Playing Chicken and A Giveaway

I hit a culinary home run last night. 

Though I've been cooking for over 30 years now, Sir has been more of a challenge to please than your average bear. He thinks breakfast is the emperor of all meals.  He's a runner, and to him, food is fuel, not a love language.   Recipes that have garnered positive reviews from guests for most of my adult life have been met with, "That's really good, dear.  Maybe you could ask my mom how she makes it."

Before your blood boils in sympathy for poor, underappreciated me, think about it.  I've actually observed this with nearly all of us.  NOBODY cooks like Mom.  I'd rather eat my mom's cooking than my own any day of the week.  The Girl can whip up any recipe I've ever made for her, but she prefers Mom or Grandma's touch.  Some of the highest compliments I've gotten at parties have been something along the lines of, "Dang - that's even better than my mama's - but don't tell her!"

So one day last year, I asked Sir's mom how she makes one of his favorites - chicken parmesan.  (This is not something I grew up eating or cooking, and the first few times I made it for him I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  He liked it, but thought it was way too much work.)  His mom told me her recipe, and I didn't write it down.  When it occurred to me to try it for supper last night, I'd long forgotten what she said.  Improvisation was the word of the day, and it turned out reaaaallly fabulous.  Sir's plate was so clean I nearly didn't have to wash it.  Before I forget how I did it, I'm going to post the recipe below.  Try it - you'll like it! 

Disclaimer:  Just before we sat down to eat, I may or may not have told Sir that I was pretty sure this was exactly how his mom told me to make the dish.  No harm in starting him out with a positive attitude, right?  Of course right.


Chicken Parm

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded within 1/2 inch of their lives.  Mine were French.  I'll miss French Coqs when we leave here.  I pound chicken between two sheets of wax paper on a cutting board, because that's how my mom does it.  See above.

Oil, Progresso Italian Breadcrumbs, Grated Parmesan Cheese, Italian Seasoning, and one egg.  I didn't measure any of these things, because I was improvising.  Cover the bottom of a heavy skillet with olive oil. Heat on medium-high.  Pour (I'd guess it's about 1/3 cup) breadcrumbs, five good shakes of parmesan and two good shakes of seasoning in a plastic bag.  Shake to mix.  Beat the egg in a shallow dish, dip the chicken breasts in egg to coat, and then place them in the bag and shake it up, baby. (I know many people put their breading in a shallow dish as well, then dredge the chicken, but I like the easy cleanup of just tossing out the plastic bag.  Plus it takes me back to the commercials of my childhood - "it's Shake 'n Bake, and I haaayelpd.")

Fry the chicken to brown on both sides, turning frequently.  This doesn't take very long, since it's nice and thin.

1 Jar Prego Spaghetti Sauce, 1/2 small can of Tomato Paste, 1/4 cup water.  These were on sale at the commissary this week - the sauce was only $1.50 and the tomato paste was 9 cents!  I poured the sauce into a bowl, added the paste, then put the water in the sauce jar and shook it up to get every bit of sauce goodness out of that jar.  Because that's what my mother does.  Also, props to my brother Roy, who told me years ago that Prego was the  best spaghetti sauce.  He was right.  Mix the sauce and pour about 1/3 of it into the bottom of a 9x13 glass dish.  Place the chicken on top, then pour the rest of the sauce on top of the chicken.

Two big handfuls of Kraft Shredded Italian Cheese.  Sprinkle the cheese generously on top of the chicken.  Bake the whole thing in a 350 degree oven until the cheese is melty and the sauce is bubbly.  In our voltage challenged building which fluctuates oven temperatures more violently than my hormones on a good day, this took about 20 minutes, which gives you just enough time to boil

Half a box of thin Spaghetti.  I had the water bubbling on the back burner as I was prepping the chicken; if you forget, you still have plenty of  time to cook the spaghetti while the sauce is heating in the oven.

Plate the chicken beside a mound of spaghetti, and ladle some extra sauce on top of the noodles. 

