Chicken Parm, Garlic Butter Green Pea Fusilli, French Beans, and Sweet Potatoes
Cooked up some chicken parm, noodles, beans, and had boiled sweet potatoes (for cooking with during the week) for dinner.
About 6 bucks a plate.
by maninthewoodsdude
2 Comments
maninthewoodsdude
A quick, easy, and cheap meal I made today for about $6 a plate:
**For the Chicken Parmesan, I seasoned/marinated the breasts (2 large ones cut in half) with a tsp each of dried thyme/dried italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, with a splash of lemon juice/water for about a half-hour.**
I fried them in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes per side. (This was way too long as they were very dry! (I was way too worried about food safety!). Next time, I will fry them for less time before baking. Just enough for crisp/color/flavor.)
I then baked them with jared pasta sauce mixed with shredded parmesan and then added more parmesan cheese/mozzarella on top. (Yes, I went heavy on the cheese, I wanted to use up the last little bit in the bag, and I’m a fat kid at heart.)
However, to counteract the dryness (and out of concern for my health lol) I will use less cheese so I don’t have to bake them for as long (trying to cut bake time from 15 minutes to 10, or even half I think for juicier chicken!)
**For the sauce, I used 3 tablespoons of butter & 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil for roughly a cloves worth of garlic.**
I did burn it a little in an accident, getting distracted, and surfing reddit, but I don’t think it was enough to ruin the taste any.
(1 tablespoon was saved in the pan to use for the beans as mentioned below)
Yes, I cheated and used some jared minced garlic from the store as well. I like the taste of it, sue me lol.
**The noodles were from wegmans. They sound fancy, but they’re not!**
I simply boiled them up for 7 minutes per the boxes instructions. Afterward, I drained them and mixed in the buttery garlicy sauce.
I used a whole box of noodles and have a bunch left over after meal-prepping out the rest of the portions of meat and veggies, so you might want to use half a box of noodles for 4 plates worth of food if you copy the recipe!
(I will just cook up a different meat, like pork chops, to use with the rest of the noodles later this week)
**I also boiled the beans for about 7 minutes and then tossed them in the sauce I made for the noodles and finished with fresh cracked black pepper.**
(The fresh french green beans are on the more expensive side for me, but I wanted some variety in my veggies from the usual broccoli I almost always have.
The beans did contrast nicely from the chicken while also complimenting it as well with the garlic flavor to match the tomatoy vibe of the chicken, though! )
**The sweet potatoes are more for a splash of color in this meal, almost a healthy, edible garnish if you will.**
(I really cooked them up today as I plan on pan frying them up as a healthier hashed potato and also making mashed potatoes, for later in the week).
If you really want to make this a truly healthy meal you could easily cut way back on the butter and oil in the sauce, salt, and cheese used. And also use less oil to fry the chicken as well.
GildedTofu
Wow! That stove looks both antique and pristine!
Sorry about the off-topic post, I was just so impressed!
2 Comments
A quick, easy, and cheap meal I made today for about $6 a plate:
**For the Chicken Parmesan, I seasoned/marinated the breasts (2 large ones cut in half) with a tsp each of dried thyme/dried italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, with a splash of lemon juice/water for about a half-hour.**
I fried them in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes per side. (This was way too long as they were very dry! (I was way too worried about food safety!). Next time, I will fry them for less time before baking. Just enough for crisp/color/flavor.)
I then baked them with jared pasta sauce mixed with shredded parmesan and then added more parmesan cheese/mozzarella on top. (Yes, I went heavy on the cheese, I wanted to use up the last little bit in the bag, and I’m a fat kid at heart.)
However, to counteract the dryness (and out of concern for my health lol) I will use less cheese so I don’t have to bake them for as long (trying to cut bake time from 15 minutes to 10, or even half I think for juicier chicken!)
**For the sauce, I used 3 tablespoons of butter & 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil for roughly a cloves worth of garlic.**
I did burn it a little in an accident, getting distracted, and surfing reddit, but I don’t think it was enough to ruin the taste any.
(1 tablespoon was saved in the pan to use for the beans as mentioned below)
Yes, I cheated and used some jared minced garlic from the store as well. I like the taste of it, sue me lol.
**The noodles were from wegmans. They sound fancy, but they’re not!**
I simply boiled them up for 7 minutes per the boxes instructions. Afterward, I drained them and mixed in the buttery garlicy sauce.
I used a whole box of noodles and have a bunch left over after meal-prepping out the rest of the portions of meat and veggies, so you might want to use half a box of noodles for 4 plates worth of food if you copy the recipe!
(I will just cook up a different meat, like pork chops, to use with the rest of the noodles later this week)
**I also boiled the beans for about 7 minutes and then tossed them in the sauce I made for the noodles and finished with fresh cracked black pepper.**
(The fresh french green beans are on the more expensive side for me, but I wanted some variety in my veggies from the usual broccoli I almost always have.
The beans did contrast nicely from the chicken while also complimenting it as well with the garlic flavor to match the tomatoy vibe of the chicken, though! )
**The sweet potatoes are more for a splash of color in this meal, almost a healthy, edible garnish if you will.**
(I really cooked them up today as I plan on pan frying them up as a healthier hashed potato and also making mashed potatoes, for later in the week).
If you really want to make this a truly healthy meal you could easily cut way back on the butter and oil in the sauce, salt, and cheese used. And also use less oil to fry the chicken as well.
Wow! That stove looks both antique and pristine!
Sorry about the off-topic post, I was just so impressed!