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Chicken Parmesan With Simple Tomato Sauce was a dish that I was really afraid to tackle in a lighter form. It is one of those meals that you already have expectations for, and that never makes it an easy one to change. Lucky for me, Americas Test Kitchen decided to do all the sampling for me, and put out a great recipe that we are putting at the top of the list. Karen’s only complaint with this-was the time that it took me to get it all put together. This is a great dish when you are looking for something hearty and filling, but it still remains light.

If you are a ‘do the prep work ahead’ type of person, then this would be quick and easy for any week night. Being that I don’t work that way, I started by toasting the panko, and then working on the chicken (slicing the breasts in halve to double the servings, dredging and coating in the toasted crumbs) and then it was ready to bake. The included sauce recipe is indeed very simple to prepare, and doesn’t take a lot of time. When I make this again (and I certainly will) the sauce will be the first part that I prepare-it’s likely I’ll start keeping some on hand actually. The sauce itself was light with a touch of sweetness. By baking the panko coated chicken on a wire rack, we had a very crunchy crust-crispy as if fried, just without the extra calories!

We’ve been fighting with our fridge again lately. Seems it doesn’t like to actually work. 2 services calls later, we finally know what part we need to make it work-oddly enough, it’s what we tried to buy 3 months ago, but waited so we would void any warranties. Now that it is cranking away, we were able to go out and get some salmon, and try out a recipe I just stumbled upon the other night.

Barbecue Roasted Salmon is a recipe that was originally geared towards the oven. Since I’m already looking for more excuses to use our grill-we simply skipped the oven and used the marinating time to get the grill prepped and heating. The rub came together in moments and there was enough for a good thick coat on the fish. This later turned into a thin crust as we grilled it-a big bonus for us both. The brown sugar balanced out the hefty dosage of chili powder-which was probably the star of this dish.

In case you haven’t listened to my never ending praise for Penzeys Spices, let me point them out now. Penzeys is known for selling top quality spices, at rock bottom prices. Karen and I were lucky enough to get to one of their stores today, and had an amazing experience. Their store has a sample out of every single spice, so you can get a preview of anything you are interested in. My favorite part of this store and website-is that everything is sold in MANY sizes. For our tiny pantry, it’s great to be able to buy a small jar of a spice that isn’t used very frequently. I bring this all up, just to mention how great their chili powder is, and how stand out it made this dish.

But rather, are right at home in a bowl. I know it’s been a few weeks since I’ve update this, but we have been keeping fairly busy with our work schedule…and working on our tans. The past 2 weeks have had us down in Miami, FL-so we have spent more time outside, instead of always online! Tonight, I figured I would bring the laptop out doors while we enjoy the evening, and catch people up on a few good new dishes that we’ve had.

The first is the Penne with Shrimp and Spring Vegetables, that we had for lunch today.
This was went over so well, that we almost had it again for dinner! I have had a few rough experiences with one pot meals, so I was a little concerned over this one. In the end, it was well worth it. While the water boiled, I was able to get most of the vegetables chopped. You start the pasta first, then add the asparagus. After that softens a bit, the shrimp and peas (we used sugar snaps!) are added. I had mixed the lemon juice, oil, and garlic while the pasta was cooking, so when I tossed that into the drained mix, the room was filled with a great aroma. When I first set it on the table, Karen was headed to the fridge for the Parmesan. We both love to grate some right over most of our meals-but I told her this one had a ton of feta already in there. If you aren’t familiar with feta, this is a great way to try it out. The heat of the pasta gently melts the cheese so it sticks to nearly every bite. The combination of textures and tastes leaves you with a dish that everyone can enjoy.

For my second update, I bring you a lighter version of Chicken and Biscuits. This recipe, as I found it, assumes you are the type of person that chops all your vegetables the day you bring them home. Since I’m not Rachel Ray, it didn’t work out for me quite like that. To avoid the issues I had-have the veggies prepared BEFORE you start on the biscuits. I had just cleaned mine, and was starting to put them through the food processor, when the timer went off for the oven. The end result, did end up being very pleasing. I’m sure I will make the biscuits over and over again (well, until I start running into the $7 bags of flour that I’m hearing about) and the chicken dish will be repeated as well!