Italiano!

I love me some Italian food and I married an Italian guy because of it too!

WAIT!!!!  

WHAT??

No I'm just kidding...my hubby IS half Italian but I didn't marry him because he was.  

The man can barely cook, I mean c'mon LOL!

But we all enjoy some good Italian food in our house that's for sure.

And its always best when made from scratch!

I thought I'd share my simple & quick Chicken Parmesan with Roasted Tomato Sauce

with you all today!  And pretty healthy as well (well minus the cheese lol) but other than that its fairly Paleo friendly too!

One of my favorite ways to cook up a good hearty tomato sauce is by roasting some tomatoes (I like to use a mix of cherry and larger tomatoes) with some garlic, salt & pepper, olive oil, balsamic, brown sugar and a bit of hot red peppers to give it a good kick.  

After they've roasted up, put them in a blender and puree into your sauce.

{recipes are below}

I like to buy the thinner chicken breasts for my Chicken Parmesan.  They cook up faster and you don't have to waste time beating them down...course if you need to expel some bad juju then go right ahead and bang those chicken breasts into thinner pieces LOL!  I cook mine up in a skillet with olive oil and fresh herbs when I can to get a head start on the cooking. Then I layer everything into my baking pan, top with sauce & cheese and store it in the fridge until I'm ready to cook it up for dinner.  Easy to make ahead and tastes soooo good!

Roasted Tomato Sauce

1 - 1.5 lbs of tomatoes 

1/4 cup of Balsamic Vinegar

1 TBS brown sugar

1/2 cup of Olive Oil

3-4 cloves of Garlic Smashed

A few snips of fresh Thyme, Basil & Parsley

(use dried herbs if you have no fresh on hand)

Salt & Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes for kick

Mix up all the ingredients in a small bowl except for the tomatoes.  Place tomatoes in a glass or stone pan (not metal) and drizzle mixture on top. Roast at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.  Once roasted pour the tomatoes and sauce into your blender and puree.  Add salt/pepper to taste as needed.

Chicken Parmesan

4-8 Chicken Breasts (thin cuts)

1/4 cup Olive Oil

Salt/Pepper

Italian Seasoning

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Mix in a small bowl Olive Oil and seasonings and dip chicken breasts in mixture.

Heat skillet and brown each side of chicken quickly, no more than 1-2 mins on each side.

Then place chicken breasts in a greased baking dish, pour roasted tomato sauce on top, and cover with shredded cheeses.  Cover with foil and cook at 400 degs for 15 mins, then remove foil and cook last 5 mins to melt cheeses well.

Bon Appetit!

Entering into the following Linky Parties:

AKA Designs / Weekend re-Treat


*****

WINNER of the Parking Tix
(sorry I'm behind on this)

Kim of "My Pink Tiara" 
has won a pack of my parking tickets LOL!
Email me at sjdean@smartneighborhood.net with your mailing address so I
can ship them out ASAP to you!

And if you would like your very own parking tickets...Amazon has them right here below!
Citation those idiots away I say ;)

Pancake Crazy!

Paleo Friendly Pancakes!

{pic source}

So its been almost 2.5 weeks on my Paleo diet and I have to say I've been very surprised, in a good way. I'm the girl who if you tell me I cannot have something...well then I want it badly...KWIM?  I've tried multiple times to give up sugar and bread and after a few days I'm like an addict secretly trying to sneak some. Its seriously bad y'all!  But I went with Paleo because I want to reboot my system, clean out my body and get it in fighting form for what I have to deal with soon.  And maybe lose a few pounds from that some of these meds I had to take and they packed weight on me over this winter.  I have to say I've had almost NO cravings for soda, chocolate or any sugar really.  I still would love a piece of fresh bread dripping with butter but I've been really good so far.  I haven't weighed myself yet as I'm waiting for the 4 week mark to see and crossing fingers I see some kinda loss (not a gain oy vey, then I'll cry).  

So I've been researching a lot and trying different Paleo-friendly recipes.  I thought every week I'd share one that was successful and yummy with you in case you are interested as well.  

Last week I shared my Caesar Dressing that was Paleo friendly but one that I've been making for years that my family loves. 

********************

{pic source}

We had breakfast for dinner the other night and I decided to try both almond AND coconut flour pancakes to see which was better. Ya' know my own taste test kitchen ha!  The "boys" got regular chocolate chip pancakes the lucky ducks!  Both type of pancakes were good but I found the coconut flour ones to be a bit better and not as grainy in texture...so they are both really good, healthy options AND Gluten Free if that interests you as well.  

I added blueberries to both since they are SuperFood berry and they added a touch of sweetness.  I drizzled mine with organic raw honey and it suited my sweet tooth just fine...I didn't feel I was missing out at all and I loaded up on some scrambled eggs with veggies and 2 slices of bacon as well.

Here are the recipes (I doctored these a bit from basic recipes till I got them to my liking) I used below if you want to give them a try!  Don't ask me how many bad ones I made to get a good balance of ingredients and the size right LOL...let's just say the birds in the woods ate well.  So doctor up your recipes until you find ones that suit YOU too!

Coconut Flour Pancakes

• 3/4 cup Coconut Milk 
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 TBS Honey  (raw/organic)
• Dash of Cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 cup Coconut Flour (sifted)
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• a pinch of Kosher/sea salt
• 1/4 cup blueberries or other fruit (0ptional)
• Optional coconut oil for cooking
• 
  
• Sift your flour if you can as it helps make batter come together nicer. Preheat your pan or griddle on medium heat.  Whisk your eggs well to a nice froth in bowl and then add in vanilla, honey, and cinnamon.  Slowly add in your coconut flour, baking soda and salt and mix up well. (if they are a bit runny add more coconut flour a TBS at a time, if too floury add a bit more milk)  I have a non-stick griddle so I didn't use any oil or butter and they cooked up fine, but if you need to add that before scooping on the batter go right ahead!
• These work best as small dollar sized pancakes...trust me on this..I tried larger and small is better in this case folks :)  So scoop a small amount onto pan and then sprinkle on your fruit so they cook evenly!  Drizzle with honey, syrup or fruit of your choice!

****

Almond Flour Pancakes

1 1/2 cup Almond Flour/Meal (sifted)

3 Eggs

pinch of Kosher/Sea Salt

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1 TBS Honey (organic/raw)

dash of cinnamon (optional)

1/4 cup Coconut Milk

1/4 cup Fruit (optional)

Same instructions as above for cooking coconut pancakes.  Again I made these dollar sized and they turned out great!  

**Notes: 

* I read that some people have put their ingredients in a blender or used hand-mixer to make the batter even finer and end result even fluffier....so that's an option too!  I haven't tried it yet though so I have no idea if it does or not. Let me know if you do.

* Perhaps because these are smaller pancakes and maybe due to the different flour, they cook up MUCH faster so keep a close eye on them. As soon as they bubble on the edges flip those babies fast ok?

* Make extras for another day/meal. Cool completely and layer them with wax paper and freeze in a freezer-safe bag, container or food-saverize them. Then reheat in toaster oven.

* Use any fruit you want but they cook up better if you sprinkle the fruit onto the batter while cooking...not mixing it into the batter.

* I drizzled with raw honey because I love it but you could use maple syrup if you weren't being super strict or only top them with berries.  I did use a wee bit of organic butter on each one...a small treat to myself.

So if you try them let me know how you liked them!  There are lots of recipes out there, I just messed around till I found something that worked best for me. 

As always tweak a recipe to YOUR liking!!

Next Week:  My Version of Paleo Pizza ...mmmmm!