Food!

If you have been reading, you know I am trying to lose weight and get in shape.  I know I posted a cupcake recipe first, but come on, life isn't life without cupcakes!  There will be many more cupcakes in this blog's future.  For now though, I thought I'd post what hubby and I had for dinner a couple days ago (and leftover lunch the next day)

I get a lot of my healthy recipes from skinnytaste.com
Gina posts great stuff and there is a huge variety.  I made my take on her turkey cutlets and I made her BLT pasta salad!  Enjoy these folks :)

Parmesan Chicken Tenders 

1 pkg Chicken Tenders
4 egg whites beaten
3/4 c italian breadcrumbs
1/3 c parmesan  cheese
garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter


Preheat oven to 250 degrees. (yes 250, its not a typo :) )  Place half of the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound chicken tenders with a mallet until they flatten out.  This tenderizes them and makes them cook up faster.  After they are flattened place the tenders into a bowl with the beaten egg whites.


Mix breadcrumbs, parm, and spices together in a bowl.  Put half of the butter and half of the olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.  Once it is melted and sizzling, dredge the chicken through the breading/cheese mixture and place in the pan.  Cook until golden on each side.  Once the first batch is done, place on a pan in the oven to keep warm.  Repeat with the second half of the chicken tenders.


I ended up needing to do another small batch because I had too much chicken to fit in the pan.  Skinnytaste.com calculated the calories at 184 for one of the turkey cutlets on her recipe, which made 8 cutlets.  My version made 10 and I made the serving size 2 tenders.  


Calories:  286.7   Serving Size:  2 Tenders


I also added some marinara to the top of mine to make chicken parm (about a tablespoon per tender) and with that added the calories bumps up a bit to 304.5 calories for two tenders.




The next recipe is SO easy and delicious.  My husband LOVED it.


BLT Pasta Salad


half a box of whole wheat penne
4 slices of center cut bacon
2 large ripe tomatoes
2 cups of baby spinach, fresh
3 tbsp of reduced fat mayo (I used Duke's)


Cook the pasta according to the box.  Cook the bacon strips until crispy on each side.  After the pasta is done, drain it and run cold water over the pasta to cool it.  Mix in the mayo with the pasta.


Chop the bacon into small pieces, cut the tomatoes into chunks, and then chop the spinach to desired size ( I left my leaves pretty big).  Add these ingredients to the pasta/mayo mixture and mix all together.


It makes a little over 6 servings of a cup each.


Calories: 149.1  Serving Size 1 cup


The original recipe (http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/06/blt-macaroni-salad.html) called for 4 tbsp of mayo, but I thought that came out to be too much, so three is better :)


My husband and I made a meal of two chicken tenders and a cup of the BLT salad and it came out to 435.8 calories.  Under 500!  Not bad for breaded chicken and BLT pasta :)