

The meal is simple enough to prepare:

1. Bread your defrosted chicken breast (sliced in half to make appx. 4 oz. servings) by brushing each breast with melted butter and rolling it around in some freshly grated parmesan cheese-seasoned bread crumb mix. I added 3 rounded tbsps of Italian Seasoning to a Panko and regular bread crumb mixture. 

2. Then, bake in a preheated oven on a slightly sprayed baking sheet at 450F for 20 minutes. Then, turn the  Chicken breasts over and bake another 5 minutes. I did not do this as my chicken breasts were thin. 

3. Next, top with marina sauce (pasta sauce works great, too) and mozzarella cheese. I used Kraft Skim Mozzarella Cheese and Ragu sugar-free pasta Basil and Tomato pasta sauce. Bake for 5 minutes more, then you are done. Let chicken set for a few minutes before serving. There is NOTHING like melted, toasted cheese.

4. Serve it up with a little garnish of basil and serve a healthy side along with it.

It is a satisfying meal. It tastes great! Seriously.  I may even serve it up old school on a toasted bun with some seasoned fries next time.

Enjoy!