I served this with a simple salad and some garlic bread.   Believe it or not (I'm totally reverting to childhood for sure) we had cherry jello with fruit cocktail in it for dessert!  The whole thing was so fast, so cheap, and so so good.  We are not about the gourmet here, hence the not-from-scratch ingredients, but honestly, I don't know how it could have been any better. The chicken was so tender we could literally cut it with our forks.   This one goes in the permanent rotation for sure.  Best part is, every part of this meal can be kept in stock in the pantry/freezer (except for the salad) and put together quickly for company.

This served the two of us, with enough leftovers for Sir to take for lunch to work today.  Too bad, so sad he forgot them...:)

I'm so tickled about the whole thing, I'm giving away another knife.  This one is a non-serrated Victorinox paring knife - the most-used knife in my kitchen.  You'll be getting a new one, not the actual most-used one in my kitchen.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below telling me YOUR current favorite recipe.  No food snobs here, so any simple thing you're enjoying is eligible.  I'll use my patented random hall-yelling technique to choose a winner on Monday, March 19th.


PS - Some readers have expressed concern about not wanting to log in or register etc etc in order to comment.  I just tested the commenting process, and if you don't already have a Blogger ID or one of the choices listed, all you have to do is write your comment and select Anonymous from the drop-down menu.  Just be sure to let me know who you are in your comment itself!

Gray is the New Gray

I forgot to take my camera (which, as most of you know, is my cell phone) when I went to visit Herr Menrath Friseur today.  I won't make that mistake again, because the next time I visit Herr Menrath ("we do make your fine hairs have both the volume and the curls today") will be my last chance to get my hair did in Germany.  I may even spring for color, just to watch him mix the potions up with a flourish while peering through his spectacles.  Frau Menrath stands beside him and assists with the magic pots while he applies color to his fashionable patrons who are not me because I, on the two occasions per year that my hair actually gets color, apply my own $6.79 L'Oreal.  Because I'm worth it. (picture me saying that just like Andie McDowell, only with a lot less hair and a lot more hips.)

ANYWAY, I was thinking this morning, as I walked across the Neckar River (on a bridge, not like Jesus,) that I'd better be a bit more intentional about photographic preservation of Heidelberg, because we are down to WEEKS before we fly back to the States.  I felt like a child, noticing everything.  There were young moms on bicycles with their shopping baskets perched on the front and their babies strapped behind them; there were elegant ladies in London-ish hats, and heartbreaking beggars in wheelchairs and workmen smoking cigarettes perilously close to the streetcars whizzing by, and bakeries full of bread and pastries, and boutiques with Spring window displays.  The sunshine of the past few days has slipped away, and we're back to gray skies,  cozy but not energizing.

The grayness I noticed today, though, was in a shop window.  A gray sofa with silky cream pillows.  The softest-looking knitted gray throw arranged over it, a sweet pair of black velvet ballet slippers with lavish gray velvet bows.  I never thought of gray as a beautiful color till this season.  Most of the shop windows are popping with red, white and blue for summer, or vibrant coral and turquoise for spring...but here was a luxurious display using a color so understated it's glamorous.

In totally unrelated news,  I'm looking forward to seeing Ree Drummond's new cookbook.  I found The Pioneer Woman's website several years ago when she was just starting to blog, and have enjoyed reading it ever since.  The Girl gifted me with Ree's first cookbook for Mother's Day last year, and I'm sending broad hints for a repeat performance this year.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Pioneer-Woman-Cooks-Frontier/dp/0061997188/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1331558


My friend P told me once that the best thing I ever did for her was tell her about The Pioneer Woman.  I think she meant it as a compliment to Ree, but ever since, I've been really insecure about my friendship skills.

While we're on the subject of NOT HAVING ANY SORT OF COMMON THREAD BY WHICH TO TIE TOGETHER THIS POST, I've been noticing that The Girl was really right last fall when she told me the sides of my face look just like harps.  The wrinkles have taken over.  I've been reading about the Clarisonic Mia, which gets great recommendations from people like Melanie who are a solid decade younger than I am, and about this fascinating ritual, but both are currently out of my price range.  Additionally, I'm still looking for a good solution to the "I bought waterproof mascara by mistake and now my chunky gloppy eyelashes are suffering and coming out before they surrender their chunky glops" dilemma.  So, beauty mavens, feel free to dish me your age-defying secrets.  I need you.