Avocado Chicken Parm and Great Grandma's Broccoli and Cauliflower

I was in such a good mood the other day and I was just dying to whip something up homemade. It’s been so long since I’ve made anything (as you can see by my lack of recent posts) so it felt so good to get back in the kitchen again. This semester is so difficult and my classes are far too demanding, so when I actually get a chance to do something with my free time other than sleep or watch tv, I get almost too excited.

One of the main reasons I don’t do dinner posts, other than having the Elon meal plan and being lazy, is that the pictures always come out terrible. The lighting in my apartment is crap and I rely far too heavily on natural sunlight. Usually I will bake something at night and take pictures of it the next morning or during the day by my bright window, but that doesn’t really work for dinner or night time eating (like appz and dipz+chipz) And you also can’t take pictures of cold food either. Fresh food just looks better, as does cooked and warm. So warming up a dinner plate at 8 in the morning just to put in back in the fridge seems pretty ridiculous to me. Until I find a better solution, this is what I gotta work with though. My sisters both use light boxes, so maybe I should invest in one of those in the future (even though they just seem like a pain in the butt to me – especially for my roommate)

The chicken was literally incredible! It was so tender and perfectly cooked. I had also been craving this broccoli and cauliflower we make constantly at my house so I decided to whip that up as a nice side. At the Bruno Manor this dish rarely makes it to the plate... "Just one wont hurt" doesn't usually work out as planned. Honesty box, but I also haven’t cooked/baked chicken like this since middle school. I bake sweets too much and I’m always trying to be overly ambitious with my recipes, so I really thought the chicken was going to come out terribly dry and awful. I followed a foolproof recipe from a blog called Cuisine Paradise though that I found from foodgawker, and my mouth is honestly watering just thinking about it. I changed up some measurements and did the chicken a little differently but overall this is a grade A recipe that I can’t wait to make again (and again and again). 

Avocado Chicken Parm

recipe adapted from Cuisine Paradise 

Ingredients 

2 ½ tablespoons of all-purpose flour

¼ cup bread crumbs

1 egg

1 tablespoon of milk

Olive Oil for rubbing and drizzling (use your best judgment)

Low-Fat Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

½ sliced avocado

About 3 tablespoons of store bought (yeah store bought, just call me Sandra Lee) tomato sauce. I prefer traditional Classico brand

Directions 

1. Preheat your oven to 400˚F

2. Put the chicken in a plastic Ziploc bag and hit it with a meat tenderizer or rolling pin until the chicken looks pretty much the same thickness throughout. 

3. In a cake pan, mix together the flour and breadcrumbs (you can use a bowl or plate but I thought this was easier and cleaner) In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and egg.

4. Dip the chicken into the egg/milk mixture. Then dip it in the breadcrumb mixture and make sure it is fully coated. Then dip the chicken back into the egg mixture, and then again in the bread and flour. Use your fingers to pat down the breadcrumbs so that it isn’t lumpy or bare in any spots. 

Sorry I forgot to take pictures of the breadcrumb dipping part....sometimes I just get so involved!

5. Place the breaded chicken on tin foil greased with olive oil. Lightly drizzle a small amount of olive oil on top of the chicken as well and pat to distribute it a bit.

6. Bake for 4 minutes and then flip it over and bake for 4 more minutes.  

7. After the 8 minutes, remove the chicken from the oven and spread the tomato sauce on top.

8. Place the avocado slices on top and generously sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. 

9. Bake for about 6-7 minutes more or until the cheese has completely melted and the chicken appears brown and crispy on the sides. 

Great Grandma's Broccoli and Cauliflower  

a family recipe 

Ingredient's

1 bag of steam-fresh broccoli and cauliflower 

( > or you can buy a head of each. I'm just lazy and in college so the steam fresh worked perfectly for one - although it really only serves one or two)

1/2 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan 

3 tablespoons Italian breadcrumbs

Salt and Pepper to taste 

Directions

Saute the cooked/steamed broccoli and cauliflower mixed with all of the ingredients over medium heat until they are brown and crispy.  Serve. (or eat directly from the pan like us)

I don't know if you noticed, but steamfresh totally shorted me on the broccoli front. Let's just say I was not pleased (especially because I like the broccoli more!)

I don't know why I love this so much - I just do!!

So dark. so sad.

No I did not eat that entire piece of chicken - even though it was so delicious. I ate half and warmed it up for dinner the next night. Amazing. makes a great leftover