stuffed chicken parm

Well, we're back home now and both exhausted.  It was a full week of shopping, seeing old friends, and working out (for J).  It was a lot of fun and great to get out of town for a while to spice things up a bit.  Maddie seemed to have fun at "Grandma and Grandpa's" (my in-laws) -- she's been sound asleep on the couch for most of the evening.  No matter how much fun we have away, it always feels so good to be home (I could do without all of the unpacking and laundry though!)

Tomorrow morning we'll be up bright and early again to run in the Race for the Cure like I talked about earlier.  Might be a bit of a rough one- I have only ran once this week while we were away (along with eating out several times and a few glasses of wine here and there....) and J is sore and tired from a hard week of workouts.  To help prepare us for our big day tomorrow, I made some stuffed chicken parm with spaghetti, green beans & red wine (no shame) for dinner tonight.  It was pretty delish so I thought I'd better share my recipe with you all:

Stuffed Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:
Chicken Breasts
1/4 cup diced mozzarella & parmesan cheese (more or less, to your liking)
2 slices of bread, crumbed
1 tsp. oregano (more or less, to your liking)
1 tsp. parsley (more or less, to your liking)
a dash of salt & pepper
1 egg
small amount of flour

Wash and clean up chicken breasts, removing any excess fat.  Cut a pocket into the chicken breast from the top (like you're slicing it in half the long ways, but just cut a small opening with the pocket, don't go all the way through).  Stuff the pocket with cheese, filling to your liking.  Use a toothpick to hold the opening closed.

Mix together bread crumbs, oregano, parsley, salt & pepper in a bowl.  Line 2 more bowls up next to it,  pouring the flour into one and beating the egg in the other.  Roll chicken breast in flour first, then egg, then bread crumb mixture.  Place breasts in baking dish and bake ~30 minutes at 375 degrees F (190 C). 

While chicken is cooking, prepare the spaghetti:

Ingredients:
1 can (10 oz.) of tomato soup
1 can (15 oz.) of tomato sauce
1 can (6 oz.) of tomato paste
oregano, to taste
parsley, to taste
garlic, to taste
salt & pepper, to taste
Whole Grain wheat spaghetti

In a sauce pan, mix together tomato soup, sauce & paste.  Simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally.  Add in oregano, parsley, garlic, salt & pepper as desired.  Continue to simmer until well mixed and the sauce begins to thicken a little.  While sauce is cooking, boil water and cook pasta noodles.

Top noodles and chicken with spaghetti sauce & grate parmesan cheese on top.  Enjoy!

*I use the same recipe without the chicken to make regular old spaghetti... but I usually add 1 pound of ground beef to make it a meat sauce.  Sometimes I swap out garlic salt for fresh garlic & salt and sometimes I don't add the parsley and oregano (depends how much flavor we're in the mood for)  It's simple but delicious, and definitely a dish we long for when we're in Finland and can't find the exact ingredients! :)

I promise to have more and exciting posts coming soon... but for now, this girl's gotta get some shut eye before the big morning tomorrow.  Good thing we've got some lovely new sheets & new comforter to sleep with, courtesy of tax-free shopping in Minnesota! :)