Guest Post! :-) Chicken Parmesan

My co-workers and I all went on a retreat last week. We were split into three groups to prepare the meals for the retreat. My awesome colleagues, Lauren, Ben, and Rachel were in charge of our dinner, and they created an awesome meal for us! I hung out in the kitchen with them...happy to snap pictures and I even learned a few things along the way.


The anitpasta tray. Sadly, I did not try anything...but the rest of the staff sure loved it all! I learned what artichoke hearts were, and how all these nice items come in a jar and you can just dump them out and wa-lah! It was also served with some crusty bread and olive oil...I missed that picture...oops. Ok, I'm kind of regretting not trying anything now...but oh well...next time.

The breading of the chicken for the chicken parmesan. Take chicken, dip in flour, dip in beaten egg, dip in breadcrumbs mixed with grated parmesan cheese. Then, simply fry in the skillet! I can do that for sure! Although, I have to admit...I couldn't watch for long. They big pile of raw chicken totally grossed me out...yuck!

They (Trader Joe's I think) also sell pre-breaded eggplant parmesan. Nice! Here it is frying (cooking? heating through?). I missed this part and the kitchen was small so I was trying not to get in the way. I ran in and snapped this picture and left. The marinara sauce is warming next to it.

Topping the chicken with some marinara and shredded cheese, and back in the oven to get all melty and even more delicious. What's not love that's fried, breaded, and cheesy...mmm...mmm...mmm...

My plate. Doesn't it look delicious!?! Roasted squash with greenbeans and onion (yes, I ate all my veggies for once!). I think they blanched the green beans first, then tossed them with the squash and some red onion and olive oil before roasting. I also tried the eggplant (never had it before)...and it was...really good! No, I did not highlight the cooking of the pasta...even I know how to do that! This meal was VERY tasty! And, posting this reminds me...Josh loves chicken parmesan. Maybe I'll try this on my own this weekend!

Thanks for being a guest post and answering all my questions Lauren, Ben, and Rachel! :-)

Oh, and if you're wondondering what meal I was part of orgranizing...breakfast. Anthony, Sarah, TR and I were the "Breakfast Club." We did not go all out...I'm definitely not ready to cook for others...yet. I did learn about the "Shake-n-Pour" pancake mix though. And, we provided fresh blueberries and chocolate chips. But yeah, our theme was, "make-your-own." Pretty clever...I know. The "Breakfast Club" rocks!

And, I failed to take pictures of our scrumptious lunch from the "Lunch Bunch" of Tam, Jasmine, and Brett. Sorry! They had the same concept as us..."make your own." So we ate some delicious deli sandwiches, veggies and dip, and had some yummy soups, chips, and Oreos.