Summer Chicken Parmesan

So you all know I love to cook. And you all know I need to lose weight. The two often fight each other. I love my comfort foods and I love to eat. The key, for me, has always been balance. And I've never been good at that.

I've been down this road before and when I get to when I'm willing to try again, I ride that motivation wave for as long as I can. I started getting Cooking Light magazine a hundred years ago and have collected several recipes. Today, however, I discovered a Cooking Light Diet Plan. It offers up those recipes I love and lets me modify as I need.

Tonight I made the first dinner that shuffled through. I only made a couple minor modifications to this.

The first being I couldn't find Whole Wheat Bread Crumbs, so I used what I had.
The second is, I'm not a fan of warmed tomatoes (that aren't already pulverized and in sauce). So I sauted the zucchini then let it cool to room temp. Then put the tomatoes, zuchini and basil together for a side salad. Oh and I added some cucumber to that mix, cuz I had it.



Summer Chicken Parmesan
Recipe from Cooking Light

Photo from Cooking Light

Makes 2 Servings (serving size: 1 cutlet and about 3/4 cup vegetables)

• 2 tablespoons white whole-wheat flour
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup plain whole-wheat breadcrumbs
• 2 (4-ounce) chicken breast cutlets
• 1/4 teaspoon plus a dash of kosher salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2 ounces part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1/3 cup)
• 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped zucchini (about 1 medium)

1. Preheat broiler with oven rack in middle position. Place flour, egg, and breadcrumbs in separate shallow dishes. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour; dip in egg, and dredge in breadcrumbs.
2. Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add cutlets; cook 1 minute on each side. Place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
3. Top cutlets with cheese; broil 1 1/2 minutes. Heat remaining oil in skillet. Add zucchini; sauté 1 minute. Add remaining dash of salt, tomatoes, and garlic; sauté 4 minutes. Serve with chicken, and top with basil.

398 calories

• CARBOHYDRATE 25.0g
• CHOLESTEROL 143.0mg
• FIBER 4.0g
• PROTEIN 37.0g
• SODIUM 521.0mg
• FAT 16.2g
• SATURATED_FAT 4.5g
• MONOUNSATURATED_FAT 7.4g
• POLYUNSATURATED_FAT 2.0g
• CALCIUM 191.0mg 
• IRON 1.0mg
• SUGARS 3.0g